In today’s society, gender equality and equal rights are large and reoccurring issues that  have resulted in many debates and movements. In the text the author displays many forms of sexual assault and gender inequality, which reflects the sexist society that the main character Penelope experiences. The influence an extremely sexist society such as the setting the text “Bitch Planet” displays has a significant impact on both the people of the society and how they view themselves and are viewed by society. These examples of gender inequality relate back to the main message of sexism in today’s society and the impact it has to the people individually.

In the text “Bitch planet”, the society is run by a group that calls themselves the fathers who have a strong grasp on the society by installing fear and respect in the public. In this case, the author is trying to compare this society to the society that we see ourselves in today. By relating the sexism society in “Bitch Planet” to todays society allows for the interpretation of the author’s focal points made throughout the text. By creating a relatable situation such as women in the work industry, author Kelly Sue DeConnick has created a connection with the women in the text that are exhausted by the labor and demands that the Bitch Planet entails.  After making such a connection to her target audience, DeConnick then provides obvious examples of the main character Penelope experiences sexual inequality as the fathers attempt to make her into her perfect self after taking her from her mother. After her kidnapping main character learns how the fathers run the male dominant society and how they demand women to be portrayed by not only those who are in higher powered positions, but all men alike. In early scenes in the text, Penelope notices how the fathers wish to control her want her to be like the rest of the society. A key point that is picked up on early in the text is the fathers proclaiming that they only want what is best for Penelope and want to see her be her ideal self. The Irony of this scene relates the text back to the main point, which is the reflection of gender equality in the job industry today. 

Throughout the text, the main character Penelope experiences many situations where because of her sex, she is required to act a certain or different way than how she is used to behaving. For example in the beginning of the text, Penelope is called in one of her “mothers” that are assigned by the fathers to make sure the adjustment to Bitch planet is made properly and to assure that she is aware of the rules and regulations on the planet. After immediately a boy in the face, Penelope is summoned to her Mothers quarters where she discusses that Penelope must see herself through the eyes of the fathers, as the mother proceeds to tend to Penelope’s hair (DeConnick 185-188). Striking examples such as changing her appearance to simply please the fathers relate back to the main point of the immense amount of gender inequality that not only takes places in the text but also in todays society.

One of the most obvious and remarkable scenes in the text is the situation that takes place in the muffin shop that Penelope was forced to work in. In this specific scene various events occur that result in the Penelope out bursting and taking out her anger on both the customers that were making sexist remarks and the muffin shop which was a constant reminder to the hell of a muffin shop she was forced to work in. After this scene many of the people that were in the shop at that exact time called the law enforcement because of her extreme behavior. This resulted in her integration and the experiment to in order to view her ideal self.  All the events leading up to the ending interrogation and experiment to discover her true ideal self are examples of extreme sexism. Specific events such as the News lady’s talk show on how to lose weight and simply the rude sexist remarks made by the men in the shop again relate back to the main idea of the text of today’s male-dominant society and men view women in the society today (DeConnick 191-197). 

Towards the end of the text, the fathers hook up Penelope to a machine, hoping to be able to see Penelope’s true ideal self. This is a very important scene of the text because it ties the text together and also reflects the theme of the sexist society that women live in today and how men view them. The men of the society are seen as higher power than the women and are represented by the fathers, which is supposed to relate the relationship between men and women in the job industry and how men view women in the current society. The fathers then proceed to attempt Penelope to see her ideal self and how they could help her to fit into the society the way the men want her to. After seeing that Penelope’s vision of her ideal self matches the hideous woman that the fathers see before them, it proves that she is not a part of their society and that her true ideal self cannot be altered or tampered with by those around her. At the moment that Penelope realizes that her image of her ideal self reflects that of her true self, she realizes that she has the upper hand of the situation and then recognizes that the fathers cannot change her to their standards like they did to the other women. However, she realizes that she can only decide her ideal self and that nobody has the power to decide how others should view her or how she should live her life. At this point, DeConnick is relating the appearance of women to today’s society as she explains that no man can tell a woman what defines her true ideal self and only the woman should decide her appearance and what she wants it to stand for.

Throughout the text, Penelope’s appearance plays a very significant role in defining the main idea and tying the supporting evidence back to the claims of this idea. In the images of this text, Penelope herself is far from being viewed as the ideal women in the eyes of the fathers. Therefore this would mean that Penelope does not reach the standards of the ideal woman in the society in which she currently lives and it is obvious that she does not belong. By acting against the cliché life style in the muffin shop, Penelope realized that she could no longer live the life that the men have decided for her, but she should be able to live how she wants and by her standards, not by what somebody says or wants. The final scene of “Bitch Planet” truly allows Penelope to recognize that the fathers cannot force someone’s ideal self upon them after seeing her reflection during the experiment. This Scene relates to the focal point of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, which applies to Penelope’s actions, appearance, and the overall controlling presence of the men in the society, which is meant to reflect the overall main theme of the text which is sexism and gender inequality in today’s society.