Sexism in Comics is Not New--Here's What You Should Do about It

Aren't people not reading comic books already? Sorry to be blunt but the industry, while it's surviving, definitely isn't thriving on their main product currently. And if the movies stop doing well while the economy is in the dumps then they'll be in serious trouble. Marvel was bankrupt before the movies started becoming so popular and if DC was willing to do an Amalgam event with them, I'm guessing they weren't in good shape either.

Point is, maybe comics fledgling since the 80's may at least be partially attributed to titles actively alienating half the population of the world (more than half, actually)....women. How has it not occurred to executives in television, in movies, and in comics that women are still a viable audience when you don't completely degrade and devalue them?

The reality of the situation is people on the outside, people who don't buy comics view it as a landscape sexually depraved, squirmy little men who dress in costumes seek refuge. Just look at shows like "The Big Bang" that heavily capitalize on that premise. I'm not saying it's the truth but it's a definite, undeniable perception.

Comics were more successful when it was children buying them not because children are the best audience but because they were something you could buy at the corner store....readily accessible to all kinds of people. If a girl walks buy a comic store and sees Vampirella and Witchblade posters on the door she won't go in, why in the hell would she? Even men of a certain type won't go into a store like that.

For the record, I don't buy comics that offend me in such a way. It all sort of occurred to me when I saw one of my favorite comicbook characters falling headfirst on pavement with her skirt flying up simultaneously. (Boom Boom, Marvel, X-men: Manifest Destiny)

@pixelized:Someone wrote an article the other day on one of the big comic books sites (forgot which one) comparing the sexism in comics, which is mostly just fan service and unrealistic portrayals or women, to spousal abuse.

@Babs: Think sexism is going both ways though. Most of the male characters look like their pump steroids and came straight out of a calvin klein magazine. Most of them are also very sexually active (apart from goody two shoes like Superman) etc. While i don't see fan service shots like from starfire it actually does look weird in most of their physiques.

As for starfire, this new behavior isn't making me think of her negatively. While the true intention (like power girl) was to make them as sexually appealing as possible this never bothered me much because i could see the characters inside both (especially due to Jimmy and Amanda's old PG series which sadly went nowhere). I wish they would give people like PG more screen time and better villains etc. I mean she's a kryptonian powerhouse. She deserves to be written better than this! Like you said in a previous article that series took what used to be a poster girl and give her some depth and "oh she also happens to be voluptuous". For starfire the shots and proportions of her body are pretty weird but heck look at supes in some comics(especially jim lee) or many other male characters all flexing ridiculous muscles and action poses.

Finally in real life its just an old notion to think if a girl is sexually hungry or w/e she's a slut or whore. Goes back to the 19th century where if a woman enjoyed sex she was a prostitute and the good decent house wife was expected only to do it to make babies for her country ( "close your eyes and think of England"). So really there is nothing wrong with starfire saying she wants to have sex with someone. Frankly it could be Oliver Queen and i'm sure people would just think he's more awesome. batman just screwed with catwoman and all i hear is how much a slut catwoman is. Really? Isn't there also a double standard at play here. Why can men be portrayed (in any literature) as sexual beasts but if a woman goes similar terms then you've just turned her into a sub-human sex object?

Just my two cents.

@The Stegman said:

@Lonestar88:  
 
 

The fact that Starfire was promiscuous did not bother me at all.  The thing that bothered me was her utter lack of any personality. With no personality, her promiscuity became her defining trait. Not only is that sexist, it also makes for an incredibly uninteresting character.

i really REALLY don't think Dc is stupid enough to make vapidness Starfire's new permanent personality, my guess is, as the series progresses, she's gonna learn how to care more for those around her and act less alien...pun intended, it'll probably play out like Terminator 2, i mean the Terminator didn't really have a personality, but in the end he learned at least some form of love.

Oh I definitely agree with that, I don't think Starfire will permanently be this way, but for this issue, her lack of a personality made things a lot worse. Your terminator reference is fitting because she was portrayed as just a sex robot.  I don't think her promiscuity would have been as big of a controversy if she actually had a personality.

