90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality

by Allison Yarrow

Overview

Finalist for the Los Angeles Press Club Book Award, muse to a Givenchy fashion collection, and recommended by the The New York Times, The Skimm, US Weekly, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Refinery 29, Book Riot, Bitch Media, and more. 

"Yarrow’s biting autopsy of the decade scrutinizes the way society reduced — or “bitchified” — women at work, women at home, women in court, even women on ice skates . . . Direct quotes from politicians, journalists and comedians about the women provide the most jarring, oh-my-god-that-really-happened portions of Yarrow’s decade excavation." — Pittsburg Post-Gazette

The nostalgic, smart, and shocking account of how the 90s set back feminism, undermined girls and women, and shaped the millennial generation from award-winning journalist, Allison Yarrow.  

To understand how we got here, we have to rewind the VHS tape. 90s Bitch tells the real story of women and girls in the 1990s, exploring how they were maligned by the media, vilified by popular culture, and objectified in the marketplace. 

Trailblazing women like Hillary Clinton, Anita Hill, Madeleine Albright, Janet Reno, and Marcia Clark, and were undermined. Newsmakers like Britney Spears, Monica Lewinsky, Tonya Harding and Lorena Bobbitt were shamed and misunderstood. The advent of the 24-hour news cycle reinforced society's deeply entrenched misogyny. Meanwhile, marketers hijacked feminism, sold “Girl Power,” and poisoned a generation. 

Today echoes of 90s “bitchification” still exist everywhere we look. To understand why, we must revisit and interrogate the 1990s—a decade in which empowerment was twisted into objectification, exploitation, and subjugation. 

Yarrow’s thoughtful, juicy, and timely examination is a must-read for anyone trying to understand 21st century sexism and end it for the next generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062412348
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/19/2018
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	480,704
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Allison Yarrow is an award-winning journalist and National Magazine Award finalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vox, and many others. She was a 2017 TED resident and is a 2018 grantee of the International Women’s Media Foundation. She produced the Vice documentary “Misconception,” and has appeared on the Today show, MSNBC, NPR and more. Allison was raised in Macon, Georgia and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Table of Contents

Prologue vii

Introduction ix

1 Pretty On The Outside 1

2 Sex In The 90s 31

3 The Goldilocks Conundrum 51

4 Women Who Worked 88

5 Bad Mom 123

6 Pirst Bitch 141

7 Female Anger 171

8 Manly 193

9 Damaged Goods 209

10 Victims and Violence 223

11 Catfight 247

12 The Girl Power Myth 271

Epilogue 305

Endnotes 313

Index 375

Acknowledgments 395

Editorial Reviews

"In her trenchant book Allison Yarrow looks back on that decade with a heightened awareness of sexism and connected forms of discrimination. 90s Bitch establishes that many of the gender troubles of the last few years follow in a long tradition." — New Republic

"Yarrow’s biting autopsy of the decade scrutinizes the way society reduced — or “bitchified” — women at work, women at home, women in court, even women on ice skates . . . Direct quotes from politicians, journalists and comedians about the women provide the most jarring, oh-my-god-that-really-happened portions of Yarrow’s decade excavation." — Pittsburg Post-Gazette

“90s Bitch is a book we need right now. Allsion Yarrow takes the full measure of misogyny in America—then and now—and she KO’s it like the champion she is. This is a trilling read, smart and lyrical and—above all—necessary. The book would be on my recommended reading-list at any time, but during the Trump era it should be mandatory. ” — Darin Strauss, NBCC-winning author of Half A Life

“Brava for this ambitious, confident, and brilliantly original explication de Bitch.” — Wednesday Martin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Primates of Park Avenue

“The 1990s was a decade that produced a long line of vilified women – from Anita Hill to Monica Lewinsky – and, Yarrow contends, we need to understand that moment in feminist history to appreciate our own.”  — New York Times Book Review

