Off My Mind: Female Superhero Costumes - Practical or Exploitive?

I agree that female characters in comics, movies, and TV are made to be sexual icons, so we don't just take away the skin-tight spandex, but female characters with depth are the ones I really go nuts for! Even the characters in comics don't just fall for some girl because she wears skimpy clothing. The female characters with more developed character are the mainly the ones the hero falls for.

Following that Birds of Prey review, I actually had a discussion with my best friend (who happens to be a female) about what she thought about female superhero costumes.  She personally didn't like the fact that there was a severe lack of practicality involved in them and that in only served to lessen perceptions of the character being strong in any other way but a sexual one (not her exact words, but I'm paraphrasing). 
 
I tried to reassure her that the characters were actually very strong and complex despite the way they dressed, and even defended their costumes as being something that looks good when drawn by an artist similar to the way most male characters are hyper-muscular and wear form-fitting spandex.  The more I thought about it, however, I couldn't think of any other reason why there is such a large majority of scantily clad and/or HUGE breasted female characters (another complaint she had there being so few small-chested characters). 
 
Looking at costumes like Songbird's or Janet Van Dyne's latest Wasp get-up, these are more practical and "appropriate" costumes.  Is there a correlation that these characters are less popular?  I'd consider them comparably strong (if not more so) than others in the Marvel Universe, yet they remain relatively under-appreciated. 
 
I don't have the answers.  This just used to be something I never thought about, and yet I find myself questioning it more and more.

Most superhero costumes (male and female) are not practical. Only when they're taken into a real world context do they end up being more appropriate. Of course when you throw in mystical, technologic or biological powers that protect individuals, then I guess you can do a lil' more from a "fashion" standpoint. But in the end, the visual is what they're doing it for more and being exploitive is part of that game. 

" ermmm think you're forgetting a serial perpetrator!!   

Practical. XD "

I will not buy a comic with Starfire on the cover on principle. Nor Emma, in some of her more revealing outfits, Is there a reason a warrior like wonder woman wears a bikini rather than actual combat wear?I think the distraction excuse is low. If that were true Batman would be a flasher! Honestly, would the writing be any different with a bit more material?

Ok, case in point: Emma Frost ala Land.  She could rent her breast out as air bags, ok?  No living female (except those freaky, creepy few with like ZZ cups and let's just not go there...) would be able to have breast that size and want to get up in the morning.  It's not realistic, it's a teenage boy's wet dream.  The costumes, the characters, are drawn mostly by men for a mostly male audience.  If you have any doubts about that, look at comic book stories like 'Heralds.'  The art, while cortoonish and otherwise unimpressive, has a minimal emphasis on the breast and body form, there is more interpersonal interaction with less fists being thrown.  Clearly it was meant to cater to a more female audience.  Now as for spandex, have you ever seen a full-body spandex outfit?  It is not flattering, at all.  I, frankly, always assumed comic book artists (in the early days) just drew figures, drew a few lines and colored, then said, 'Ta-da, spandex!'  Seems easier for sure, lol.

Meh,practicality has little bearing when it comes to superhero costumes regardless of gender. Take Wolverine...he really doesn't hide his identity yet sports a mask with those useless ear/horn/whatever they are things that stick up six inches from his head. Might as well be wearing blinders and a propeller hat. Or the webbing that sometimes is or isn't under Spidey's arm that make him look like he has out of control armpit hair.  And if you really wanna talk impractical with women's costumes, there's how Black Cat and Black Widow have increased the amount of cleavage shown over the years. I wonder why Natasha bothers with a zipper since it only seems to work in the down direction. At least Power Girl has a bulletproof bosom,  Really, you can spend forever nit-picking costumes... or just accept it as part of the deal.