Yep, the 90's was equally as bad, if not worse. Just take a look at Image covers from that time. That said, people grew tired of it and moved on.

Oh I definitely agree with that, I don't think Starfire will permanently be this way, but for this issue, her lack of a personality made things a lot worse. Your terminator reference is fitting because she was portrayed as just a sex robot.  I don't think her promiscuity would have been as big of a controversy if she actually had a personality

As for that one article, it isn't like she let her daughter read the comic, and her daughter read old Teen Titans comics so she's familiar with how Starfire is presented in comics. Though I think the author was pretty upset that they took a character her daughter loves, striped her of the points that made her a hero, and presented her as shell of her former self while exploiting her for the sake of fanservice.

Although another problem is that when attention is brought to an issue like this that instantly generates publicity for the comic(s) that are the center of the controversy, and sadly, that usually leads to an increase in sales or at least interest in them. Which can drown out the problems at hand as well as take attention away from comics that should be getting the attention for their quality.

Aren't people not reading comic books already? Sorry to be blunt but the industry, while it's surviving, definitely isn't thriving on their main product currently. And if the movies stop doing well while the economy is in the dumps then they'll be in serious trouble. Marvel was bankrupt before the movies started becoming so popular and if DC was willing to do an Amalgam event with them, I'm guessing they weren't in good shape either.

Point is, maybe comics fledgling since the 80's may at least be partially attributed to titles actively alienating half the population of the world (more than half, actually)....women. How has it not occurred to executives in television, in movies, and in comics that women are still a viable audience when you don't completely degrade and devalue them?

The reality of the situation is people on the outside, people who don't buy comics view it as a landscape sexually depraved, squirmy little men who dress in costumes seek refuge. Just look at shows like "The Big Bang" that heavily capitalize on that premise. I'm not saying it's the truth but it's a definite, undeniable perception.

Comics were more successful when it was children buying them not because children are the best audience but because they were something you could buy at the corner store....readily accessible to all kinds of people. If a girl walks buy a comic store and sees Vampirella and Witchblade posters on the door she won't go in, why in the hell would she? Even men of a certain type won't go into a store like that.

For the record, I don't buy comics that offend me in such a way. It all sort of occurred to me when I saw one of my favorite comicbook characters falling headfirst on pavement with her skirt flying up simultaneously. (Boom Boom, Marvel, X-men: Manifest Destiny)

@Babs said:

@movieartman said:

@pspin: yes but the sex isnt the problem its the fact that they gave her this whole memory loss thing witch caused her to loose her traditional loving careing personality without it the sex just makes her seem like the male characters living sex doll im strongly holding out hope that this is an intentional plot point witch will be sorted out in future storylines as her character growsand babs i truly can appreciate your strong feelings on this subject u are a very strong and intellegent woman but honestly the way this whole article comes out is that men Should not at all enjoy attractive female super heroes kicking ass and being sexy YES they should have deeper characterazations than just that but they should have thoose qualitys too for gods sake and telling us to boycott books just cus they have an over aboundence of cheesecake is far and away overdoing this

I'm sorry that's what you interpreted from what I wrote, but that's not at all the message I was trying to convey.

I never, ever said that women can't be both strong and sexy.

Babs: I though your article on sexism in comics was almost perfect. As a man who doesn't like sexism but who does appreciate attractive women, I like the fact that you mentioned Batwoman as a character that is both well written and sexy. It increases my confidence that it is possible to satisfy the interests of both feminists and heterosexual men.

I agree with let your wallet speak. I picked up the Red Hood book cause I have loved almost all previous Jason Todd stuff and was severly disappointed due to some of the sexual elements. Needless to say this issue is no longer onmy pull list.

@spikevalentine said:

It is also laughable to expect this out of a medium that is mostly produced and consumed by male teens and adults (and I am not taking here into consideration the great quasi-feminist works of Joss Whedon, Martin Wagner, Daniel Clowes, Terry Moore, Chris Claremont, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman... which girls are not seeming to mind).