“Amidst the revelations of #MeToo, it’s sometimes easy to forget that we’re in the midst of a feminist backlash. The best way to prevent that backlash from expanding and overtaking the movement is to study and learn from the (very recent) past. Which is precisely why ‘90s Bitch is essential reading for every feminist—a wakeup call for those who don’t remember how rapidly society at large embraced the postfeminist moment, and a punch in the stomach to those who remember it.” — Anne Helen Petersen, author of Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud

“Smartly written, much of this cultural critique of women in media/politics/television/music and more still rings true today.” — Book Riot

“An important read about gender politics.” — HelloGiggle

"BREAKING: Women are regularly vilified by the media simply for existing! Sadly, this isn’t anything new. In ‘90s Bitch, Allison Yarrow takes you back to the era of Anita Hill and Monica Lewinsky and Tonya Harding and examines how the media fueled America’s sexism." — Bustle

“90s Bitch reminds us that we’re not experiencing anything new. There’s already a blueprint for our moment.” — Bitch Media

“Yarrow is a skillful scene setter.” — The Los Angeles Review of Books

“Yarrow is on to something.” — NBC News

From the Publisher

An important read about gender politics.

HelloGiggle

“90s Bitch reminds us that we’re not experiencing anything new. There’s already a blueprint for our moment.

Bitch Media

"Yarrow’s biting autopsy of the decade scrutinizes the way society reduced — or “bitchified” — women at work, women at home, women in court, even women on ice skates . . . Direct quotes from politicians, journalists and comedians about the women provide the most jarring, oh-my-god-that-really-happened portions of Yarrow’s decade excavation."

Pittsburg Post-Gazette

The 1990s was a decade that produced a long line of vilified women – from Anita Hill to Monica Lewinsky – and, Yarrow contends, we need to understand that moment in feminist history to appreciate our own.” 

New York Times Book Review

90s Bitch is a book we need right now. Allsion Yarrow takes the full measure of misogyny in America—then and now—and she KO’s it like the champion she is. This is a trilling read, smart and lyrical and—above all—necessary. The book would be on my recommended reading-list at any time, but during the Trump era it should be mandatory. 

Darin Strauss

"In her trenchant book Allison Yarrow looks back on that decade with a heightened awareness of sexism and connected forms of discrimination. 90s Bitch establishes that many of the gender troubles of the last few years follow in a long tradition."

New Republic

Amidst the revelations of #MeToo, it’s sometimes easy to forget that we’re in the midst of a feminist backlash. The best way to prevent that backlash from expanding and overtaking the movement is to study and learn from the (very recent) past. Which is precisely why ‘90s Bitch is essential reading for every feminist—a wakeup call for those who don’t remember how rapidly society at large embraced the postfeminist moment, and a punch in the stomach to those who remember it.

Anne Helen Petersen

Brava for this ambitious, confident, and brilliantly original explication de Bitch.

Wednesday Martin

Smartly written, much of this cultural critique of women in media/politics/television/music and more still rings true today.

Book Riot

"BREAKING: Women are regularly vilified by the media simply for existing! Sadly, this isn’t anything new. In ‘90s Bitch, Allison Yarrow takes you back to the era of Anita Hill and Monica Lewinsky and Tonya Harding and examines how the media fueled America’s sexism."

Bustle

Yarrow is a skillful scene setter.

The Los Angeles Review of Books

Yarrow is on to something.

NBC News

Allison Yarrow is a feminist and a muckraker in the tradition of Betty Friedan, Naomi Klein, and bell hooks. Her enthralling new book, 90s Bitch, takes a long overdue sledgehammer (and, when needed, a scalpel) to the misogynistic myths that cloud our view of that troubling decade. Like all great cultural historians, she examines every sordid cranny of our culture—its sexual mores, its pop culture and rampant consumerism—so as to lay bare the marching orders issued by the patriarchy: that women should shut up and put out, sell out, sell themselves short, and most of all obey. Yarrow’s prose is brilliant, her insights are razor-sharp, and her moral aim is essential. If America is ever going to recover from the Trumpian tailspin wrought by masculine insecurity, we need feminists like Allison Yarrow keeping us all honest.

Steve Almond