Context is everything. Wow, I’m starting to sound like a broken record. I don’t have a problem with women in comic books looking sexy. I don’t have a problem with the outfits worn by Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Invisible Woman, or Catwoman. Like their male counterparts, these heroines are in peak physical condition which is generally considered a sign of beauty regardless of gender. Nobody is arguing that it’s wrong to portray attractive women in comic books.
I do have a problem with some outfits, notably Starfire, but even more so it is the focus some of the artist and writers put on their heroines. For example, I don’t think there’d many problems with Power Girl if they didn’t write what would amount to sexual harassment from other members of the Justice League (or whatever group she belongs to at the moment). I suppose it doesn’t help that they her breasts vary in size from reasonably large to monstrous beach balls. Would Batman be asked to shake his ass to distract the bad guys? Not bloody likely, but they’ve asked Power Girl to parade her assets to distract one. Then there’s Emma Frost, a.k.a. The White Queen, who for some reason dresses like a hooker. Or how about when She-Hulk was made to jump rope naked for agents of SHIELD aboard their helicarrier? No, we didn’t get to actually see it, but would they have done something like that to Captain America or Spider-Man? I doubt it.
One more time, context is everything. Don’t forget that there are other problems with female characters. Batman suffers a spinal injury and he’s out of commission forever, right? Nope, it doesn’t take him long before he’s recovered and is back patroling the streets of Gothom. Hell, they took away Wonder Woman’s powers for nearly four years. Did they ever pull that crap on Superman? Oh I’m sure he lost his powers a time or two but I bet it was all resolved within 1-2 issues.
So please don’t insult our intelligence by saying that we have problems because they draw comic book women to be sexy. That’s not really the problem. at all.
Oh, they sure would have been seen dancing around sexy if their readers were mostly gay, rather than straight. The problem is the narrow demographic niche that mainstream American comics cater to. In Japan they cater to all sorts of demographics and as a result they don’t have the narrow omnisprescent sexuality that mainstream comics do. And webcomics are also much more wide-open as to what kinds of stories and characters they present, and what kind of audiences they cater to.
I suspect that this narrow niche focus on the part of mainstream comic publishes will eventually lead to their demise, or render them little more than an odd adjunct to the movie industry … a source of storyboards and scripts disguised as comics. On the other thread I linked to, somone pointed out that in the 1940s pulp magazines were a huge, thriving genre, but by the 1950s, they were pretty much extinct. It can happen that fast.
Whereas Oracle gets a spinal injury and she’s confined to a wheelchair for life. Point taken.
OK, I’m on record elsewhere as thinking that taking away Wonder Woman’s powers was the stupidest move ever made by a comics publisher wrt a major character. Especially as it occurred in the late 60s, just when feminism was really getting traction in American culture.
I see so many complaints against the sexy that I have trouble believing that it’s not the problem. If that’s somehow insulting, then so be it. I’m not believing something that I think is untrue, just to spare someone’s feelings. Here’s the thing: I think catering to a narrow niche market is a very bad idea. But if the majority of buyers of your product are straight males aged 15-30, then hotties in skimpies are definitely the way to go.