# She-Hulk is the biggest load of sexist crap! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889 "2015-05-12T21:57:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/61 "2015-05-15T02:01:29Z")
In the recently ended Charles Soule run, she does sort of get bigger when she’s about to fight, in a way reminiscent of a manga muscleman: flexing bulging muscles so hard they rip through clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/62 "2015-05-15T03:12:28Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Never found her attractive. Not into 7 feet tall green women who can throw me into orbit. I am. 🆒 > [@tracer](#): > > I thought one of her trade-offs, for getting to keep her intellect in hulk form, was that she lacked the (male) Hulk’s ability of “The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets!”, so there was a definite upper limit to her physical strength. She doesn’t have the rage-based strength that Hulk has, and there is indeed an upper limit to her physical strength, but she is (at least, potentially) stronger than a non raged-out Hulk. I was actually collecting _She-Hulk_ during the story arc where it was revealed that She-Hulk can make herself stronger by exercising in her human form (IIRC, they actually said that She-Hulk is “exponentially stronger” than Jennifer Walters). So, the upper limit of her physical strength is y^x, where x = whatever Jennifer Walters is capable of working her max bench up to be. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/63 "2015-05-15T12:43:43Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Am I the only person who routinely confuses Peter David with Larry David? > > Probably. I tend to get him mixed up in my head with Peter Davidson. It makes Doctor Who more interesting, I’ll tell you that. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/64 "2015-05-15T23:54:39Z")
> [@Gerald\_II](#): > > Probably has to do with what’s marketable. The Hulk was created at a time when giant, irradiated monsters on film were popular. He fits the archetype of the scarred, disfigured protagonist like Frankenstein’s monster. Also, I always thought that the Hulk was never a full time hero. He seemed to be the villain at times other heroes needed to stop, sometimes he was the anti-hero, a threat that humanity reluctantly has to rely on to destroy the bigger threat of, say, an alien invasion. Or he was the hero like when Peter David wrote him. Interestingly enough, The Hulk was drawn as much more handsome during that era. > > On the other hand there isn’t really much of a market for disfigured female protagonists, even if the creators are aiming for female audiences; at least not that I’m aware of. > > Someone mentioned Power Girl. I like the character, and I’m one of the people that think the boob window is kind of her trademark. However, her costume is sexist and if that turns female readers away from the character then maybe DC should change her costume. As long as she keeps her traditional white, red, and blue suit, I don’t have a problem with her covering up her chest. > > There’s way better examples of sexism in mainstream superhero comics than She-Hulk. She-Hulk’s not disfigured, but she does have her own issues. She suffers from a recurring mental problem where she sometimes believes that she is a comic book character. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/65 "2015-05-16T01:51:27Z")
In my defense, I blame the writing in this Wikipedia article: [Barbara Gordon - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Gordon#Batgirl_Special_and_Batman:_The_Killing_Joke_.281988.29) It doesn’t quite say it, but it heavily implies that Oracle came after Women in Refrigerators. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/66 "2015-05-16T02:33:51Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > In my defense, I blame the writing in this Wikipedia article: [Barbara Gordon - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Gordon#Batgirl_Special_and_Batman:_The_Killing_Joke_.281988.29) > > It doesn’t quite say it, but it heavily implies that Oracle came after Women in Refrigerators. The irony being that two of the first “Women in Refrigerators” were Steve Trevor and Larry Lance. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/67 "2015-05-16T05:28:14Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Besides, her initial character design is different from what she looks like today. It is? [Looks pretty much the same](https://squadcards.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/20120413-093925.jpg) to me. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/68 "2015-05-16T17:04:22Z")
This question of female superheros being sexually assaulted is an interesting one. In the real world, sexual assault IS something which women have to fear and deal with more often than men. I don’t think it’s prima facie ridiculous to think that the ratio of sexual-assaults-of-female-superheros to sexual-assaults-of-male-superheros should reflect that… although I think it depends on a lot of other contextual issues. Certainly I think that in the “real world”, if a Wonder Woman equivalent did exist, threats of sexual violence would in fact be something she would face. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/69 "2015-05-16T20:19:02Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > This question of female superheros being sexually assaulted is an interesting one. In the real world, sexual assault IS something which women have to fear and deal with more often than men. I don’t think it’s prima facie ridiculous to think that the ratio of sexual-assaults-of-female-superheros to sexual-assaults-of-male-superheros should reflect that… although I think it depends on a lot of other contextual issues. > > Certainly I think that in the “real world”, if a Wonder Woman equivalent did exist, threats of sexual violence would in fact be something she would face. The problem is that superheroines are, well, super. Everyday humans should not be able to overpower them. Even if they don’t have superpowers, they are extremely well trained fighters that have taken down superpowered creeps. Sure, maybe women have to fear sexual assault more than men, but do you think the Ronda Rousey is as scared as just a girl off the street? And, let’s not forget, the numbers aren’t that lopsided–men can be raped–I’ve seen estimates as high as 30% of all rapes having male victims. It’s actually one of the things that made Wonder Woman suck, at least, in some point of her history. You could grab her wrists and she’d suddenly become powerless. I think this was even explicitly stated in some versions, and not just [the trope](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardFemaleGrabArea). ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/70 "2015-05-16T21:05:53Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The problem is that superheroines are, well, super. Everyday humans should not be able to overpower them. Well, that’s certainly true. How often is that happening as opposed to being attacked by super villains? (And of course some superheros and superhero-related characters are not, in their own person, particularly skilled fighters, particularly if caught without their equipment/armor/whatever.) ---
**Author:** ![Gerald\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Gerald\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerald_II)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/71 "2015-05-16T21:32:10Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > It’s actually one of the things that made Wonder Woman suck, at least, in some point of her history. You could grab her wrists and she’d suddenly become powerless. I think this was even explicitly stated in some versions, and not just [the trope](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardFemaleGrabArea). I’ve never heard of Wonder Woman becoming powerless by just having her wrists grabbed. I do know that in the Golden Age, at one point, she would lose her powers if she let a man weld her bracelets together. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889/72 "2015-05-16T23:39:37Z")
> [@Gerald\_II](#): > > I’ve never heard of Wonder Woman becoming powerless by just having her wrists grabbed. I do know that in the Golden Age, at one point, she would lose her powers if she let a man weld her bracelets together. Right, that’s how I understood it, if a man\* bound\* her bracelets (or bound her with her own Golden Lasso) that was the “secret weakness”. Then again even when not dealing with a male enemy, [early WW](http://www.superdickery.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/wwbind.jpg) had [something](http://www.superdickery.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/ww_28_the_basic_moral.jpg) of a [bondage](http://www.superdickery.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/bindme.jpg) theme… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/she-hulk-is-the-biggest-load-of-sexist-crap/719889.md?page=3)