Sexism and Comic Books

As with any entertainment/art medium there will always be a spectrum of reactions to comic books that'll range from "I see nothing wrong with it" all the way to "I consider it too extreme/perverse for anyone else to see it." Clearly there are some titles, storylines and/or artwork that are more questionable than others. And obviously as public opinion evolves over the years what will be considered "generally" acceptable will change.

Having said all that I would hesitate to make an absolute statement like "comic books are sexist". Are some titles more sexist and/or problematic than others? Sure some are worse than others. But can you say that about all of them? Not really. You have to accept that a label like "sexist" is one of those loaded, subjective terms that means something slightly different to almost everyone. *shrugs*

As with many forms of entertainment comic books often show us idealized images of the male and female forms. That kind of thing is hardly a new idea - the Greek Olympians were often described as models of physical human perfection. Ultimately what any one person considers to be "too much" is going to boil down to personal subjective preferences.

I think the key is to make up your own mind about things like this without being prejudiced or using vague unqualified labels.

Most writers are male, so they write more male oriented stories. Gail Simone writes more female oriented stories because she is a woman. Her another example: Even though he claims to be a feminist, Joss Whedon best written series have been Firefly and Angel, because it is more masculine and it is in his nature to grasp the material better. Other more female "oriented" still faces the same pit falls other non-feminist writers commit. Though he seems to write strong characters, most of Eliza Dushku's "acting" his her running around wet and screaming.

I'd be more inclined to believe there was sexism in comics, if the subject of said story was a bon-bon eating, never got off their butt, lay about, but somehow still managed to look like a super model.

This goes for the men or women.

In superhero comics however, the main characters are VERY active individuals, who when they aren't out running across the rooftops, maintain an extensive physical workout routine.

One then might say "then the woman should look like body builders". Not at all. First off, not everyone even has the capability to have that type of build, no matter how hard they work out (barring steroid use), and this includes the men. Second off, even if they could, they'd have to do the right excersizes for that psysique.

Any "comicbooks are sexist" comments that come based off the look of the heroes I find to be the least thought out. It's a visual medium, and as Tony Daniel (my personal favorite comic artist) commented when asked why does he draw everyone looking good (paraphrasing here) "Drawing ugly is harder to do"

If those who complained about the looks of comic book characters worked out as much as it's implied that superheroes do, they'd find themselves with figures closer to those in comic books (for men it may be closer to Spider-Man vs Superman, but that's still a great figure )

As for the story elements. Hmmm...maybe. But I'm a little less convinced. As the one female writer mentioned in her responce to a blog inwhich she was mentioned. I think it depends on the writer and what they're going for.

Lastly, if they truely felt this way, there's one true way to stop it all from happening. Don't buy the book!

It reminds me of the Howard Stern movie. If people wanted him off the air so bad, their best bet would of been to just shut him off, so they didn't count in the ratings.

Of course, if they didn't buy them to find these things they considered sexist, they'd have nothing to complain about.

I don't know if it's sexism, but one character who annoys me greatly is Emma Frost. There's something very Pamela Anderson about her that makes me just twitch. It seems she can only do her scheming while spilling from a white leather cup suit.

But I'm also annoyed by Edward Cullen, the 100 year old vampire madly in love with a teenager. That's a character from "girl's literature." I don't think of it as sexism so much as a characterization that's not meant for me.

So the question is, are (straight) men allowed to have their own literature? Or is the issue that what is essentially literature for straight males is promoted by culture as having mass appeal that it actually lacks? Loaded questions for sure. I was gay, read these comics, eventually stopped reading them, but not because I felt unwelcome.

Comparing it to something like the WWF professional wrestling, it just was what it was. Perhaps the only semi-insulting thing about it--and this isn't a comics thing exclusively--is that these books frequently preach about diversity and overcoming personal trauma, while presenting heroes who dodge the social categories that would put them in that exact situation.

Here's a question

How many stay at home dads are there in fiction? Outside of the few TV series that has that happening as its premise there is pretty much only 2 questionable ones that i know of off the top of my head, Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire and Micheal Keaton is Multiplicity.

How bout an easier one. How many single men that can be considered respectable and aren't employed are there in fiction? I can't think of any.

This is pretty much stating if your a man and don't have a job you are worthless.

And we're not even talking about the music industry with such stars as Beyonce Knowles singing sexist crap all day every day, but gets no flack for it ever.

Why are these things never brought up?

Why is it sexist for comics to have women with large breasts when we know that those figures are impossible, but it's not sexist to never show a male in a good light if they don't have a job?

There is a massive double standard that is sexist, but it is more on the male side than it is on the female side. The female side is more apparent, yes, but i would say the male side is far more insidious, wide ranged, and ingrained to our culture to such an extent that we don't even view it as wrong. And there is one insanely disturbing example of this which I'm not going to state, but it's there and every western male has to deal with it in some fashion.

Yes, sexism prescribes and proscribes for men as well as women. A Proper Man should be athletic, courageous, stoic, and confident. He should dress in man-appropriate clothing only. He should work hard in his chosen field, attract a wife, and support a family. He should be ready and willing to respond to threats and insults to himself or his family with violence, on both a personal (fights) and societal (war) level. All of these are unfair expectations to level against men, and violating those expectations leads to anything from lesser respect to physical attack. Sexism hurts everybody.

However, the expectations placed on women are just as bad at the very least. Think very carefully before you label a set of expectations that drives one gender to be more confident, aggressive, and successful as worse for that gender.

As for comics: I suggest reading Empowered. There, at least, the blatant sexualization is both explicitly acknowledged and applied evenhandedly to men and women.

(Also, the G-d Damn Maid Man.)