The comic book Bitch Planet, follows the protagonist Penelope Rolle in an alternate universe that suffers from apparent equality issues. This society is run by a patriarchy reffered to as the fathers, who are blindly followed by most citizens, but not Penelope. In her insolence Penelope is taken away from her grandmother at age eight and given to a boarding school where she is supposedly guided by Mother Siebertling. The Mother lives all the perfect ideals of a woman in the eyes of the fathers and instead of instilling positive qualities, oppresses Penelope and discourages her differences. These fathers are the epitome of men believing themselves to be the stronger sex. The fathers completely disregard the realities and flaws of women and specifically ignore the wishes of Penelope to impose their own beliefs of an ideal woman. Bitch Planet uses the advantage of a satire to relate women’s societal problems like: male patriarchy, conformity, and expectations that contrast reality without directly stating them to develop subconscious agreement. 

The father’s image and attitude resemble a stereotype believed by many feminists that a patriarchy still exists and that males have ridiculous expectations of women. An example of this patriarchy is that the fathers hold standards regarding women and persecute Penelope for not following these ideas. The fathers explicitly expect women to be thin, beautiful, feminine, and not question the male authority. When listing Penelope’s crimes the father includes, “repeated citations for aesthetic offenses, capillary disfigurement, and wanton obesity” (DeConnick 177). After listing her criminal acts all of the fathers have a look of disgust so profound that even one father shields his eyes with his hands. By blocking his sight the father is symbolically trying to avoid the light of Penny’s cause and her womanhood. Penny can only wince in anger and the comic specifically shows a close up of her eye narrowing in anger. After this exchange one of the fathers is quoted saying, “Penelope, your fathers love you. It pains us to see you like this” (DeConnick 178). Saying this is completely counterintuitive to idea of actually helping Penelope and falls back to this idea that the fathers, like men, have significant power over women. This entire situation relates to the theme that women are oppressed by overwhelming expectations and male patriarchy.  Another relevant note about this scene is the images of the fathers. All of them are considerably older, wear a suit and tie, and have short formal hair. This makes the fathers similar, which represents their concurring beliefs that women must adhere to a set expectation of appearance and attitude. This relates back to how the fathers were concerned with Penelope’s demeanor and crimes that did not conform to their standards. During this trial Penelope flashes back to her childhood, which was effected by male dominance and the need to conform those who did not live up to the fathers ideals.

Considering the memories, Penelope was certainly affected by the patriarchy and conformity. The first memory is initiated after one of the fathers says, “All we want to do is help you” (DeConnick 178). This idea of the fathers wanting to help Penny is ironic because they previously completely isolated Penny from her family. During this memory Penny and her grandmother are cooking and Penny is trying to prove her strength by continually stirring the mix. The grandmother compares Penelope to her daddy who is as big and strong as an oak, but Penelope replies that her mom is strong (DeConnick 179). This was added to clarify where Penelope acquired her pride in womanhood and her inability to conform. Once Penelope was taken from her family she was introduced to Mother Siebertling who is undoubtedly the woman the fathers want Penelope to strive to be. The scene in Mother Siebertling’s office holds many images containing various details regarding her lifestyle and morals. Firstly the walls are all pink, filled with photos and flowers; all of which are often portrayed as feminine. This idea of being feminine is cherished in this society and undoubtedly contributed to the mother’s success. Another noticeable part of the images is what the photos display on her wall. One is obviously of her husband and newborn child, another displays “Miss” diagonally over flowers, which dignifies Sierbertling to be a beauty pageant winner. All of these photos share values of family, and beauty, which seem to be her only traits – Sierbertling being fortunate there are of worth in this universe. Based on the Greek letters on the wall, it is also possible to conclude the mother’s involvement in a sorority, which is another clue to her almost basic personality. Mother Sierbertling’s appearance is also worth noting, she is aesthetically appealing from her entire body, lacking any noticeable flaw in the general realm of appeal. Sierbertling has womanly hips, large breasts, luscious hair, and a beautiful face. Her dress is considerably scandalous by revealing her thin figure, and seems delicate. The mother also makes her ideals clear by suggesting Penny’s hair is, “just like you (her) - it refuses to behave” (DeConnick 187). Going on to imply that Penelope being herself is not enough because she needs to see herself “through the fathers’ eyes” (DeConnick 188). This part of the text bubble is even bolded to show how much the mother entrusts the father’s guidelines. Ultimately Penelope was affected by the patriarchy that tried to conform her by taking her home and making her receive consoling from a biased woman. The final memory only continues to represent the idea of a male dominance over women, expectations, and conformity.

Eventually the fathers ask Penelope the last time she, “prioritized how others see (her)” (DeConnick 191).  Penelope then flashes back to the bakery she worked at where a man became frustrated with her for not turning on the feed and threatened to “talk to (her) old man.” This relates to the theme of males having significant power over women because this man barely knows Penny, but has the ability to report her for being a noncompliant woman. Another noticeable part is that the feed is almost consistent with the real world’s media that focuses on similar irrelevant information like popular diets and celebrities. The image displays another doppelganger ideal woman in this society who suggests the day’s top story to be about a “parasitic worm diet” (DeConnick). The fact that this diet advertised through the feed only further shows the reliance on meeting expectations set for women. The text of this news woman is shown as pink and she is coincidently wearing a pink blazer. This suggests the woman to be conformed into the father’s beliefs and she is ironically encouraging women to do the same with the fad diet. After the feed is on a woman who is considered ideal argues that forcing the feed on everyone is annoying. This woman is displayed appropriate as a woman in this society, but is dressed formally, suggesting that she follows the rules of this society in fear. The man in line says “private screens don’t build community” (DeConnick) and thinks the woman rolled her eyes. Penny quickly jumps in offering a muffin so that the man does not report them furthermore supporting the idea that women live in fear of the male authority. All of these memories relate to the themes of patriarchy, unrealistic expectations, and conformity.

This idea that men have power over women is also shown by the fathers experiment to see what Penelope’s ideal self is, hoping she is hypocritical and wants what they want. Instead Penelope pictures her current self as who she wants to be shattering the father’s plans to conform her. The purpose of this scene is to show that the patriarchy only has control if you give them the control and conform to their wishes. Conclusively this narrative uses satirical elements to subconsciously make the reader agree with the issues in the comic book, which directly relate to women’s societal issues, including, male patriarchy, conformity, and expectations that contrast reality. 
