Feminism was the first word that came to my mind when I was reading Bitch Planet. Feminism and the brutality that women face on a daily basis reflects in this story. It shapes the story making it clear how much more powerful and sufficient men are in our everyday lives. Feminism is still a problem in our everyday lives which is what influenced the text and its way of showing readers how we live our lives every day. In this reading, Penelope, the main character, was pushed to morals she didn’t believe in. She was taught self-discipline, being strong, and working hard were some traits that apparently only men can have. The common misconception in our world today is that men have traits that women don’t have. When women are just as equal and have just as high as a role as men. After I read an article called, You Don’t hate feminism. You just don’t understand it, opened my mind about the seriousness of women in our society. The article states, “It’s not the fact that there is criticism against feminism, but that the criticism is so inane, unintelligent, and useless.” Whether or not it is the same kind of traits we are talking about, men and women should have equal rights. There should be nothing that makes one or the other better than each other, both men and women are important every day to our society in different and the same ways. The comic Bitch Planet, is portraying feminism ideals and illustrating the brutality the world has against women.  

        Bitch Planet talks down the importance of women all throughout the text. The story shows the powerless and unequal roles women play in our everyday lives. The comics shows the judge and all the men in the background surrounding the judge, where are all the women? You Don’t Hate Feminism. You just Don’t Understand it stated, “I don’t need ‘feminism’ because I believe that men and women are EQUAL, not that women should belittle men.” Stating beliefs on the thoughts of equality between men and women. The first page of the comic the judge that is dealing with Penelope’s case has an ashamed look on his face and keeps questioning what she has done to herself. Penelope purposely kept her head down and wasn’t responding. He further went on and stated, “Penelope, your fathers love you. It pains us to see you like this” (178). The judge plain and simple refers to Penelope’s father and the men in Penelope's life, nobody else. After the judge had stated something about her father Penelope quickly found herself years back to a moment between her and her grandmother. Penelope and her grandmother were cooking and Penelope told her grandmother she was strong enough to mix the batter continuously. “You keep working as hard as you do and you’ll be as strong as an oak. Like your daddy” (179). Grandma stated. “My mom is strong” (179), Penelope replies. It is clear even her grandmother is discriminating against women and the common conception women are known as. In our society, men are always looked at as the stronger ones that run our world. This example in the story simply shows the underestimation and imbalance of power women have versus men.

Even though this was a comic and you could literally see the men and their facial expressions, you could feel the superior attitudes from the men when talking to Penelope. “Everything your fathers have done has been for your protection. You were a child” (183). The judge quickly barked at Penelope. Penelope quickly gets defensive screaming about her mother. 

The judge goes on about how her mother was a sad case, “She was delusional, and dangerous. She refused to see the truth before her. And quite frankly, we are concerned that you are too far gone down that same path” (184). As the comic continued I focused more on the amount of amount of men accusing Penelope of why she is making her life this difficult or why she is so angry with her life. They treated her with nothing but cruelty and sat there almost making fun of her in a sense. Coming from You Don’t hate Feminism. You Just Don't Understand it, “Its campaign is an easy target, but painting these women as a bunch of ignorant, outrageous, self-hating women proves their point.” We later find out that Penelope was caught in a fight with a boy and her mom had even said to her face she’s sorry she failed Penelope. Penelope's mom states, “You need to learn to see yourself through the father's eyes” (188). It is clear that Penelope is different, doesn’t have the qualities of your stereotypical women and her mom forces her to change because of who she is.

The story quickly got intense, Penelope was attached to wires showing the men who her ideal self is and the way people may look at her as. Penelope was shown working as a clip of the news came on about the best diet and eating habits for women to be on. All perfect women were surrounding Penelope at work while men make fun of her image. “Look at her, who wants to come home to that?” (194) Girls sitting in every corner complaining about their muffin and the calories they’re consuming. Penelope was getting angry and self-conscious of her appearance while thinking in her head how she’s not good enough. These words could have mentally made her feel like she really didn’t have the traits to be a woman. The underestimation of the beauty of all women is important. Men are capable of giving the human population the idea that they are better than all species and think that they are the superior gender in our society. “Just as we need to continue to advocate for equality between the sexes, we also need to remind women and men what feminism entails, rather than let our opponents claim to define the movement for us.” You Don’t Hate Feminism. You just Don’t Understand It states. Women underestimate their beauty and significance they play in our everyday lives. In this example of the story, Penelope was talked down by the men that apparently run our world. The men that run our lives should be our biggest motivators and most men think they have authority over women that could have just as much power as them. Women are smart and have a lot of knowledge that is undermined, their self-confidence is diminished by the words of the leading men that run our everyday lives. For example, Trump and Clinton, even though Trump is now our president and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do. Politics can really last all day but with that being said, there are many people in our country that still have a problem seeing a women be in charge of our country. What if Hillary Clinton was a man? Would things be different on voting day if Hillary wasn’t a woman? Questions blow through my mind when I read and watch the things I do about the presidential massacre that goes on in our country. I wonder if a lot of the ruckus would even come close to happening if Hillary was a man, how much different the election could’ve turned out.

In conclusion, Bitch Planet has opened my eyes to the brutality for women that still occurs in our world every day. It is scaring to think, especially being a women and growing up in this society as a woman that this is the way we are treated. The outside article makes a very good point, “We—and by “we,” I mean feminists—need to be the bigger person in this battle. We need to make every effort to promote feminism as a big-tent movement, and we need to admit that it doesn’t always appear so welcoming.” As young as I am, I’ve learned throughout my life that women are just as important and have guided me just as far as a man could’ve. The comic Bitch Planet, is portraying feminism and brutality the world has against women. There shouldn’t be a divide between men and women because it’s important to all realize that coming together is the strongest thing we can do for our world.
