tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post6616147002939931984..comments2023-10-26T22:06:11.166+11:00Comments on Metamagician3000: Sunday Supervillainy - Kelly Thompson on the sexist portrayal of women in superhero comicsRussell Blackfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-78158446215480914992012-02-29T00:48:07.469+11:002012-02-29T00:48:07.469+11:00Who said anything about it being pornography for w...Who said anything about it being pornography for women? :P<br /><br />(Point was, it's for looks, not health or strength.)<br /><br /><br />Poses and clothes are more obviously lopsided.Svlad Cjellinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-57279497999342855642012-02-28T13:35:39.881+11:002012-02-28T13:35:39.881+11:00I don't actally think I know any women who go ...I don't actally think I know <i>any</i> women who go for the full-on bodybuilder type, as opposed to relatively lean athletic types, or to bodies that just look strong in a normal way. The bodybuilder images, I think, tend to be more a male fantasy. Using those massively muscled male bodies in comics is not to appeal to women. That doesn't make it a terrible thing, but it's not as if women's fantasies are being appealed to on equal terms with men's fantasies.<br /><br />It's interesting, though, that a lot of women do, in fact, read comics ... and evidently find other things appealing.<br /><br />I also had an interesting discussion about this post over on Facebook, and out of it I just want to emphasise that I am not opposed to nudity, or eroticism, or even, when taken one by one, to female characters who are narcissistic or seductive or nudists! The problem with the female characters is partly the cumulative effect of so many of them fitting into versions of those categories - many things that I could and would defend in isolation, one at time, can add up to a problem if such choices are being made, like, <i>all</i> the time. <br /><br />And then, there's a difference between unselfconscious nudity (I'd even be happy with <i>more</i> of this, involving characters of both sexes, as the messsage is a body-positive one), seductive nudity (absolutely fine if in character and relevant to the story, in which case the message can be body/sex positive), and pornified nudity that tends to demean as much as celebrate the characters in exhibiting them directly to the reader (and thus sends a mixed message at best). There can be legitimate arguments about where lines are drawn in particular cases, but sometimes it's clear enough, and again we get cumulative effects from many decisions.<br /><br />I won't even get into the way the women are always portrayed as having enormous breasts (sometimes on anorexic bodies) or the way one artist in particular seems to trace porn images, and makes his female characters look like they're having orgasms as inopportune moments.Russell Blackfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-48345285444752852212012-02-27T23:23:17.114+11:002012-02-27T23:23:17.114+11:00As later commenters have pointed out, the bodybuil...As later commenters have pointed out, the bodybuilder physique is (1) <a href="http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/02/21/she-has-no-head-no-its-not-equal/#comment-885278" rel="nofollow">not as common in porn as one might think</a>, and (2) usually <a href="http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2012/02/21/she-has-no-head-no-its-not-equal/#comment-885641" rel="nofollow">not what women have found sexy</a>.<br /><br />I'd also recommend reading "<a href="http://counterpunch.girl-wonder.org/hot%20too.html" rel="nofollow">And he's hot, too...</a>" from the Girl-Wonder.org archives before continuing on the whole "But men are portrayed as teh sexay, too" argument.J. J. Ramseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00763792476799485687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-13784780435683219232012-02-27T22:08:14.864+11:002012-02-27T22:08:14.864+11:00Some commenters made a solid point about 1. Body T...Some commenters made a solid point about 1. Body Types.<br /><br />Male comicbook-heroes have bodybuilder-physiques more often than athlete-physiques. It's a pornographic bodytype, not an athletic one.<br />On the other hand, exceptions are even rarer for female heroes.<br /><br />A good read.Svlad Cjellinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24761391.post-24845728924968711862012-02-26T20:40:46.065+11:002012-02-26T20:40:46.065+11:00By the way, I'm using Marvel characters as exa...By the way, I'm using Marvel characters as examples only because I understand the powers and personalities of all the important Marvel characters.<br /><br />I'm not at all suggesting that Marvel is the worst offender. The opposite may well be true. Thompson goes much wider for her examples.Russell Blackfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12431324430596809958noreply@blogger.com