" The thing for me is, I love the costumes, I adore the fantasy of it all but what I don't like is the readers creating the sexual innuendos. The women most of the time are drawn with class, but readers do their own art that sexualises them far to much. "

I think its more for distraction purposes, and just from a quick survey in my mind most of the characters with the most revealing outfits (emma frost, psylocke, ms marvel etc) are all mature women, who maybe want to embrace their sexyness and use it to their advantage.  The younger characters have more reserved costumes (pixie, hawkeye the girl, surge, and armor).  Either way showing some skin is appealing and good for sales, and it does make me more interested in the character at least until i read the story and find out if its good or not.

" I'm always surprised at how defensive the reaction is to the notion, the mere suggestion women get the short end of the stick when it comes to comics. Is there any denying it? Besides dissecting the costumes to determine what indicates sex and what doesn't, just look at the numbers. Not as many women read comics and I think it's largely because they're alienated by these images, it seems to solely appeal to men.   

@G-Man:

So you want comics full of ugly fat chicks?

No. Most likely, your critic want comics full of women treated as realistically as men are, in the same manner, with as much variety in face and body type. Apparently, you find that threatening and have jumped to an exaggeration of their argument that also demonises fat and those who don’t fit the cultural beauty standards. This says nothing flattering about you.

That’s censorship!

No, censorship would be if the critic was heading a government body and inspecting each title before it came out, with the ability to prevent the publication of anything that violated the guidelines of that body.

Unless that is what the critic is doing, or proposing others do, what they are engaging in is critique, not censorship.

Personally, I’m not interested in censoring things. I want people to stop depicting women so poorly in comic books, but I want them to stop because they realise it’s fucking dumb, not because there’s someone with a rubber stamp hovering suspiciously above each page. If criticism contributes to people realising that depicting women so poorly is fucking dumb – and I have an inbox says it does – then that is awesome.

( More here.)

But doing martial arts in high heels is perfectly reasonable.

People making this argument fall into two camps.

The first believe this is genuinely true, in which case I urge them to submit video footage at once, and salute their courage.

The second believe that superheroes being unrealistic creations in the first place, it isn’t much more unrealistic to stick four inch spikes on female characters. But why is it always the female characters? Because high heels are gendered. Women in comics aren’t wearing heels because they’re super-agile; they’re wearing heels because the artist believes that’s what attractive women should do.

Moreover, many feminist readers have worn heels, and know first hand how painful they can be and how much they restrict movement. Seeing stilettoes on Black Canary draws not admiration of her dainty classiness, but a mental *CRASH* following the failing suspension of disbelief.

But super-strong women don’t need bras!

It is true that Power Girl is not likely to suffer the backaches that her similarly-endowed real world sisters must endure or have painful surgery to correct, but once again there are two issues here.

The first is the suspension of disbelief thing – if you have large breasts, or even medium-sized breasts, you’re aware that they flop around and upset your balance and feel vulnerable when not constrained. For the male equivalent, please imagine a hero charging into battle in a kilt and a condom, with no other restriction on his own floppy bits. Now imagine that the things flopping around are about half as sensitive, but roughly ten times bigger.

*CRASH!*

The second is more an art/cultural thing, wherein the secondary sexual characteristics of women are held to be so hugely important that they must be emphasised. Bonus for obvious nipple action! If I have to point out why automatically reducing female characters to body parts is a bad idea, you are reading the wrong blog.

( More here.)

But girls often wear skirts! Why wouldn’t they go flying in them?

Girls do wear skirts! Not, usually, when they are being soldiers or fire fighters or police officers or martial artists or athletes, which are our real world equivalents to superheroes. I’ll grant you tennis and netball players, if you grant me that most tennis and netball players are wearing shorts or spanky pants under those skirts, and probably wouldn’t be wearing them at all if there wasn’t such a huge cultural pressure on women to be ladylike.

Which, again, is the problem. Superheroic women must be female first, heroes after. Women wear skirts. Therefore, superheroic women wear skirts!

Moreover, like heeled shoes, skirts restrict movement. Excess material gets in the way. And while the excess material that forms Superman’s cape is there to make him look awesome as it billows in the wind, the excess material that forms Supergirl’s skirt is there because she’s SuperGIRL, damnit!

Some superheroes might believably wear skirts. But it’s an odd choice that requires in-text explanation to suspend disbelief.

