Red Light: Superheroes, Saints, and Sluts

The mythology of Girl Power inspires both revulsion and desire. Alternately fiery, sexy, angry and eloquent, the works in this book cast powerful women icons in the (red) light of a new day. The female, as represented in western popular culture, has been a timeless yet culturally unstable image, construed and contested by men and women alike. Red Light is an anthology of essays, stories and visual materials that identifies and deconstructs female icons past and present and reimagines them for the 21st century. The icons found in this book include Wonder Woman, Amelia Earhart, the Virgin Mary, Jayne Mansfield, Florence Nightingale, Aileen Wuornos, Belle Starr, Foxy Brown, the Avon Lady and many more. The categories these icons fall into - superheroes, saints and sluts - are reconfigured and redeemed by their portrayers.