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| Hearsay: |
An intrepid Guardian blogger, helping you keep abreast of the Misituation in comic bookland.
This year, for instance, three tawdry incidents have left DC Comics and Marvel Comics, the “Big Two”, facing accusations of misogyny from even their most ardent fans.
First and worst was the case of “Mary Jane Watson: slutty housewife”, when Marvel released a statuette of Spiderman’s girlfriend bending over to pull his costume out of a laundry pail, showing off maximum cleavage and thong. Soon after came two issues of monthly comics with irredeemable front covers: Heroes For Hire #13 showed three busty superheroes menaced by an alien insect called the Brood, which many saw as a deliberate reference to the “tentacle rape” genre of Japanese manga comics; Justice League of America #10, meanwhile, showed Power Girl with breasts that were surreally oversized even by comics’ regrettable standards.
This is a real problem here. How are our young Hollywood starlets and porn stars supposed to feel when they realize their legs are never going to comprise 66% of their body, their eyes will never cover three eightths of their face, and with a waist that small there’s actually no place to store your vital organs? If comic books make life shit for our starlets and porn women, just think of how shitty your daughters, mothers, and sisters will feel when they realize a lower back tattoo just ain’t enough for either a pimply-faced teen or the stock broker he’ll become. But seriously. Ew. She looks…. pathological.
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August 3rd, 2007 at 12:50 am
You mean the same way that books like Kathy Lette’s “How to Kill Your Husband” is misandric? Is that a problem too or is that fine portray violence against men. BTW, the cover image on Heroes for Hire #13 was done by a woman so are we saying that she is a mysogynist? When you consider the DOZENS of images of men tied up and about to be attacked that have drawn no criticism over the years, you realize this opinion (that of ‘misogyny’ ) is ridiculous…..why is it OK if Batman or Superman are tied up on the cover of a comic and about to be violently attacked but not OK if it’s the Black Cat. Because she’s a woman? Why, that’s sexism. I find it extremely rich that women are attacking a comic company because of an image drawn by a woman.
March 14th, 2010 at 7:10 pm
That is a very silly idea. How is an artists non realistic portrayal of a woman’s body “misogyny”? That makes no sense! There isn’t a thing wrong with an artist exaggerating shape for effect. If drawing a woman of impossible proportions is “misogyny” then “Tom and Jerry” is cruelty to animals. At least, I have never seen any animals that look like that. I am female, and I often draw the female form differently to suit the mood and the intent of a painting. That is the beauty of art. It doesn’t have to conform to reality but to the artists ideas. Most everything in comics is drawn in an unrealistic way, so why would you expect the artist to make sure that the women look like the average female on the street? Why would you want that? I enjoy seeing beautiful people. Male and female. Beautiful bodies and faces don’t make me feel bad by comparison, any more then a singer’s lovely voice makes me feel bad by comparison. You are a very insecure person. Thats why you feel like you need to live up to a painting. Most people never have such weird thoughts. They just enjoy the great art. I loved that picture. Its very cool.
March 15th, 2010 at 7:34 am
daz: BTW, the cover image on Heroes for Hire #13 was done by a woman so are we saying that she is a misogynist?
Is she a misogynist? Possibly. Is this particular image misogynistic? Uh, yes. Have you even looked at it?
Just because something is done by a woman doesn’t mean that it automatically isn’t misogynistic. Would you say that Ann Coulter is off the hook for all of her misogynistic rants just because she is a woman?
Martine: If drawing a woman of impossible proportions is “misogyny” then “Tom and Jerry” is cruelty to animals.
It’s not just drawing a woman of impossible proportions that’s misogynistic, it’s the context of what is being drawn out of proportion and why. If you click the link in my name, for example, you will see an image of a nude woman by Picasso. I assure you that this image, despite depicting a nude woman of impossible proportions, is not misogynistic. The cover to Justice League of America number 10 linked to in the article? Very misogynistic.
I must say that these comments have me somewhat frightened for the state of Women’s Studies departments in universities. Clearly we need to beef up their funding and hire some more profs, because for anyone not to be able to see what’s going on in these comics is pretty frightening.