On Being a Female Comic Book Fan
Friday, September 23rd, 2011 08:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
retsukoThere is an excellent essay by Laura Hudson here that is specifically about the new DC comics relaunch and its gender issues, but really can be taken as a comment on comics fandom as a whole. It's awesome, and I really don't have much to add to it, except for the fact that the pages and panels from 'Catwoman' that Hudson uses could just have easily been from any other superheroine title and the analysis would still be just as on point and valid.
In any case, the issues with the depiction of women are one of the reasons that I often hold back on saying what I'm fan of. Since "nerd" is undergoing a sort of semi-cool Renaissance, I can usually mention my love for "Doctor Who," the works of Jim Butcher, or any of the Harry Potter books and movies without fear of reprisal. But one word about comic books and people start getting that judgmental aura of "I thought you were smarter than that" or giving me these expressions of utter bewilderment, usually followed by the question, "why?" And I must admit that I answer that question myself every damn time I step into any comic book shop. It does help that my local comic supplier, Comickaze, is run by an excellent staff of knowledgeable guys who have never once made me feel uncomfortable or weird. But in other places, at other stores, I have felt the distinctly unpleasant feeling of Difference, (or Otherness, in academic parlance). Seeing a wallpapering of posters of female comic book characters in bikinis, with bodies that are completely impossible in every sense of the word, is a depressing experience. Why keep reading books by an industry that largely imagines women to be merely men with breasts? Why bother looking at titles that depict women as objects to be sexed up, used up, and thrown away? Am I just indulging some kind of nerd-specific masochism?
Every time I start asking these questions, or see too many women in bikinis, I close my eyes and think of all the awesome women I know or know about who are involved in the comics industry, or in the independent fringes. I think of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
psychoe and ashears's amazing artwork and how one day, I'm going to say "I liked them before they were cool" in an annoying hipster voice. I think of cartoonists and writers like Kate Beaton, Moto Hagio, Natasha Allegri, Tracy Butler, Gail Simone, CLAMP, Momochi Reiko, Hope Larson, Naoko Takeuchi, Yuko Shimizu, and many, many others, too numerous to list here. I remember all the amazing female characters who I've read and loved, like Storm and Kitty Pride, Francine Peters, Rose (from Bone), Faiza Hussein, Lizzie Hexam, Elissa Megan Powers and Ninjette, Nico and Gert and Princess Powerful (from Runaways), and all the characters whose stories I haven't read yet. But mostly, I think about opportunities.
Comic books as a medium are an amazing opportunity for artists and writers to tell stories in a unique and powerful manner. And I have hope that this industry will come to its senses, even if it has to go through a horrifically prolonged birth process to do so. (Although I will admit the DC Relaunch is one hell of a contraction.) There's more than enough opportunity to go around to keep the industry afloat. Why not fix the sexism problem? Imagine twice the money. Imagine the marriage of idealism and commerce. Imagine a day when no reader has to ask the question "why?" when she or he steps into a comic book store.
In any case, the issues with the depiction of women are one of the reasons that I often hold back on saying what I'm fan of. Since "nerd" is undergoing a sort of semi-cool Renaissance, I can usually mention my love for "Doctor Who," the works of Jim Butcher, or any of the Harry Potter books and movies without fear of reprisal. But one word about comic books and people start getting that judgmental aura of "I thought you were smarter than that" or giving me these expressions of utter bewilderment, usually followed by the question, "why?" And I must admit that I answer that question myself every damn time I step into any comic book shop. It does help that my local comic supplier, Comickaze, is run by an excellent staff of knowledgeable guys who have never once made me feel uncomfortable or weird. But in other places, at other stores, I have felt the distinctly unpleasant feeling of Difference, (or Otherness, in academic parlance). Seeing a wallpapering of posters of female comic book characters in bikinis, with bodies that are completely impossible in every sense of the word, is a depressing experience. Why keep reading books by an industry that largely imagines women to be merely men with breasts? Why bother looking at titles that depict women as objects to be sexed up, used up, and thrown away? Am I just indulging some kind of nerd-specific masochism?