( More here.)

But that costume suits her personality!

Again, reasonable persons often employ this argument. Your critic is probably fully in favour of costumes suiting personalities. That’s why she’s irritated that, for example, Huntress’ personality apparently switched from full-cover spandex to an exposed midriff that somehow magically failed to reveal her bullet scars.

Or, she could be wearily sick of the parade of comic book women who, like the attractive aliens with no nudity taboo, just happen to have personalities that require costumes emphasising their primary sexual traits.

This one really is a judgement call. The critic may think that Power Girl’s costume suits her personality, but balks at Emma Frost’s all-white fetish wear. You might think Emma’s clothes admirably suited to her elitist contempt, but be baffled by the infamous boob window.

If this is the only spot the bingo player has scored off you, fear not! You are probably not a moron. This argument, like all the costume related points, is really only offensive in combination with others. That’s why we’re playing bingo, not handing out a misogyny raffle.

No one wants realism in comics!

This is often used to assume a fantasy-get-out-of-misogyny-free card, so if you have employed it as “but comics are about men’s fantasies so it doesn’t matter if they’re sexist and demeaning so STFU” I am afraid that this blog probably can’t help you. Possibly, nothing can.

However, if you are arguing that superhero comics employ unrealistic situations like people being able to fly and punch through solidified walls of time, and thus a lack of realism in the depiction of women is only to be expected, then your bingo player was right to send you here.

The thing is that we all want a certain amount of realism in comics. We want, for example, characters to be speaking something recognisable as language, preferably a language we understand. Unless you’re a huge Dali fan, I doubt you want Superman to suddenly become utterly surreal. (And if you are a huge Dali fan, hi! Me too!)

While superhero stories often feature wildly improbable physical storylines, powers and character origins, the characters themselves usually maintain some grip on emotional reality. They have to, or we wouldn’t want to read about them. Even the aliens are usually understandably human.

That’s why things like there being only one woman in a team, to fulfil the role of “the girl”, or lots of superheroines thinking skirts are a good idea, or the constant focus on sexy!!! gets to feminist readers. It has no emotional reality. It doesn’t ring true. And it’s skeezy and demeaning to argue that because it’s fantasy, it must be fantasy that objectifies women.

But men are drawn unrealistically too!

This is probably the bingo point that causes the most fuss. When otherwise enlightened persons use the argument and are consequently informed of their gaffe, they tend to respond, baffled, “But I’m RIGHT! They ARE!”

Yes! You are right! Nowhere but in comics or other carefully controlled media does one find such stunning physical specimens of manhood. Comic book guys often have symmetrical features, are well- (often over-) muscled and are generally good looking.

However, you don’t find many of them striding along in bathing suits and high-heeled boots, wrenching their backs out as they hurl their hips around and thrust their tumescent, massive penises and firmly rounded butts at the reader.

Why? Because that would look ridiculous. So why isn’t it ridiculous when it’s done to female characters?

No one would deny that the average superhero team contains more attractive men than you would find walking down the street anywhere but Hollywood. But there is a substantial difference between the unrealistic portrayal of men and women that relies heavily on gendered stereotyping of what is attractive. Men must be strong! Women must be sexy!

So when you say “But men are drawn unrealistically too!”, the bingo player reads “Men are drawn to look strong and handsome, and that’s why you shouldn’t complain about Frank Miller objectifying Vicki Vale’s talking butt.”

(More here, here, here and pretty much the rest of the feminist comics’ fans’ internet. )

Men can’t help themselves! Why are you punishing us for our biology?

Wow, and people say feminists hate men. If you genuinely believe men just have to objectify women, because it’s hardwired into them to regard those possessing vaginas as occasionally entertaining fuckdolls rather than people, and that objectification just has to ooze all over the pages of stories about good costumes vs evil costumes (plus explosions!) then you have a really, really low opinion of men.

