Gender in Comic Books

1. 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 • 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. These depictions are reinforced through comic books, too.

2. 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 Gender in Comic Books Consider this lawyer from Spawn

3. 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 The Images of Women in Comic Books tend to Correspond with Cultural Ideals, as well. 1970s 1980s

4. 1970s Storm with obvious “African” heritage 1980s Storm with a much more aerobicized punk look Notice that Racial Stereotypes are Exploited also.

5. The 1980s Asian Psylocke Another image from The X-Men

6. Cyclops 1963

7. Wolverine • The Male Body has become more idealized, more ‘masculine,” as well. 1984 2004

8. Wolverine’s Abilities

9. This is the same character from different angles. Notice that her miniscule waist from the front is larger from the back. Consider these images from Ascension Late 1990s

10. Some modern comics come with centerfolds They idealize men, as well, and sexualize children A couple more from Ascension

11. 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. Sex is not just a titillation technique but a “necessary” part of the story line many times. Consider the 1990s Voodoo . . .

12. Again notice racial and ageist stereotypes at work, and proportions changing as a character changes position—not to mention nudity A couple more from Voodoo

13. 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. 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.

14. Here, medieval history meets fantasy and sexuality, as female warriors of the Christian God battle His enemies. Bringing us into the 2000s, we have a “feminist” twist, The Magdalena.

15. Cover Art

16. The Magdalena’s Worst Enemy, Lillith

17. 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