Wrong. Is it laughable to expect a non racist caricature of a black person from a white writer? Is is laughable to expect a realistic old person from a young writer. Maybe not yourself, but the vast majority of male comic readers want all of their characters, regardless of their sex, to be well written.

It's laughable to think that we wouldn't.

The only people at fault are the writers.  When you can't look at the detailed speech bubbles, you have to start looking more at the artists drawing.  When the two blend together like milk and chocolate syrup, all is well.  When they don't, then otherwise perfectly fine characters start to look desperate. 

@Lonestar88:  
 
to be honest...i kinda liked her non personality, as i said, it makes her seem more alien, she even said that on Tamaran, love has nothing to do with it, perhaps her race doesn't have the same emotions as those of Earth, maybe love, friendship, etc are non existent to her, i personally like her starting out as a Tabula Rasa and have her learn along the way

I dont understand how this is sexist though? there is plenty of males in comics that will sleep with anything that walks so why is that ok but this is not?

That's the thing though, she's not really a Tabula Rasa, if she were, then she wouldn't be so promiscuous. Basically ,she lost every character trait except for the need to have sex with every male she sees. It's understandable why that would upset some people.

Bring back Cassandra Cain! You don't get a better well rounded female character than that.

@Lonestar88 said:

The fact that Starfire was promiscuous did not bother me at all. The thing that bothered me was her utter lack of any personality. With no personality, her promiscuity became her defining trait. Not only is that sexist, it also makes for an incredibly uninteresting character.

interesting point. I haven't read much of her to judge but lets see how things go from here on.

The way i see it, there isn't really that much of a difference in the way male and female characters are portrayed in comics. Just because they're not running around in thongs doesn't mean male characters are not objectified in the comic book world. In fact, if you ask me, having all these uber muscular alpha males, who always act heroic and show their superiority by beating up bad guys, is just as sexist as the big boobed women with their wasp waists and skimpy costumes. Cause just like those hot chicks that are always sexually available to them are males fantasies, that's pretty much what female fantasies look like. Of course, i'm simplifying here, but in the end that's what it comes down to.

The way i see it, women seem much easier offended by these kind of portrayals. All of the comments i've read so far, many women seem to be annoyed because in some comics they're painting a picture of how a women should be like that's either not positive or something they never could life up to. What i don't get though is, why should all female characters portrayed in a positive manner? Cause there are certainly characters like Wonder Woman or Batgirl that i think are of are very positive role models. And yet, whenever there are female characters that aren't, there seems to be some sort of outcry. But you know, there are also women in real life that may act and dress in the way Starfire and Catwoman did in those controversial Comics. Why shouldn't that be reflected in the comic book world, a world where you have male Heroes with drinking problems, male antagonists who rape the heroes wives and so on. After all, wouldn't it be incredibly boring read a Comic Book with only perfect characters, that have no negative character trades?

Ironically enough, the other criticism seems to be that female characters are portrayed TOO perfect, which of course mainly refers to the way the look. But it's not like the male characters have any less perfect or unrealistic physics. I mean, even heroes whose powers aren't based on physical strength look like bodybuilders. So i don't really see the problem there. In fact, i'd say the ideal presented in comic book by male characters (both looks and personailtywise) would be even harder to life up to. But, unlike females, male readers simply don't seem to think that's what the comic books are asking them to.

And aside from all of that, simply based on their very action and sci fi heavy nature, Comics are still very much speaking to a way bigger male than female audience. And therefor, they're of course they're written towards male sensibilities. Which i don't necessarily think is a bad thing. I mean, just look at certain female orientated fiction and how one dimensional and stereotypical male characters are often portrayed there. There really isn't much of difference. It just doesn't get criticized by the opposite sex for being sexist.

Anyway, sorry for the rant and my bumpy english, guys. But personally i'm really sick of this topic. As much as i love comic books and the many well rounded characters the medium has to offer, i'm very well aware that, at least in mainstream superhero books, on a certain level they're always portrayed in a very clichée-driven way, male or female. And that's part of what makes the whole thing fun. If i want something more, i watch a arthouse film or something.