I assume that since you have an internet connection, you’re not sitting in a tree eating a raw rat and grunting suspiciously at interlopers. I mean, I could be wrong. These are big internets, and there’s probably at least one person into that. But if you aren’t that person, and you make this argument, I feel bound to remind you that fully functional humans are totally capable of overcoming biological imperatives in favour of ethical standards and social justice and have been for hundreds of years. If you can’t be bothered to make the effort, then I’m not convinced I should consider you a modern human being at all.

This is just fanboy entitlement… from women!

And hence, presumably, even less attractive! Your critic may well have fan entitlement issues. They may also have feminist critique. Trolls often like to pretend one is the other, or else can’t tell the difference between “DC owes me a Blue Beetle/Catman mini-series!” and “Holy crap, if I see another Frank Cho cover where a woman is presenting at the reader, I’m going to scream.”

Honestly? Judgement call. But be aware that just because you don’t think something is offensive doesn’t mean the critic has no valid argument to make, and if you’re combining this point with others on the card, you should probably sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done.

Sexism is a convention of the genre!

Well, yes and no. Yes in that it’s certainly conventional, by which I mean, everywhere. No in that it isn’t quintessential to superhero stories. Costumes are a convention of the genre. Explosions are a convention of the genre. Origin stories explaining superpowers or the development of special skills are a convention of the genre.

Sexism is not necessary. It’s just habit.

Are you calling me a misogynist??

No, but now that you mention it….

If your reaction to a feminist criticism of comics is “But I like comics, and I’m not sexist!”, good for you. I’m glad you’re not sexist. But since you’re not sexist, why would the criticism bother you? You don’t need to identify with it. It’s not about you.

If your reaction is “But I like it and therefore it cannot possibly be sexist!” then you need to check out the concepts of “male privilege” and “patriarchy”. In your own time, please, but some good places to start are listed at the end of this column.

My girlfriend never complains about this stuff.Or: I’m a woman, and I’m not offended by this.

Your girlfriend (or you) does not speak for all womankind. No one does.

It is perfectly appropriate to point out that women do not share a hivemind in the presentation of a dissenting opinion. It is never appropriate to use your sample of female friends, or yourself, as a trump card that triumphantly deflects all feminist criticism with which they/you disagree.

Comics are never going to change. You’re wasting your time.

Goodness, how pessimistic! Your critic probably takes a more optimistic view – that things are bad, but can be changed; that social justice is possible and worth fighting for; that poor depictions and objectification of women can and should be combated, no matter the odds.

And hey, if she’s wrong, is that any of your business? It’s her time to waste.

Unless you mean that comics are never going to change, and you don’t want them to, because you like the status quo right where it is. In that case, I cordially invite you to bite me.

They could wear a plastic bag and would still look awesome!

"   

Unless you mean that comics are never going to change, and you don’t want them to, because you like the status quo right where it is. In that case, I cordially invite you to bite me.

If you think about it and you are not mormon look around. Victoria Secret and what not are trying to create the perfect forms on the human body. Well made clothing male or female will enhance traits that are sexual. Look at both male and female tee-shirts. Now with you are guy that likes a more fitted tee shirt you go to department store. The shirts in the shoulders more geared to enhance the shape the shape of the shoulders as well as the breast. Same place t-shirts for women enhance the shapes of the breasts and waist.  We do it to ourselves but when it's in comic all of a sudden it's wrong? So what, I can drool over Scott Summers in a comic and Boyfriend for pretty much the same visual reasons that are designed differently.

" @comicboy12 said:

"   

Unless you mean that comics are never going to change, and you don’t want them to, because you like the status quo right where it is. In that case, I cordially invite you to bite me.

Why should what I like, something that's been this way for decades, change, just because you don't like it? If you don't like... don't read it. Whoa. Now -there's- an idea. Instead of forcing your beliefs and what you want on me, just don't support it. Why take away what I want and love just because you don't like it? You, sir, can bite ME. Right here. This is the spot I like most. -really- get your teeth in there. Put your jaw into it. "

This is one of those arguments that reasonable people often make, unable to see why feminist comics fans spend time and energy discussing and deploring sexism in superhero comics when there’s just so darn much of it. Why not, the argument goes, simply stop reading? Give up comics altogether, or find alternatives to the superhero books that infuriate you so.

