Enough Already
By lightfright12 4 Comments
Here is my rant about the furor over the depiction of women in comics, especially during the new 52
1. Feminists need to get a grip
feminists have been railing against women in comics for years, and they have many valid points especially when it comes to the women in refrigerator moments. However, it is getting to a hardcore point that does more harm than good, my reasons will be stated below.
2. Comic book characters are all objectified.
The main thing feminists rail against about the portrayal of women in comics is that they are objectified, and this lead to objectification in the real world. Id like to remind everyone that ALL COMIC BOOK CHARACTERS ARE OBJECTIFIED!. Yes women are often portrayed with idealized figures, but so are men. the women are who the men want to be with, but the men are who THEY WANT TO BE. every super hero is a rippling Adonis dressed in skin tight spandex, physiques every man wishes they had. so yes, all comic book characters are objectified, but that is because they are objects.
As for the argument that the objectification of women in comics feeds into the objectification in the real world, that is a completely valid point and true. What needs to be done is to teach children from an early age that the characters are not real that the female characters deserve just as much respect as the male characters, which could help with the view of women in the real world. The best way to end the objectification is to get more girls into comics. It is also partly the parents fault for warning girls away from comics, either because they think they are not feminine or because of the way women are drawn and portrayed. The more girls get into comics, the more female artists and writers will enter industry to change things.
4. Get off the writers asses.People need to climb down off the writers. They know what there doing to make a book popular. Again if women are fed up with the way females are portrayed and dressed, then there needs to be more female writers and artists doing there damndest to break into the industry to change it from the inside out.
5. Don't judge a book by it's first issue.
The furor over the first issue of red hood and the out laws will be remembered for some time, but so will the 180s everyone has done as the book goes on. This should teach us to hold our criticism until we read all the issues of a book. It also seems like kind of a knee jerk response to jump all over star fire for her changes and not for other male heroes like Superman with his know costume, or Hal Jordan for selling himself to Sinestro for a power ring.
6. Women can be sexy and powerful.
. People need to remember lipstick feminism. I like the fact that so many women in comics books can stand toe to toe with there male counterparts. Finally the female form has always been more popular than the male form. Only during the earliest era of Ancient Greece was the male form held as more beautiful than the female. Comics are no different. They are in this day in age as much expressions of both male and female anatomy as much as entertaining stories. The female form is expressed more than the male form via the varied angles and skimpy outfits.Finally, men are pigs. We are driven by lust and sexual desire, and unfortunatly many comic book writers and artists are geeks who never had a girlfriend and express there desires through there work. Yes females are objectified and portrayed as unrealistic to a greater degree than male characters, on the other hand very few are damsels in distress anymore. They are strong, intelligent and capable. Many of them could be more dressed or dress more like there male counterparts, but would that make things better, or make everything generic?
Finally, and I say this a third time, if woman want to change things then they need to fight like hell to get into the industry. Talking about the problems is good, it keeps them in the light, but talking isn't enough. no matter how good a man is he will never be able to think like a woman or have a female perspective on the world. If Women want to change female characters, then they need to get into positions to write and draw them.