@White Mage said:

@HexThis said:

Aren't people not reading comic books already? Sorry to be blunt but the industry, while it's surviving, definitely isn't thriving on their main product currently. And if the movies stop doing well while the economy is in the dumps then they'll be in serious trouble. Marvel was bankrupt before the movies started becoming so popular and if DC was willing to do an Amalgam event with them, I'm guessing they weren't in good shape either.

Point is, maybe comics fledgling since the 80's may at least be partially attributed to titles actively alienating half the population of the world (more than half, actually)....women. How has it not occurred to executives in television, in movies, and in comics that women are still a viable audience when you don't completely degrade and devalue them?

The reality of the situation is people on the outside, people who don't buy comics view it as a landscape sexually depraved, squirmy little men who dress in costumes seek refuge. Just look at shows like "The Big Bang" that heavily capitalize on that premise. I'm not saying it's the truth but it's a definite, undeniable perception.

Comics were more successful when it was children buying them not because children are the best audience but because they were something you could buy at the corner store....readily accessible to all kinds of people. If a girl walks buy a comic store and sees Vampirella and Witchblade posters on the door she won't go in, why in the hell would she? Even men of a certain type won't go into a store like that.

For the record, I don't buy comics that offend me in such a way. It all sort of occurred to me when I saw one of my favorite comicbook characters falling headfirst on pavement with her skirt flying up simultaneously. (Boom Boom, Marvel, X-men: Manifest Destiny)

What "certain type" are you referring to?

Of self-conscious or reluctant sort, someone who might even want to go into a comic store but is put off by it. Maybe they'd even like the comics but not all guys want to see girls with spherical breasts wearing "body armor" pasties.

@keith71_98 said:

There's an obvious difference between making a female sexy and making her a spectacle. Both Catwoman and Red Hood did nothing to portray sexiness. Both characters deserved a lot better and my money won't be going their way.

I'm going to defend Catwoman. Just because you didn't find the end of the book sexy, doesn't mean it isn't for other people. You don't represent all people, man or women. "What turns me on is erotica; what turns you on is pornopgrahic"- Ellen Willis. She said this to 2nd wave feminist who argued erotica was good and porn was bad (as rape). Basically, just because something doesn't turn you on doesn't mean that's it's bad or sexist.

Edit: Why is this bold? How do I change this?

@White Mage said:

@JoseDRiveraTCR7 said:

@pixelized:Someone wrote an article the other day on one of the big comic books sites (forgot which one) comparing the sexism in comics, which is mostly just fan service and unrealistic portrayals or women, to spousal abuse.

........................................................Was it based on dialogue? Or was it based on looks?

Just sexism in comics in general. Either way, to say it's as bad as actual spousal abuse is absurd and insulting.

there are a ton of powerful female characters in comics, 355 from Y the Last Man comes greatly to mind, Ms. Marvel is another one even in her skampy outfit, but then again we also see many times Tony Stark's bare chest so that like balances it out lol Mockingbird is another character, as you mentioned Batwoman and Wonder Woman have had great starts, and there's the awesome Pearl from American Vampire and Scarlet from Scarlet and of course Buffy Summers and her gal pals from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I think there's very little issue here, there will always be titillation in every form of medium (Playboy Club (the show) and Bayonetta come to mine T.T) , what I am trying to say is that there a lot of power female characters in comics, if they look nice there's nothing wrong with that just like there's nothing wrong with having a sexy Nate Grey or Constantine (yeah!), they in fact overshadow the wrong doings of certain comics. sigh...I hope I made sense.

This article makes me want to give up being a heterosexual male. But not until after I bang Starfire.

I wish all of these websites would realize that it's 2 comics out of 52!!! Controversy sells and all of these comic websites are fueling the fire. I'm not saying ignore it but try to focus more on the 95% of the new comics that didn't offend you.

Yeah the changes to Starfire are a shame, but the artwork in Red Hood and the Outlaws was still awesome either way.

