Madonna

As a young girl in school, Madonna Louise Ciccone made straight A's, but she also did cartwheels down the hallways between classes to shock whoever was watching by showing her underwear. A decade later, when she appeared on the first MTV Music Video Awards show performing her huge hit about a young woman refusing to feel apologetic for getting pregnant out of wedlock, she shocked millions by rolling on the floor in a wedding dress.

By the time her lacy tops, fishnet stockings and short, short skirts over capri pants had become the fashion statement of choice around the world, Playboy and Penthouse magazines had found and published some old nude photos of the rock star, but Madonna (as she has been known since becoming famous) didn't flinch. Then, when the Vatican freaked out over a song video she did featuring religious symbols and a scene where she made love to a saint, she didn't pay them any mind. In fact, she said simply, "I know that I'm not the best singer and I know that I'm not the best dancer. But, I can fucking push people's buttons and be as provocative as I want. [My] goal is to break useless taboos."

Followed everywhere she goes by controversy and criticism, Madonna is nonetheless recognized in the Guinness' Book of World Records as the top selling woman recording artist of all time.  Not only did she start out as an in-your-face woman early in her career, but she has continued to be an in-your-face woman year after year, changing her image, but never leaving her in-your-faceness behind. One newspaper wrote of her: "Madonna, whether you like her or not, started a revolution amongst women in music...Her attitudes and opinions on sex, nudity, style and sexuality forced the public to sit up and take notice." And that's what in-your-face women do.