Every time I start asking these questions, or see too many women in bikinis, I close my eyes and think of all the awesome women I know or know about who are involved in the comics industry, or in the independent fringes. I think of
psychoe and ashears's amazing artwork and how one day, I'm going to say "I liked them before they were cool" in an annoying hipster voice. I think of cartoonists and writers like Kate Beaton, Moto Hagio, Natasha Allegri, Tracy Butler, Gail Simone, CLAMP, Momochi Reiko, Hope Larson, Naoko Takeuchi, Yuko Shimizu, and many, many others, too numerous to list here. I remember all the amazing female characters who I've read and loved, like Storm and Kitty Pride, Francine Peters, Rose (from Bone), Faiza Hussein, Lizzie Hexam, Elissa Megan Powers and Ninjette, Nico and Gert and Princess Powerful (from Runaways), and all the characters whose stories I haven't read yet. But mostly, I think about opportunities. Comic books as a medium are an amazing opportunity for artists and writers to tell stories in a unique and powerful manner. And I have hope that this industry will come to its senses, even if it has to go through a horrifically prolonged birth process to do so. (Although I will admit the DC Relaunch is one hell of a contraction.) There's more than enough opportunity to go around to keep the industry afloat. Why not fix the sexism problem? Imagine twice the money. Imagine the marriage of idealism and commerce. Imagine a day when no reader has to ask the question "why?" when she or he steps into a comic book store.
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no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-26 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 05:48 pm (UTC)One of the things that sickened me about the last panel of Catwoman was that the scene showed no love or affection at all. It was gratuitous smut that denigrated the participants. It makes Batman look just as bad as Catwoman.
But more than that, it makes me think about the attitudes of people who are reading the comic book. Comic book nerds have a bad reputation (some, but not all, of it deserved based on my interaction with some of them) for being misogynistic. This reinforces that behavior -- that a woman (strong or weak) is good for one thing, even according to Batman! So when a girl wants to play in a LARP, in Warhammer, or in another table-top game, you should relegate them to standing on the sidelines -- either cheerleading or as arm candy. The attitude also spills over into other interactions with people and their friends where any girls are automatically treated like someone's "girlfriend" and are second-class citizens when it comes to deciding what to do on Friday night.
I don't know anything about Starfire except from the kiddie-cartoons that have her in the junior Justice League or something, so I can't say much. The pictures I saw there reminded me of the swimsuit issue that Marvel did about 20 years or so ago that I saw. All of the women of the X-Men team in skimpy clothing/bikinis? Come to think of it, that was about the time that they separated Rogue and Gambit and I stopped reading the X-Men. I know the bikinis weren't a big draw for me to stay.
Another thing that I've noticed is that this sort of attitude makes it difficult to write good female role-model characters in general, not just in comic books.
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Date: 2011-09-24 09:19 pm (UTC)I only know Starfire from Teen Titans, but the Starfire there is just wonderful, and I can't believe someone would interpret her character this way. It's just sad.
Another thing that I've noticed is that this sort of attitude makes it difficult to write good female role-model characters in general, not just in comic books.
I think it's not that it's difficult to write good female characters; it's that too many artists and writers are making excuses and not trying to write female characters as well-rounded people, instead falling back on tired sexist stereotypes. I mean, the mainstream comic book world isn't known for introducing terribly introspective male characters, but at least there's variety, or the semblance thereof. But when it comes to female characters, that semblance just crumbles. Further problems also lurk in the form of "empowered characters", as in "Sucker Punch", or Kate Beaton's excellent parody here (http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=311), "Strong Female Characters." Why the comic book industry has become mired in this stagnant way of writing and art, I'm not entirely sure, but I try to keep my optimism up that it is going to change. At some point. Hopefully.
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Date: 2011-09-24 11:22 pm (UTC)Poor Starfire is all I can say. I wonder if her original writer would have a fit about this?
I personally have a lot of trouble writing female characters at times (don't know why), but I think that these writers ought to try something called extra effort and/or backstory. ;)
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Date: 2011-09-24 10:02 pm (UTC)(Yes, her costume is a little bit of that. But wait till you see her reaction when she first gets it...it's a stitch.)
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Date: 2011-09-26 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-01 09:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-24 10:09 pm (UTC)http://girlslovesuperheroes.tumblr.com/page/2 (Check out the Ironman tutu!)
The second is one of my favorite fanfictions ever, though I warn you that it is Huge and Episodic and a Major Timesucker: http://catwoman-cattales.com/
But, well, it's basically a direct answer to these sort of representations - from Catwoman herself - and it's hilarious.
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Date: 2011-09-26 03:47 am (UTC)As for the other, I'll look into it soon. Thanks for the rec!
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Date: 2011-09-27 12:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-28 03:34 pm (UTC)THIS. EVERYTHING.
Date: 2011-09-25 03:57 pm (UTC)Re: THIS. EVERYTHING.
Date: 2011-09-26 03:47 am (UTC)