This collection, Gailey's first, deals primarily with issues of women and power.

Subjects of individual poems in the collection range from superheroes and spy girls to characters from Greek mythology, such as Philomel and Persephone, and fairy tales, such as The Snow Queen.

Poems from the book were featured on National Public Radio's The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor and in Verse Daily and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007.

[4] Poems from Becoming the Villainess were referenced in the article Poems about Superheroes written by Harvard University professor and poetry critic Stephen Burt.

[5] Critical reviews of Becoming the Villainess have appeared in the following literary publications:[6]