Sexy Female Super Heroes

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I get it, no really I do. I understand why female super heroes are all 'sexy'.

'Super heroes' for decades have been a mix of aliens(eg Superman) , people with 'special powers' (born of accidents or lab experiments etc, eg Spiderman) and of costumed/masked vigilantes with a myriad of clever gadgets and a special set of skills (eg Batman)
Image credit: neftali77 / 123RF Stock Photo

And before all the comic book nerds pile into me, I'm not an expert, not by a mile, but bear with me...

Many were created long long ago and most were created as a dream of 'goodness' (for want of a better word) They were perfect in looks, in skills, in morals. They were 'the good guys' and they fought crime and evil and they won.

Female counterparts were (especially in the early days) added as eye candy. Most readers were male, they wanted a feisty (but not too effective) woman to be a companion, maybe to be a love interest (though many of our masked heroes have normal human girlfriends) and so they were equally perfect.

These women were perfect in looks, in shape, in morals etc etc

They were sexy because we like sexy (at least, I do!) and so they wore skimpy outfits, they had legs like Barbie's and bosoms to match. They were great because 'gentlemen don't hit women' so their violence could be less and still be effective, and if a man did cross them, well then often they had a male super hero to help.

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They reflected what women were at the time. They were pretty, often resourceful, useful, companions. As attitudes to showing pictures of sexy women relaxed the super hero ladies got sexier, their costumes got skimpier...

So I do get it, I do understand why all female super heroes are sexy and have sexy costumes....

at least

I get why they DID

But why do they still? Have super heroes stayed in their heyday of the 50s? Are they stuck in a rut? In today's world women do all the things men do. So why have female super heroes not caught up? Why are we not seeing some women in similar costumes to men? Covered from head to toe, not with a short skirt and bare legs. With the sort of bosom (and other body parts) that a fit young athlete would have?

Why do we not have slightly less than perfect super heroes (male or female)? Someone who is 50, going grey, has a slight tum, BUT because they have super powers are still able to fight crime.

I understand that like many jobs that require strength and speed, a masked vigilante may one day have to hang up his or her cape, but a true super hero should surely be able to 'Flame on' (etc) well into their 60s.

I'd love your thoughts as long as they are not a litany of comic book errors I've made :-)

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This blog post brought to you be my inability to find a suitable super hero costume online for a fit 47 year old to wear without looking like mutton dressed as super lamb. (feel free to suggest costumes!)

You might also like to read Whore-leween By Big fashionista....

Oh and don't get me started on why bad is still portrayed as disfigured/mentally ill/deformed etc, that's a WHOLE other post