Stereotypes in Bitch Planet -post 5

Bitch Planet is graphic comic filled with strong ideas, patriarchy, stereotypes, and much more. Throughout this comic, women are portrayed in ways that are stereotypical for their appearances. For example, Penny Rolle, a full figured, woman of color is viewed as angry and aggressive. Meiko, a woman of asian descent, is seen as being smart and witty. While women such as Hailey and Kailey are illustrated as being ditzy and useless.  
While this comic does focus on women, men are also seen acting in a stereotypical fashion. The “Fathers” are depicted as white men, wearing suits; their speech bubbles are even drawn in a more uniform and bland form. As well as being illustrated in a more calm style, their background are also full of ‘masculine’ colors, such as blues, blacks, and greens. The dialogue between men and women are also written in a cliche way, having a male broadcaster referring to his female co host as, “Sweetheart.”
While this book claims to be written for feminist, I find many things to be enraging. I find the gender and racial stereotyping to be extreme and almost too obvious to be put into a comic such as this one. I feel like the authors could have developed more complex characters that broke the so called norms of society. Isn’t the very point of feminism to break the patterns of how women are being treated? This book begins to grasp at this concept, yet does not show it in a respectful way. But, then again, maybe this is the point.

Maybe this book is throwing so many obvious wrongdoings to highlight that they exist. Maybe the point is to have stereotypes screaming at us. Maybe the point is to shed light on them. Maybe the point is making them so large, they cannot be ignored.

Comments

  1. Chelsea MannSeptember 29, 2017 at 3:14 PM

    I think that as you said, the point of the stereotypes being used in the book is simply to show readers that these stereotypes exist and how ridiculous they really are. For example, the characters of Hailey and Kailey are the epitome of the female stereotype. They are portrayed as being ditzy, skinny, and dressed in skimpy clothes. This is the stereotype of the "ideal" woman as seen by men. When reading about these characters, one cannot help but see how absurd it is that all women should be like this. The use of the stereotypes in the book help the reader to see that all women are different and it is ridiculous to punish them for being so.

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  2. UnknownSeptember 30, 2017 at 2:09 PM

    I think the reason this book is so frustrating is due to the blatant disrespect directed towards women. A woman is sent to Bitch Planet for ridiculous reasons such as being a bad mother or even just being disrespectful, which are things women are commonly accused of today. The common stereotypes of women are overdone I think to really draw attention to how many of these actions are directed towards women today and to aid in illustrating in how truly outrageous they are. It draws attention to how absurd it is for women to be treated in such ways and I think forces the audience to reevaluate their actions and be able to identify this disrespect and these accusations in daily life and how to either stand up to stop these actions or to prevent them from falling victim to these acts and accusations themselves.

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  3. Gina EnyartOctober 1, 2017 at 7:40 PM

    I completely agree with your view on the comic. The stereotypes presented are extremely offensive, but at the same time I see where they are necessary. Many times we often try and stray away from stereotypes, and prove them wrong. When in reality they are still very present in our society today, and it's very hard to escape them. By incorporating them into this comic, it shows how women and people of color are generalized still and penalized for things that other's think about them. The book only further proves the hurdles we still need to overcome, today.

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  4. Paige ShrevesOctober 1, 2017 at 8:23 PM

    I also agree that this comic takes the stereotypes one sept too far. I understand that the point of the text is to over exaggerate to prove a point but the message might be too strong for some. I also agree that the book is highlighting offences in society today but some of the examples are not relatable to modern day society. For example, one woman was out on Bitch Planet for having a twin. As seen in my blog post, I read some instances that I found very applicable to our society today but most were very extreme. Overall, I understand the point the authors are trying to convey, I just do not agree as to how extreme it was expressed.

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