Superhero Boobs.


It’s been an interesting weekend.

On Friday, I tweeted (and Tumbled) the following:






















4 thoughts on “Superhero Boobs.

  1. Clearly this stuff upsets you greatly, but whenever I see these kinds of articles it leaves me wondering, why read these kinds of comics at all? If a particular subset of heroic fiction–mainstream superheroes–really is deeply offensive and damaging to women, why are women reading/taking interest in these titles at all? I say this as some who works in comics and for the most part cannot stomach anything involving tights and capes. I mean, you’re right. Super heroes ARE juvenile. Most ARE adolescent power fantasies. And that’s why I don’t read those books…they’re low brow thrills written for an audience that isn’t me. Nor would I ever start reading Marvel and DC titles with the vague hope that maybe someday they would start catering to my demographic. Instead, I read books I like. So I’ve just got to ask, why bother reading/buying books that come from a comics tradition that is inherently sexist and rooted in juvenile power fantasies? Why not read/support something good instead?

    • Josh, while I totally see your point, I guess what I would ask in response this this: why do they only have to be about MALE power fantasies? Why can’t women and girls share in fantasies of unlimited power alongside men, without being unduly sexualized? Simply telling women to stay out of a space if they don’t like it is only going to lead us further in the wrong direction.

  2. Hi Josh, thanks for stopping by.

    I described superheroes’ merits as a genre in the final section of my essay; as for the actual comics, the situation isn’t nearly as bleak as you describe. Superhero books aren’t “inherently sexist”; there are lots of titles and creators friendly to women. (In fact, many fine superhero creators are themselves women, such as Gail Simone, Amy Reeder, and Kathryn Immonen.) By opposing sexism in superhero comics, fans aren’t trying to farm scorched earth, but improve a garden which has already begun to flourish.

  3. Great article. I agree that female superheroes and women in comics in general, are very much oversexualized and objectified, but super-hero outfits, both male and female have traditionally been drawn as a second skin. These “skin suits” are just as inaccurate in their depiction of the male abdominal area as they are of the female chest area, etc. In real life body paint would be the only way to see as much muscle or chest definition on either males or females as is shown on your average super-hero outfit. I will say though, if the male crotch on Super-Heroes was as overemphasized as female breasts regularly are, all of our superheroes would look like Ace and Gary from the Ambiguously Gay Duo.

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