But that’s not good enough. Most feminist fans hate sexism, but love superheroes. I know that there’s something about costumed people beating the crap out of bad guys, invading alien armies and each other that makes my heart happy. If there are explosions, so much the better! And the fair number of books that get it right is evidence that it can be done.

But most importantly, your critic has every right to complain about sexism in comics because – crazy thought! – sexism is wrong, whether you think it’s a waste of energy or not.

Aside from the debate as to whether or not they are too "sexified" and lacking focus in more respectful areas such as character, there's one thing that has always bothered me about this trend.  I don't like obvious attempts at luring me in with overly sexy imagery.  It's like they're saying, "You're a primitive without any self-control, so we're going to get you to buy this item by putting a scantly clad woman on it!"  I don't like knowing that I'm being manipulated!  Trick me without being so obvious, but don't insult me.

sex·ism –noun

Not like the guys do not have crazy outfits either. Just stop taking it so seriously.

http://www.ifanboy.com/content/articles/Top_Ten_Most_Naked_Superhero_Costumes
 
 Can you count the men vs women in this top ten?

Some of you people have waaay to muc time on your hands to post a 10 page rebuttal...anyone wanna do my government papers next semester? ^_^

Err...ah, sorry. I was distracted by all the pictures. What are we talking about, again? ;)

 I think the issue isn't about how practical the costumes are, because I personally believe that anything brightly colored, spandex or labelled  with a particular monoquer is probably not the best suited thing to wear to secretly fight crime, I think the issue is with the design 
it seems painfully obvious that some characters (their costumes, at least) are made to be very provacative to increase interest in that character 
maybe it's even done as a mask for characters writers feel won't sell or peak interests without them 
but it's a comic book, it's all a fantasy world
and like it or not, in the most case it's a fantasy world written and drawn by men 
and even if it isn't, it becomes a fantasy world written by women, trying to emmulate or continue what men have created in the past
I see the over-emphasis paid on things like crotch shots and sidebood  (which is super condusive to fighting  crime, really it is) but I dont' think it's being done with the specific intention of belittling or dehumanizing women
I agree the issue of over-sexualizing women in comics is one that deserves at the very least a little credit 
all you have to do is look at the fanart section of any female superheroe's gallery on this site to see that MANY comic fans and readers obviously turn women into sex objects, but it is a bit of a two way street too 
at 10, 11, 12 years old, I was doing the same thing....but with Colossus
and Wonderman 
....and Namor 
I WAS 12 , OKAY?! Give me a break!!!! 
but any form of media that considers teenage to twenty-something boys their prime demographic, is going to either A) have more appeal if sex is involved or, B) will end up having their characers turned into something sexual any way 
all by the same "prime demo" that is currently enjoying their work.......see? I said "enjoying" there because I didn't necessarily mean "reading" if you catch my drift 
women in comics are often used as plot devices, beautiful damsels, corpses a for a hero to remember as angrily angrily heops to smite your feelings by killing mobsters, etc, but I think that has a lot to do with a status quo that has existed in comics for decades now 
if it changed, and characters like Vampirella and Red Sonja were suddenly clad in dungarees and crocs, would business be affected? 
would the comics just sit on the shelves?  
it's hard to say, but I do firmly believe that (for the most part), writers and artists are just doing what they think the fans want 
. 

awesome.

I DONT DISAGREE WITH ANYBODY, BUT DONT YOU THINK THERE MORE WORRIED ABOUT HOW THEY'RE GOING TO PROTECT THE WORLD RATHER THAN IF THEIR OUTFIT IS TOO SKIMPY OR NOT. DONT GET ME WRONG THERE ARE EXECEPTIONS (EMMA FROST, RED SHE- HULKS FIRST OUTFIT) BUT I THINK THEY HAVE MORE PRESSING PROBLEMS.