I feel like this was the one article that wasn't just trying to stir the pot even more, and Sara actually took the time to get some good points across. This is why Comic Vine is my favorite comic website!

@Lonestar88:  
 

That's the thing though, she's not really a Tabula Rasa, if she were, then she wouldn't be so promiscuous. Basically ,she lost every character trait except for the need to have sex with every male she sees. It's understandable why that would upset some people.

yeah that's what i'm thinking is upsetting people too, however i see her less as promiscuous, and more like an animal, driven only by primal instincts, fight, feed, and mate

Most comic characters are drawn as ideal not realistic. In comics, women generally have big boobs, narrow waists, and long legs. The men in comics are unnaturally muscular with large arms, over-sized chest, and unreal abs. If you're bothered by such builds you might as well stop reading comics with superheroes.

As far as Starfire's personality, it's how the people from her planet are, both male and female. Sexuality is actually a pretty open topic in her entire sector, as shown in the 80's Omega Men comics.

Is sexism good? No. But that's how comics are, and it does swing both ways in them.

Sadly that is the case, it's more easy to pick at the negatives than praise the positives, but they do exist!!!

@keith71_98 said:

There's an obvious difference between making a female sexy and making her a spectacle. Both Catwoman and Red Hood did nothing to portray sexiness. Both characters deserved a lot better and my money won't be going their way.

I'm going to defend Catwoman. Just because you didn't find the end of the book sexy, doesn't mean it isn't for other people. You don't represent all people, man or women. "What turns me on is erotica; what turns you on is pornopgrahic"- Ellen Willis. She said this to 2nd wave feminist who argued erotica was good and porn was bad (as rape). Basically, just because something doesn't turn you on doesn't mean that's it's bad or sexist.

Edit: Why is this bold? How do I change this?

@White Mage said:

@JoseDRiveraTCR7 said:

@pixelized:Someone wrote an article the other day on one of the big comic books sites (forgot which one) comparing the sexism in comics, which is mostly just fan service and unrealistic portrayals or women, to spousal abuse.

........................................................Was it based on dialogue? Or was it based on looks?

Just sexism in comics in general. Either way, to say it's as bad as actual spousal abuse is absurd and insulting.

@gangly: That's why I made the inclusion of some fine boys writing excellent femenine perspectives ;) the only thing fans, male or female, should care about here is great storytelling. And for the record, I think Ultimate Comics; Spider-Man playing the ethnicity card is not only patronizing, but it is also a terrible story, it's more preocupied with justifying the character's roots than actually telling a story, which is what bothers me. Jaime as Blue Beetle was awesome, even if I loved Ted Chord, this just goes to show it has been well made before. My point, kids need to start reading comics for the story above anything else.

@astrid12 said:

there are a ton of powerful female characters in comics, 355 from Y the Last Man comes greatly to mind, Ms. Marvel is another one even in her skampy outfit, but then again we also see many times Tony Stark's bare chest so that like balances it out lol Mockingbird is another character, as you mentioned Batwoman and Wonder Woman have had great starts, and there's the awesome Pearl from American Vampire and Scarlet from Scarlet and of course Buffy Summers and her gal pals from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I think there's very little issue here, there will always be titillation in every form of medium (Playboy Club (the show) and Bayonetta come to mine T.T) , what I am trying to say is that there a lot of power female characters in comics, if they look nice there's nothing wrong with that just like there's nothing wrong with having a sexy Nate Grey or Constantine (yeah!), they in fact overshadow the wrong doings of certain comics. sigh...I hope I made sense.

"Looking nice" vs looking Maxim turned you down so you schlepped yourself over to Hustler are two different things. To say that there's tant amount of male exposure is ridiculous too. And this difference is that when they're naked or sans shirt it's in the shower or at hotel resort or something. We have some female characters who are wearing thongs while fighting samurai sword-wielding ninjas on gravel.

People blowing the whistle on sexism don't want every woman to look like Eleanor Roosevelt or Susan B. Anthony, pretty people is fair game. They just don't want every woman to be subjected to a leather teddy and a ditzy demeanor.

