Lightening heavyweight issues

Hysterical Women '96: A collection of 100 Australian feminist cartoons
A project of the Women's Electoral Lobby of WA and the Network of Women Students of Australia
July 1996
$15/$16.50 including postage from PO Box 8215, Perth Business Centre WA 6849
Reviewed by Jennifer Thompson

This new book — the best of the second Australian feminist cartoon competition — showcases to great effect what Women's Electoral Lobby organiser Ruth Greble calls "the feminist sense of humour". "The issues we work on are heavy-weight, but humour can often be used to get those serious messages across."

Hysterical Women covers many and varied issues of concern to feminists, and all are presented with razor sharp wit. It ranges from Angie Lyndon's (Fremantle Herald and Green Left Weekly) light-hearted look at environmental issues and alternative lifestyles to Rona Chadwick's cartoons on domestic violence and discrimination.

Apart from the benefits of its subversion and feminist therapy, the book's publication also provides a valuable opportunity for feminist cartoonists to get their work out to a broad audience. Contact details are provided for readers interested in getting permission to reproduce the women's work.

From GLW issue 241