Good article.  It's the reason I don't pick up certain books, and the very basic reason why I think Psylocke is the stupidest character ever created and should never be taken seriously.

I think people take stuff like this way to seriously.  Comics are flights of fantasy where practicality doesn't play a role. If they started making costumes practical 99% of them would have to be changed. 

" I think people take stuff like this way to seriously.  Comics are flights of fantasy where practicality doesn't play a role. If they started making costumes practical 99% of them would have to be changed.  "

Some characters it does make sense for them to have a revealing costume, such as Black Cat. It's goes with her personality.

I do think it's a bit over the top the way they're drawn.

" @comicboy12:  I don't see as sexism. It's wrong for a woman to show a little cleavage but it's not wrong for a man to run around in a loin-cloth? How is that any different at all? You're still oogling his man parts. I think comics show a fair and balanced miss-representation of BOTH sexes. I'm sorry that you're so insecure that you see sexism everywhere. 

sex·ism –noun

discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex, as in restricted job opportunities; esp., such discrimination   directed against women.

   It's not discrimination if it's happening on both sides. Men are just as objectified as women are in comic books. Go cry "wolf" at women's romance novels. You want some sexual discrimination, there you go. Or how 'bout your average nightly sitcom, portraying fathers as stupid, bumbling idiots who don't care about their families goings-ons, while the mother is a strong independent woman who fixes everything the father fumbles.   My comic books are the least of your worries when it comes to sexual discrimination. Batman is little more than a naked man, colored grey black and blue, with a cape on. Spiderman is a naked man colored red and blue with little black webs on him. There's no bias here. We sexualize and objectify equally. Sorry to pop your bubble. "

"
 
Also I'm on a comic book site, the issues I talk about are going to be about comics. You wanna talk about sitcoms. Well yes I do find it  messed up when beautiful smart intelligent women end up with incompetent unattractive husbands and are always cleaning up the husbands messes.    You can try to ingore or beat down the gender issues all you want, but it's not help when crea tors and people in the comic book industry have pointed out that there is in fact a gender issue comics. "

I agree with a lot of what this article says. Many times, it really doesn't seem that female costumes serve much purpose by revealing certain parts.

I don't see what the big mystery is here. Comic characters are designed to be esthetically pleasing. As it happens, a lot of comic artists think that attractive people (surprise, surprise) are esthetically pleasing. Revealing clothing is (as in the real world) a way of accentuating this.
 
Do I sometimes wish that there was a more variety in the body types and physical characteristics depicted in comics? Do I wish more realism was injected into the designs? Yes. A lot actually. But I also realize why the designs look the way they do. It is part of the general esthetic of superhero comics.
 
Reading this article it would be easy to get the impression that female characters were the only ones with perfect sexualized physiques and revealing clothing. This i,s of course not true. The vast majority of male characters are have just as exaggerated proportions and while most do not sport the amount of skin that female characters do the skin-tight spandex rarely leaves much to the imagination in any case. I could point out male characters like Namor, Ka-Zar or pretty much any of the Hulk characters who regularly wear costumes showing way more skin than this but you get my point.
 
I'll agree that these type of sexualized depictions can be inappropriate but I resent the notion that some have expressed that they are misogynistic or sexist. Anyone who thinks differently should go look those words up. Depiction or appreciation of a sexually attractive female is not an indication of hatred or mistrust towards women. Nor is it a statement of female inferiority. If you want to criticize these costumes or body shapes, by all means go right ahead. But please use words that are actually relevant to the subject matter. Might I suggest "ridiculous"? That one I could agree on.