@RickZeo said:

And aside from all of that, simply based on their very action and sci fi heavy nature, Comics are still very much speaking to a way bigger male than female audience. And therefor, they're of course they're written towards male sensibilities. Which i don't necessarily think is a bad thing. I mean, just look at certain female orientated fiction and how one dimensional and stereotypical male characters are often portrayed there. There really isn't much of difference. It just doesn't get criticized by the opposite sex for being sexist.

You say there really isn't much of a difference, but you're missing one crucial point. I completely agree that there is "female oriented fiction" that objectifies men and boys. That's just a fact. But it's vital to realize that those books are a percentage of the entire universe of literature itself. And there are tons of books that cater to tons of interests.

Now if you consider, say, the entire DC universe, you have to agree that a majority of ALL OF the titles are coming from the same POV. As you say, "they're written towards male sensibilities".

Imagine that there were NO OTHER BOOKS than the "female oriented" ones you talk about. Would you still want to read books? Or would you maybe start to think that books are sexist?

This is exactly what I'll be doing, Red Hood and Catwoman won't be receiving my money next month or in future months, but Batwoman, Batgirl and Wonder Woman sure are, I enjoyed the hell out of those. As soon as I flipped through Red Hood, I was kind of excited to see the backlash on the internet, particularly what Sara would say. I wasn't pleased with how the issue itself turned out, but the internet came together to agree that it was pretty bad.

@Babs said:

@Wattup said:

My lit agent sent me this funny link:

http://io9.com/5844355/a-7+year+old-girl-responds-to-dc-comics-sexed+up-reboot-of-starfire

When I read that I was pretty disappointed. I couldn't believe that woman exploited her 7 year old daughter by exposing her to the comic she knowingly did not agree with just so she could get an article out of of. It just felt wrong.

Huh. I never thought of it that way. Golly. I guess I was taken in by the cute pictures and the shortpacked! cartoon.

Unless the kid was the one who picked out the comic when the two ventured to the comic book shop. Like, "Look, mommy! Starfire!"

LOL

@spikevalentine said:

"Sexism" is America's new "Communism" apparently, people just throw around that word without regards of meaning and implication, just as a quick cop-out for the inability to take an art work for what it is.

To start with, we are talking about fictional characters. Really, to think that this is equivalent to rape, sexual harassment, and other real forms of sexism, is to have no regard for the suffering of those who actually suffer it. And by the way, most media, like soaps, also portray me in a "sexist" manner, like men are walking ATM machines, is it a real issue or is it a medium directed to what the female mainstream wants to see? Are we really going to censor fiction just for an unjustified sense of indignation?

My advice, if you don't like it, don't buy it. And if you want to empower the character, write comics, get good at it, and make your stories, and you might even get them published.

It is also laughable to expect this out of a medium that is mostly produced and consumed by male teens and adults (and I am not taking here into consideration the great quasi-feminist works of Joss Whedon, Martin Wagner, Daniel Clowes, Terry Moore, Chris Claremont, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman... which girls are not seeming to mind).

It's ridiculous to complain about how this fiction is handled, seriously, if you don't like what you are getting, just don't buy it, it's the first rule of consumerism. Why would want to ostracize the medium? Humans are sexual by nature, and believe me, in the history of art, sexuality has played a huge role in an artistic work, not to mention this actually is very conservative in comparisson (no that that is any sort of merit).

Sexually progressive cultures gave us mathematics, literature, philosophy, civilization and the rest, while sexually restrictive cultures gave us the Dark Ages and the Holocaust. -Alan Moore

I disagree with your premise that talking about "sexism" in media is a cop out. One way in which discrimination gets normalized, and therefor accepted, is thru media. If you look at history you can see violence towards or oppression of groups is often coupled with dehumanizing rhetoric in various media. E.g. The Dreyfus Affair, The Rwandan Genocide, Nazi Germany, The Yellow Peril, portrayal of African Americans from the 1800s thru the 1960s, and the Cleveland Indians.

