I'm gonna blow the dust off my keyboard and rant for a second, because this is my bloody blog and nobody reads it but me and my mother and sometimes Cody if he's been an especially good boy that day. I'm going to rant about comic books so if you somehow stumbled upon this blog on accident (you poor bastard) and don't want to hear a woman with real actual boobies and (gasp) opinions about comics then you should probably stop reading now because only one of those things is going to show up on this page (hint: it isn't the boobies).
Women are sexualized in comics. I know it, you know it, even your dog knows it and he doesn't even have a concept of sexuality because he's an animal who's perfectly happy humping your footstool. If this is news to you, you probably don't read comics (or, if you do, you probably don't read superhero comics).
If, somehow, by some magic, you have no idea what I'm talking about then let me refer you to this livejournal post which includes excerpts from a Wizard How to Draw series (the post is several years old but it still shows up as one of the first google results for "how to draw superheroes" so that's good enough for me). While the post itself was disturbing enough what really irked me were some of the comments from guys whining about how the gals who were complaining just need to shut up because sex sells and comics are mostly read by guys anyway and it's fantasy and it's supposed to be exaggerated and hey, now, guys are idealized in comics too and rar rar rar Idon'thavegirlypartssoI'mnotoffendedandIlikecomicssoobviouslyyouarewrong.
I'm not stupid; I know that sex sells. And I know that the super hero genre was basically created to pander to socially awkward guys who wanted to insert themselves into larger-than-life fantasies where they have super powers, huge muscles, and are surrounded by hot, lusty women (why else would so many superheroes have a "mild mannered" secret identity?). And I know, too, that traditionally girls didn't read comics because they were a "boy thing".
But gender roles are changing. Despite the continuing stereotype that girls don't read comics, I'm not the only girl in the comic shop anymore. And I have money. For comics. That are for me and not a gift for my brother/father/male cousin/son/uncle/boyfriend/boyfriend's brother/male prison inmate who has become my pen pal.
Girls are reading comics all the time. Hell, girls are even starting to WRITE comics! WHOA BAM!
But like everything that girls start doing that was traditionally a "guy thing", we're mucking things up for everybody with our lousy complaints and opinions. You'd think that, in a subculture which revolves around escaping into a fantasy world where you're a hunk who can talk to women, real, actual girls with real, actual girl parts who are actually excited to talk to you and can actually talk about stuff you're interested in instead of shoes and makeup (because that's all we talk about, you know) would be a godsend. But nooooo...we girls have to ruin everything by complaining about how super heroines are unrealistic and sexualized and oooooooh!
I don't want to read a comic where there's a tit or ass shot on every page. I don't want to have to pretend not to be offended by the giant, unrealistic bozongas on Power Girl (which is why I've never read Power Girl) or the fact that a woman who is supposed to be physically fit, agile, and powerful has hardly any musculature and a pair of big, round chest melons that never seem to sag or fall down into her armpits even a little bit (trust me, I have DDs, they don't look like this [and, besides, that's just poor design--her sternum is WIDE open if someone decided to shoot and/or stab her...]).
But I want to read comics. I want to hand my money over to the companies that make comics. And I want to tell my friends about comics that I love. Comics that aren't all Vertigo titles. Comics about superheroes.
What irks me is that even former DC president Paul Levitz talks about girls not reading comics like it's beyond everyone's control, like girls just don't like them they way a little kid might not like broccoli so it's no use trying to get girls to read comics (at least not superheroes--girls have been flocking to the less misogynistic genres like Vertigo's comics, proving that it isn't the comics they hate). But we're sitting here telling you that, yes, we want to read your comics. We want to give you our money, and we're telling you exactly why we haven't given it to you yet. Stop ignoring us and pretending like we're the ones ignoring you!
All I ask is that the characters that are supposed to relate to me--the characters in whose roles I'm supposed to want to insert myself--don't look like Playboy centerfolds. I don't care if they have big tits, I don't even care if they hang out, just give me a couple fewer ass shots (or, hey, at the very least give me some more Batman ass shots; I'm not picky), a little more individual personality, and a little less using references from softcore porn.
I know you guys can do it.
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