 Also I'm  not sure why you think objection of both genders is equality when both genders are objectified differentily  "

" @Lokein.Lyesmith: Like I said if you're just going to devolve into personal insults then there's no point in arguing. I expciltly told you the differences between the pictures you're using and the ones I'm using. None of those males are posed of position in a sexually explicit manner. Heck you wanna talk about namor compare that pic you posted to namora 

Suggest that I need therapy and might have a disorder because I don't agree with your views isn't insulting? Well Whatever 
 
yes I actually can see the male body as sexual, it happens in boy love manga all the time, Marvel and DC not so much. In the examples you post none of the males are potioned posed in sexual manner. Standing there half or near nude isn't necessary sexually explicit. It's what the body is doing that matters for example 
 
this is a nude sexualized male character 

" @Lokein.Lyesmith: If that's how you think then there's no point in arguing. Nudity has never a requirement for sexualazation. Just because a male or famale is nude says nothing about the 
sexualiztion  of both works. In all of the piece of art you post not one of them have a male character posing in a sexually submissive manner, nor are we suppose veiw them as sexual objects .

This topic rules!  I love chicks in comics, I love my Power Girl too. hmmmmmm . 

I agree that artists do at times go a little overboard with revealing clothing on superheroines. 

@mothore:

@Kid_Zombie

" @doordoor123 said:

 Nowadays very few people wear such revealing clothing. Unless of course they are sluts or models. "

Highly disagree, Women wear way more reveling clothing then ever before. You obviously never been to Toronto, La, or new york on a hot summers day ha ha especilly since thoughs short shorts are so in right now.  Its crazy these days what women where ha I'm not complaining but its true.  Anyways back to the aticle, SEX SELLS. They draw women unpossibly hot, but they draw men that way also. Is the uniforms for sex appeal then funcion, of course. But you do get a few women in comics with good costumes, Mockingbirds new costume is sweet really like hers.  I like in comics when the make fun of the costumes, Like when Ulra Girl has Ms.marvels old costume she has to keep picking out the wedgie ha ha "

"In all of the piece of art you post not one of them have a male character posing in a sexually submissive manner, nor are we suppose veiw them as sexual objects . "

" @Green Skin said:

" I think people take stuff like this way to seriously.  Comics are flights of fantasy where practicality doesn't play a role. If they started making costumes practical 99% of them would have to be changed.  "

Going by what you said then supers shouldn't have any realism that we feel in everyday life. But seeing as how they do, it's not uncommon to find people that want their heroes in appropriate work attire. "

Wow...this topic went of the rails a bit... 
To me I think it is a case of bad costume design as opposed to disrespect to females in comics.  
I do feel if the costume fits the character the right way ( no pun intended thank you) then we would not be having these conversations as much as we do. 
 
I think once we get away from what the characters roots are what they would wear, thats where the problem develops. 
 
Take Marvel's Black Cat and Black WIdow..Both characters wear black one piece suits. A cat burgalar and a spy. These are both sexy and simple outfits. Artist might jazz it up with the zipper being open in the suit, or they may or may not be seen in high heels, but these still are appropriate suits for these characters 
 
No caps, shoulder pads or unnessary straps or pockets to be found and I think as a result there look is not tinkered with to much. 
White Queen, Red Sonja, Storm and Starfire are some female characters that come to mind that wear less then most, but still seem to be on the "OK"  list 
 
Huntress's suit is not terrible...I like the color scheme, cape and mask is a keeper. I can see the need for the pockets and belts coming from the Bat-family of crime fighting. I certainly like her current look over her past uniforms 100%  However the exposed belly just seems not to make much sense.  
 
So I believe that showing skin is not a bad thing with female comic characters, just showing skin for the wrong reason is where I have the problem 
The one character that comes to mind that gets a free pass for a less then practical uniform is Wonder Woman 
a bathing suit and red high heeled boots does not speak powerful Amazon Princess to me 
but yet her look just seems to work... 
But when Sue Storm had the suit with the open 4 on her clevage we all flipped out 
but it works for Power Girl's chest 
 
Storm and Huntress kind of have the same design elements in their uniforms, but Storms to catch less flack 
 
And lastly... 
I thought this was odd as a comparison... 
Lady Martial artists in DC and Marvel 
 
the less suit the better it seems as Psylocke and Elektra seem to have the same tailor 
but Lady Shiva, and Chesire would be able to go toe to toe in a fight 
but they seem to have uniforms with multiple layers of clothing...I thought that was weird to me

"

"