I'd go more in detail but it's been a long time since I took Anthropology of Genocide in college.

Bravo, Sara! Excellent work on your editorial.

Here's something I have been thinking about after listening to the Comic Vine podcast from last week. The part of the discussion how people have been celebrating how certain comic series have been getting more "mature". DC rebooted their series in an attempt to garner the attention of "new readers". Pretty much by definition, these new readers are younger readers than the ones they currently have. So, isn't DC shooting themselves in the foot by making so many of these reboots for an older audience? Seems counter to the basic goal.

I've had this stance for a long time. I seriously couldn't put up with what I saw Quesada doing in Spider-man comics. So, I stopped buying them. I wasn't going to just rant about it while I'm paying to support the very actions I disagree with. Instead, I went to buy other kinds of comics that were giving me what I want. It's the same thing with "events". Everyone complains about them, but they wouldn't keep publishing them if they didn't sell.

I am no prude against fanservice. Hell, it certainly got my attention as an adolescent boy. It's in a lot of the mangas I read, but they were there from the very start of the series. They aren't doing anything new in some ham-fisted attempt to get more attention. If you don't like fanservice. Just don't buy that series and go with a different one that has what you're looking for. It just seems so disjointed for comics when you see a series depict a character one way in one book, then a new creative team comes along and does what has recently been done to Starfire. It's not as if her character has always been so open or loose about sex.

There are a lot of people who get the idea that all manga and anime are just fanservice and panty shots, but I can tell you that's not even nearly true. There are a lot of series have have very strong women. One of the more famous you may have heard of is Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell. A lot of the women in the Detective Conan series are strong, powerful, and very intelligent (it's just too bad the English publisher butchered the story). Fullmetal Alchemist is another great example. This has a lot of impressive female characters, such as Olivier Milla Armstrong, Izumi Curtis, Lan Fan, Riza Hawkeye, and Winry Rockbell. In fact, the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist is a woman, Hiromu Arakawa. She's the writer and artist. There is the series One Piece, which is one of the highest selling mangas in Japan's history. The series Black Lagoon is filled with strong women, but for mature readers. Not because of sex as much as intense violence. This has a character named Roberta who always makes me think of what would happen if Wonder Woman went crazy and used guns. Her incredible skill is what makes her so damn cool.

One of my favorite strong and sexy women from manga is Nico Robin.

Shameless Plug

I wrote a news editorial for Anime Vice talking about how important women are to the manga/anime industry as not just readers but as creators of some of the best selling manga and anime series in Japan. "Women of the Manga and Anime Industry". In manga and anime, there are entire genres that are specifically targeted for female viewers. They are called Shojo or Josie.

This is an excellent article and it makes an excellent point. I never understand that aspect of fanboyism which forces one to read or watch material that he/she doesn't enjoy. This is comics, people; it's supposed to be entertainment, not torture.

There's a guy at my LCS that was just harping on me for not picking up a ton of books. My answer to him was that the fact of the matter is that I buy only what I enjoy. I try new stuff from time to time, but when I flipped through Catwoman and Red Hood and the Outlaws, I did not like what I saw and knew I wouldn't enjoy reading. So guess what... I didn't spend my money on it. And by the way, in the next breath, that guy was complaining about most of the books he'd bought the week before. Figure that one out.

The fact is, as Sara said in the article, we have the voting power as consumers. Especially in a rather small, niche industry. You want to stop sexism in comics? Don't buy sexist comics. Period. You can write all the letters to editors you want, tweet negativity until your heart's content and whine about comics on a blog, but guess what: if the sales are still good, they'll keep producing the book.

A little common sense goes a long way.

Sexism... IS EVERYWHERE. Even before the 'New 52', I always knew comicbooks are just one vehicle for sexism. Kinda like in tv shows, movies, music videos, animation, japanese mangga... etc.

