In the ongoing fight for gender equality, women have proved determined and driven to rule out the obvious issues and inequalities in the past and current society. Although stronger in the past, gender inequality is still an issue in current society, illustrated by many writers and artists like Kelly Sue DeConnick. Kelly Sue DeConnick’s comic “Bitch Planet” allows the reader to imagine a patriarchal society where women who misbehave are considered non-compliant and punished sent to a place called “Bitch Planet”. From committing murder to being overweight, the range of “crimes” women are subject to being arrested for is absolutely absurd. The main character Penelope, and her mother and grandmother, were three of the women sent to bitch planet for their misdemeanors. This story is above her fight against this society and for gender equality and freedom. The scene I chose that I thought best represented the larger message was the last scene, where Penelope says “And you bastards ain’t never gonna break me” (DeConnick). The scene of Penelope telling her “fathers” they are not going to break her appropriately communicates the larger message of the piece by representing a patriarchal society and gender inequality. 

It seems like when a women misbehaviors or doesn’t follow the rules of the “fathers” they get sent away to a place called “Bitch Planet”.  Penelope is taken from her mom and grandma at an extremely young age. The reader is led to assume they both went to this place called “Bitch Planet”, especially when several characters make them out to have been misbehaving women in their moments leading up to being taken. The scene I chose to compare to the work as a whole has Penelope on this planet. The reader gets to see the men who run this planet and see their concern for Penelope because she strayed from becoming their version of an ideal women. This scene is an ideal scene because it’s location represents the main idea of this comic, “Bitch Planet”. The comic is about following the rules and the consequences that come for the women who break said rules, that are enforced by the males on this planet. In this image, the reader sees Penelope being experimented on for breaking the rules. The reader doesn’t know exactly what Penelope did, but the previous scenes imply she ended up on the planet for her anger issues and appearance. Like her grandma and mother, Penelope fought against the system, and continues to fight against it when she says “and your bastard’s ain’t never going to break me” (DeConnick). When they don’t like her behavior, they try to fix her, but she is still non-compliant. This scene in the comic represents the patriarchal society the women in the comic deal with and fight against. These men run this whole entire world and choose how women can and should be like. Like this a patriarchal society occurs when men are in charge of women in every aspect of society. The reason Penelope and other women are taken to this planet is for not going along with being the treated like the lesser of the two genders and their submissive. The scene we see fits in with everything we expect “Bitch Planet” to look like. It is an empty room filled with guards and screens with men so they can watch the women who break the law (DeConnick). This scene in the comic doesn’t only represent the patriarchal society Penelope lives in, but the women oppressed society.

Penelope, like most women in modern society, is a strong independent woman that doesn’t let the men in her life control her. Penelope is fighting against the patriarchal society, but that’s slightly different from how she fights gender inequality. In this scene, she is telling the men that they are incapable of breaking her. She is representing the strength women are considered lacking as shown by her grandmother earlier on comparing Penelope’s strength to her fathers, rather than her mothers. Penelope immediately notices it and points out that her mother was also very strong, even though she was obviously punished for it (DeConnick). Women are constantly criticized to look feminine, thin, and lady-like. Women in current society speak out against qualities and attributes they possess and prefer to have even when they are criticized for being too masculine. Penelope doesn’t look like or behave like the typical women during her time period, but in her society she faces consequences for it. She represents a strong feminist that doesn’t cower in the face of oppression, but looks it in the eye and fights back. Penelope in this scene fighting against her “fathers” represents strength, is overweight, and has short hair. Short hair, heavy weight, and strength are all qualities that fall under masculine, and all qualities Penelope has at her “fathers’” disliking. Though in control of her life physically, these leaders and incapable of taking over her mind and stopping her from staying true to herself, her mother, and her grandmother.

Penelope, the main character in “Bitch Planet” is taken from her family at a young age and adopted by these male figures called her fathers. They show fake concern for Penelope and her well-being while she is happy with herself and her behavior and look. When they try to experiment on her to “fix her” she remains herself and boasts on how “[those] bastards ain’t never gonna break [her]”. The scene from the comic I chose represents the larger message in the comic of feminism and the fight against this patriarchal society. Kelly Sue DeConnick goes above and beyond feminism and creates a character that represents the women considered not feminism and different than the ideal woman in the current society. She uses this story to represent the real life fight for gender equality and how women everyday still struggle with oppression. 
