verticalvest replied: Did you see that argument that powergirl’s new costume makes sense and is okay because the boob window looks vaguely like an upside down power symbol? I died.
That’s one I haven’t heard. I remember recently reading someone’s Tumblr post about Powergirl having been intended at some point to be mocking the impractical costumes on ladies for laughs. I could ALMOST get behind that if mainstream comics weren’t just so saturated in that in a totally unironic fashion. Kinda loses that punch. I haven’t read Powergirl or anything, so there’s no way I can really judge.
spiral-shark replied: Here’s a question about that, if you wouldn’t mind: Are you insulted by the fact that it only happens to women, or that it happens at all? By that I mean if it happened to men and women equally, would you still be angry at the demeaning portrayal?
It’s more that it’s seems like it’s something restricted to women. If it where happening to both sexes equally, I’d probably think of it more of a funny occurance than something to be annoyed about.
Anyone who has watched me long enough knows I love me some beefcake, so I couldn’t tell a guy that he can’t enjoy his cheesecake. Let him have cheesecake! Hell, I admire the female form too in some cases. But I feel there’s a time and a place for it.
If the characters are having a conversation that advances the plot of defeating an evil force that’s about to destory the planet, I’ll be completely thrown off by the gratitutous butt and boob shots and always standing around in a sexy pose from the female characters as it’s going on. As someone who likes to study the art of staging scenes in cinema, it’s really jarring. That kind of focus doesn’t make sense from a storytelling perspective, so it is basically making the women into some fapping material. (And I’m cool with fans making that kinda stuff for themselves, but to have that exploited by the content makers is all little unnerving…) If these comics were intended to be erotica/porn, I’d curb some resentment, but most comics don’t market themselves as such, and that bothers me.
I can dig a superheroine/villain who was confident about her sexuality. But nearly EVERY superheroine/villain? Even in a fantasy world, I have a hard time believing that. It’s like they’re saying that women’s power comes from their sexuality, even if the makers aren’t conscious of it, that seems to be the prevailing theme, and there’s not enough female characters (that I’m aware of) that counter that idea to display any kind of diversity and well-roundedness that you can find in their male counterparts.
Anyway, I had answered the question before, but again, if it were happening to the dudes as much as it was to the dudettes, I personally wouldn’t have anything to be angry about, really. Sex doesn’t make me angry. It’s problematic stereotypes.