I think it's interesting to note how comics is reverting back to what almost destroyed the industry in the 90s. After amazing sales in 1990-92, Marvel and DC went crazy with events, deaths, gimmicks and the bad girl phase. Then after a lull period, creative story-lines and cross-marketing brought it back somewhat (although never to the same level) in the late 90s/early 00's but now we're going back to the same gross excess. This overblown sexism is part of it: yes, it's not new...but it's also a lot more blatant than ever and only used to lasso that shoot'em up video-game driven, Jason Statham movie-watching male demo. I'm actually afraid for the industry right now because companies keep on trying to engineer booms to garner media attention, which won't work in the long run. 8 (

i enjoyed catwoman...guess im a sexist

I'm a progressive thinking guy but PLEASE DO NOT reduce Power Girl's tits

@Wattup: Even though the writing style of the 90s sucked and were a problem, that wasn't what destroyed the industry. It was people buying numerous copies of books thinking that those books would cost a lot of money in the future. This led to bubble that burst, and Diamond was able to become the only distributor of comics in the country, which is a problem because their business model sucks.

I liked Catwoman, but Red Hood and the hole Starfire book was way over the top and completely unneeded. With a few minor adjustments, Catwoman will be a really good series I think.

I really enjoyed red hood, it was one of my favorite out of the new 52 !

@ForbushBug said:

So if we're supposed to stop supporting sexist comics per Eric Stephenson's suggestion then I guess I'll stop picking up Bomb Queen minis... which are put out by Image. Let me guess... he'll probably say that's different because BQ is supposed to be satire so it can show as much T&A. Nope, doesn't work. Skin is skin. Sorry, Eric... you don't get to bash another company's character for have a cleavage window when one of yours has her boobs actually falling out of hers. And don't get me started on the output of their partner, Top Cow. But thanks to Eric's hypocrisy I will stop supporting a company that panders to its audience... Image Comics.

Totally agree, Images makes Bomb Queen and Hack/Slash and they think that they can say that DC comics are exploitative

For a boycott to work it would have to actually effect the profitability of a comic which probably isn't going to happen because there seemed to be a lot of people who had positive things to say about the comics. Also even if it no longer becomes popular there are a couple reasons why it may continue to be published, if DC wants it to be a loss leader or they think that future gains will offset the current loses they will continue to publish.

EDIT: After rereading his actual blog post I see things a little differently. For one he says that people should stop complaining about the comics they don't like, it just draws attention to them. Red Hood and the Outlaws is probably going to get a boost in sales because its all everyone is talking about. I am not sure how I feel about his sexism with superhero comics it seems hypocritical when you look at some Image books but I like his idea to just ignore the comics that aren't for you, don't buy them but don't complain about them either. I do that with comics all the time, I buy a book and I don't like it I just stop getting it, at most I may talk to the guys at the comic book shop about it but I don't go farther. When I write reviews to talk about comics I usually write positive ones, there is one exception but that was because it seemed like every review at the time was positive and I wanted to offer an alternate view. But you know I agree with that part of the blog you don't like it you don't have to get it, and if it means you won't get to read one of your favorite characters that sucks but its comics. One of my favorite characters is The Creeper, I don't get to read him because he isn't in any comics.

@Fantasgasmic: What I'm saying is that this isn't actually sexism, not that we shouldn't talk about it, by all means, there are no sacred cows. I'm not supporting sexist propaganda, but what kids need to realize is that, for example, the rape scene in Watchmen (at least as I understood it) is not about Alan Moore's misoginistic philosophy (which I think he has none), the scene was meant as device to illustrate the extent of the moral ambiguity and how low can the Comedian (society) sink. Gruesome as it is, it is fiction, and it doesn't advocate rape.

What I meant with that is that ladies that don't seem to like the direction of the titles feel somewhat offended because it doesn't fill-up their expectations, and instead of protesting the editorial decisions in a more logical fashion, like "In spite of the hardships of Starfire's life, she always used to overcome that with love, but now it seems she uses sex...whatever, and I think it is not in character", they just label it "sexist" and protest with this misplaced sense of feminism.

There's a reason why of the 3 most talked about (Red Hood and the Outlaws, Catwoman and Wonder Woman) Wonder Woman was the only one I actually bought.