In lecture today we briefly discussed the Guerrilla Girls, so I decided to research more about the feminist group. The Guerrilla Girls began in 1985; after a few women attended an exhibition titled “An International Survey of Painting and Sculpture” held by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and discovered that only 13 of the 169 featured artists were women. The ratio of artists of color were even smaller, none of whom were women artists either. They are an anonymous group of radical feminist artists who were established in New York City in 1985. They are known for their posters, books, billboards, appearance and other creative forms of culture jamming that expose discrimination and corruption. They were trained visual artists and their first work was putting up posters all over the New York City streets decrying the gender and racial imbalance of artists represented in galleries and museums. They have since expanded greatly to examine Hollywood and the film industry, popular culture, gender stereotyping and corruption in the art world. They are known for wearing gorilla masks in public and the names of dead women artists as pseudonyms. The Guerrilla Girls invented a unique combination of content, text, and snappy graphics that present feminist viewpoints in a humorous manner. Their intention is that many viewers who initially disagree with their positions will get drawn in by the comic hook, think about the issues, and then change their minds.

In 2000, closed to 100 women worked in the group; however, three separate groups formed in which they do not share members and have their own work and website. The Guerrilla Girls was the original group established by the two founding members of the Guerrilla Girls continuing to use provocative text, visuals and humor in the service of feminism and social change. They travel all around the world discussing feminist issues and reinventing the “f” word into the 21st Century. The Guerrilla Girls on Tour is the second group and is a touring theater collectively founded by three former members of the Guerrilla Girls. They develop original plays, performances and workshops, street theater actions and residency programs that dramatize women's history and address the lack of opportunities for women and artists of color in the performing arts. The Guerrilla Girls Broadband is the third group that combats sexism, racism and social injustice, exploring such taboo subjects as feminism and fashion and discrimination in the world.

Every year the Guerrilla Girls visit colleges and universities, in full jungle drag, to give multi-media presentations of their history and work. Exhibitions of Guerrilla Girls’ work have been organized at museums in the US, and at the Tate Modern, London, The Centre Pompidou Paris, and others. One of their most famous posters was plastered across New York City buses in 1989. Its headline read, "Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?" The Guerrilla Girls conducted a "weenie count" at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, counting naked males and naked females in the artworks as well as numbers of female artists in the collection. Less than 5% of the artists in the MMOA's modern art sections were women, but 85% of the nudes were female. The Guerrilla Girls went back in 2005 to do a recount and found that there are now fewer women artists shown at the Met, but more naked males in the artworks. I think that the Guerilla Girls are very creative and enthusiastic about their cause and they have every reason to be. They raise very important issues and add entertainment and excitement to the art world.