Gender in Comic Books • Traditional depictions of women – Good • Mary, the Mother of Christ • Submissive passive women – Evil • Eve and Lillith • Outspoken or ambitious women These depictions are reinforced through comic books, too. • Traditional depictions of men – These tend to be harder to categorize, as men are generally depicted by women and men as being more fully human with individual and eccentric traits – Good • Masculine: Strong, smart, independent, rebellious, and leaderly – Evil • Feminine: heterosexuality in question, weak, not authoritative • Environmentally or emotionally corrupted • Like Good, above, but bad or greedy, etc.
Traditional depictions of women Good Mary, the Mother of Christ Submissive passive women Evil Eve and Lillith Outspoken or ambitious women. Gender in Comic Books. Traditional depictions of men - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Gender in Comic Books• Traditional depictions
of women– Good
• Mary, the Mother of Christ
• Submissive passive women
– Evil• Eve and Lillith• Outspoken or ambitious
women
These depictions are reinforced through comic books, too.
• Traditional depictions of men– These tend to be harder to
categorize, as men are generally depicted by women and men as being more fully human with individual and eccentric traits
– Good• Masculine: Strong, smart,
independent, rebellious, and leaderly
– Evil• Feminine: heterosexuality in
question, weak, not authoritative• Environmentally or emotionally
corrupted• Like Good, above, but bad or
greedy, etc.
Gender in Comic Books
• Comic books tend to be read by men or adolescent males
• Comic books tend to be drawn by men
• This tends to add age, race, and sexual significance
Most images of women in current comics are sexualized; the women are portrayed as objects
Consider this lawyer from Spawn
The Images of Women in Comic Books tend to Correspond with Cultural Ideals, as well.
Consider these images of the popular character Jean Grey from The X-Men
Notice that the character’s dimensions change as the figure is rotated
1970s
1980s
Notice that Racial Stereotypes are Exploited also.
1970s Storm with obvious “African” heritage
1980s Storm
with a much more aerobicized punk look
Another image from The X-Men
The 1980s Asian Psylocke
Cyclops
1963
Wolverine
• The Male Body has become more idealized, more ‘masculine,” as well.
2004
1984
Wolverine’s Abilities
Consider these images from Ascension
This is the same character from different angles. Notice that her miniscule waist from the front is larger from the back.
Late 1990s
A couple more from Ascension
Some modern comics come with centerfolds
They idealize men, as well, and sexualize children
Sex is not just a titillation technique but a “necessary” part of the story line many times. Consider the 1990s Voodoo . . .
In Voodoo, the main character is a stripper who gets a “super” power when she strips. She mesmerizes men, communes with the Voodoo god, and learns her enemies’ secrets.
A couple more from Voodoo
Again notice racial and ageist stereotypes at work, and proportions changing as a character changes position—not to mention nudity
Of course, sometime sex is the only story line. Nudity is very prevalent in the late 1990s Fathom. In fact, it
was their initial marketing plan.
The Fathom marketing strategy was to interest male readers in the naked female character. This was successful enough to spawn a swimsuit issue. In it, many of the characters do not, of course, actually wear swimsuits.
Bringing us into the 2000s, we have a “feminist” twist, The Magdalena.
Here, medieval history meets fantasy and sexuality, as female warriors of the Christian God battle His enemies.
Cover Art
The Magdalena’s Worst Enemy,
Lillith
The Implications of These Images• Girls are being sexualized at younger and younger ages• Women are made to feel that their beauty is the most
important aspect of their existence– Women are more likely to be less satisfied with
themselves physically– Women are more likely to try to change to please others– Women are more likely to be discriminated against based
on these stereotypes– Women are more likely to be victims of violent crime
• Men are likely to see women only in terms of beauty• Men may become less satisfied with themselves, as well