Sexism in Comics
Filed in Uncategorized on Sep.29, 2011 | 2 Comments, Add Yours
Being a casual comic book fan as well as something of a feminist, it’s kind of hard for me not to hear about the latest complaints about women in comics. If you’re not aware of what I’m talking about, just Google “Starfire” or “Catwoman” and you’ll probably get people ranting about their most recent issues before you get their Wikipedia pages (Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 and Catwoman #1, respectively). Plenty of other people are already explaining how DC Comics is the devil, but I came across a very intelligent article at Comic Vine.
I agree with most of the article, especially the part about the good titles being overshadowed by the bad ones. As far as I’ve seen, everyone is upset about two titles (Catwoman and Red Hood). That leaves 50 other titles, many of which feature women in the leading roles. And most of those women have been changed from their older versions to make them more interesting and powerful. Wonder Woman is a great example – not only is her power level upped, she’s also much more self-assured and self-reliant. And Supergirl is currently more powerful than Superman! It makes me sad that so many quality titles are being completely ignored because of two that upset people, especially when some of them feature exactly what feminist types have demanded all these years.
On a lighter note, here’s a screencap of something else I saw on that site.
Wolverine: More powerful than Jesus Christ...but considerably weaker than He-Man.
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Welcome to my blog. I'm Ben, a guy who goes out of his way to think differently than the others around him; even if the others are right. Whether right or wong, my thoughts are usually (or, rather, unusually) unique. And now the whole world gets to read them.
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October 6th, 2011 on 1:59 am
I was fine with your notes on the subject until we hit, “It makes me sad that so many quality titles are being completely ignored because of two that upset people, especially when some of them feature exactly what feminist types have demanded all these years.”
You phrased this really, really badly. I had to reread it several times to understand what you were saying. It sounds like you’re saying that THOSE comics hold what people have wanted.
And, yes, not buying those particular comics will help. But they often choose to take it as, “Oh, I guess people just don’t want to see a female protagonist,” or “Needs more fanservice.” They’re still a HUGE company. They’re not going to feel it all that much.
It also wouldn’t be getting SO much attention if it wasn’t particularly bad. To be completely honest, I wasn’t so angry until I read how people interpreted this article at the bottom of the page. Treating feminism like the Red Scare. That it’s ridiculous for people to get upset about works of fiction, because they’re not as bad as rape.
Gah. I need a snuggle.
October 7th, 2011 on 3:46 pm
*snuggles*
Well, to clarify: I think people should buy the other 50 comics. I’ve read many of them and enjoyed most of those.
While it’s true DC might not feel any big financial losses from people not buying the comics, they’ll care more about a few thousand dollars than they will about people complaining. Like you said, they’re a HUGE company and this is America; corporations are automatically the bad guy. They’re used to that.