Bitch Planet - Stereotypes
In the first three sections of “Bitch Planet,” one thing that stood out to me was the amount of stereotypes perpetrated throughout the story. Since “Bitch Planet” is supposed to be a feminist comic/progressive comic, I believe that these stereotypes are purposeful. While reading, I thought that the reason that there was so stereotypes was that they were supposed to draw attention to the way we thought about people, and to dramatize them.
The stereotypes that stood out to me the most were those about Asians being smart and mathematically advanced, white women being obsessed with looks and superficiality, and that of women of color, particularly African-Americans being violent or more confrontational. You even see the parents missing in the life of the African-American woman.
In section two, Meiko, a woman of inferred Asian descent, is said to have designed the ship that the “games” are supposed to take place on. In section three, you see the white women in the cafe talking about counting calories, or trying to lose weight by getting a “gastrointestinal parasite.” In all three sections, you see the women who are portrayed as starting the fights, being uncontrollably angry, or even inciting violence, are all black women.
A gender divide I noticed while reading was that of how the women and men are treated. The men are given less severe reprimands and consequences, while the punishments that the women received were much more severe. The men were given second chances to correct themselves when they did something wrong, but the women who were considered “non-compliant,” were sent to the “Auxiliary Compliance Outpost,” or the Bitch Planet.
Even a stereotype of men in power is represented in the comic. All of the “fathers” are white, and have this belief that everyone must listen and obey everything they say. They refuse to be ‘disrespected,’ and get angry any time they believe they are. They even expect the women of the Bitch Planet to conform to their own beauty standard, and as seen in part three, become surprised when a woman, especially a black woman, love themselves the way they are, without any desire to conform to the arbitrary standard.
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