Look like a Lady

Five Visual Tropes of Womanhood and How to See Ourselves Differently

Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt

• Publisher: Brazos Press
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9781493455126
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religious Art

Five Visual Tropes That Have Defined Womanhood--and the Art History That Redefines It

Images tell powerful stories about how women should look and act. And whether we notice them or not, those stories shape what women believe they're allowed to be.

In Look like a Lady, art historian Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt uses personal narrative and art history to uncover five limiting visual tropes that have quietly formed us:

● Venus: the idealized body defined by the male gaze
● Vessel: an empty container waiting to be filled with someone else's meaning
● Maiden: young, passive, and acted upon by outside forces
● Mother: a romanticized, impossible maternal ideal
● Monster: the wild creature in need of taming

We may think girl bosses and body positivity have replaced tales of helpless women whose looks matter more than anything else, but scripts that set limits for women in popular culture and our faith communities persist. For every limiting story Weichbrodt explores, she uncovers an empowering counterstory from art history that reflects God's richer vision for women and women's identity--leading to healing and freedom.

Featuring full-color illustrations and the author's own hand-drawn images, Look like a Lady is for Christian women who feel disillusioned by expectations of womanhood and are ready to expand their vision of what it means to be a woman made in the image of God.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: Paper Doll Dresses and Stories That Shape Us
• Chapter 1: Venus
• Chapter 2: Vessel
• Chapter 3: Maiden
• Chapter 4: Mother
• Chapter 5: Monster
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• About the Author
• Back Cover