Comments on: Gender violence: A look at female comic book characters

By: King

King — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 09:07:32 +0000

Singling out Watchmen is unfair. If you’ll recall, the story was being told in flashback by Hollis Mason, who does not blame Silk Spectre. He openly displays his disdain for the Comedian, not just for the act but for who he is as a person. The scene does not portray Silk Spectre as having deserved the attack. The characters of Comedian and Hooded Justice do.

By: alaska

alaska — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:14:20 +0000

just to follow up on Power Girl – whether right or wrong – here are the main two reasons she gives for her hole in the costume and why she doesn’t mind it:

“she receives the reply that the costume “shows what I am: female, healthy. If men want to degrade themselves by staring, that’s their problem, I’m not going to apologize for it.”

(which I think is an interesting twist of the objectification debate)

and she says to Batman in later issue:

“the first time I made this costume, I wanted to have a symbol, like you. I justâ€¦I couldnâ€™t think of anything. I thought eventually, Iâ€™d figure it out. And close the hole. But I havenâ€™t.”

By: alaska

alaska — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:58:15 +0000

Just wanted to note that Gail Simone does some awesome writing of women superheroes for DC, and she’s back on Birds of Prey – which was the first series I could actually stomach that featured women. Sure, Black Canary wears fishnets and a black leotard, but she comments on how annoying those things are. There’s Lady Blackhawk (Zinda Blake) who is never drawn with the traditional “cleavage” bodies – in fact, she’s an awesome fighter pilot from WWII. Oracle can still kick a ton of ass from her wheelchair, not to mention on her computer. (They do a better job of dealing with disabilities than most tv shows.)

I think the problem lies not only with the story lines, but with the artists – you can see, for example, the difference in artists with the character of Huntress – in some, she’s just as “naked” as Canary, in others, she looks more like Catwoman.

Cassandra Cain was an amazing Batgirl who overcame a lot of personal stuff to choose her own destiny in the end, fight against her “genes” and not become just objectified. And Stephanie Brown actually became Robin for a while, which is a different can of worms.

So I agree that some titles are still problematic, but I think with the introduction of more female-driven titles (BoP, Manhunter, Batgirl, Batwoman, Secret Six) women (and lesbians!) have made huge strides, and I love it when things like gender issues or sexuality isn’t even raised as a concern – it’s just part of the character – which is a huge step for this medium.

(side note: when Birds of Prey first started, Chuck Nixon was writing it. Canary got the traditional torture-rape-objectification storyline. You can tell immediately when Gail Simone took over, and the series all of a sudden is actually about girl power, and not being objectified for it – or, acknowledging the tradition of objectification and kind of throwing it back at them.)

By: Lauren

Lauren — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:59:11 +0000

That’s not cool to bring Power Girl into this, do you know WHY she has the hole there????

You probably don’t

: (

Not one of your Websites articles that I favored.

By: melissa

melissa — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:42:35 +0000

While I think this critique is generally right-on and that female comic characters are grossly oversexualized and significantly weaker than their male counterparts, I think it’s also really important to note that in Watchmen, Alan Moore is critiquing the very notion of superheros. I think the novel presents the attempted rape scene as a critique of gender role in comic books rather than a simple re-inscription of the norms. It does a really great job of showing the tension between the fantasy of sexy female heroes and the reality of objectified women. So, while the characters are blaming the victim, the book itself isn’t.