I was at a writing conference, attending a panel in which the presenter (who wrote the fascinating The Mythology of Superheroes and is a Ph.D. of comic books) was discussing the problems of female representation in comic books. One of the older (white-haired) attendees groused that it only made sense for women to have traditional roles in comics because they are biologically weaker than men.
Despite the fact I was not the presenter*, I couldn't help but bark out, "But they have super powers! They can punch through walls! There's no strength difference in comic books!" The point was, I thought, pretty clear: The beauty of fiction is that things that in our own world from which we cannot escape--expectations of woman timidity, softness, and "weakness"--is irrelevant. Women in fiction, particularly speculative, fantasy, and sequential art have the potential to be completely emancipated from any crusty concepts of traditional gender roles, biological expectations, or misunderstandings of feminine attributes. They can be as dynamic, interesting, colorful, and, indeed, powerful as the men in the worlds they inhabit.
But they very rarely are. One version of this type of critique is that making a character like Wonder Woman, who is physically very strong as well as attractive, only serves to pander to cis-het male readers--a fantasy of a pinup model who can bench press a truck. The fact that problems are so often solved with fists instead of any number of other options doesn't reflect the breadth of human experiences, particularly those of women.
This critique has merit, but it's not the angle I'm looking for. Particularly for Wonder Woman--a character with a history almost more interesting than her exploits in the comic book pages--I feel as though violence is part of her Amazonian DNA, right along with her queerness--a logical extension of the society from which she comes. Neither the violence nor her bisexuality are problematic for me--again, they fit in with her character, her history, and her motifs. In short, I'm saying that there's a lot to unpack with Wonder Woman specifically, so I'll table that analysis for a different post.
Instead, I want to reject the sexist concept that 1) comics, having been originally intended for a cis-het (and white) male audience, it cannot grow beyond that; and 2) that women be derivatives of the male counterparts** and are therefore secondary in consideration and construction. I'm not looking for a "strong woman" story per se, but stories about women who are strong. Because there's a fundamental assumption that the strength is solely in the upper body strength of the character, it seems as though women are only delegated to a more obvious upper body attribute.
At any rate, the idea that a fantasy--I mean that as anything fantastical, not necessarily bound by genre definitions, as well as whatever iteration comes up, whether it be novel, comic, movie, or whatever--can't, in worlds that are populated with flying people, dragons, fell beasts, faster-than-life travel, or technology that would appear indecipherable from magic to us conceive of women as being anything other objects to be acted upon. Popular fiction has the potential for so much more than the drivel pictured above. Any step toward a higher imagination is something I applaud.
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* I found Dr. Bahlman later and apologized for my outburst--not what I said, but that I had been so uncouth as to interrupt.
** Another reason I love Wonder Woman: She isn't like She-Hulk or Spider-Woman--a feminine counterpart to the more popular male version of her power set.
Despite the fact I was not the presenter*, I couldn't help but bark out, "But they have super powers! They can punch through walls! There's no strength difference in comic books!" The point was, I thought, pretty clear: The beauty of fiction is that things that in our own world from which we cannot escape--expectations of woman timidity, softness, and "weakness"--is irrelevant. Women in fiction, particularly speculative, fantasy, and sequential art have the potential to be completely emancipated from any crusty concepts of traditional gender roles, biological expectations, or misunderstandings of feminine attributes. They can be as dynamic, interesting, colorful, and, indeed, powerful as the men in the worlds they inhabit.
But they very rarely are. One version of this type of critique is that making a character like Wonder Woman, who is physically very strong as well as attractive, only serves to pander to cis-het male readers--a fantasy of a pinup model who can bench press a truck. The fact that problems are so often solved with fists instead of any number of other options doesn't reflect the breadth of human experiences, particularly those of women.
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| For the record, I really liked Wonder Woman in Batman v. Superman and I like the style of her costume here. |
This critique has merit, but it's not the angle I'm looking for. Particularly for Wonder Woman--a character with a history almost more interesting than her exploits in the comic book pages--I feel as though violence is part of her Amazonian DNA, right along with her queerness--a logical extension of the society from which she comes. Neither the violence nor her bisexuality are problematic for me--again, they fit in with her character, her history, and her motifs. In short, I'm saying that there's a lot to unpack with Wonder Woman specifically, so I'll table that analysis for a different post.
Instead, I want to reject the sexist concept that 1) comics, having been originally intended for a cis-het (and white) male audience, it cannot grow beyond that; and 2) that women be derivatives of the male counterparts** and are therefore secondary in consideration and construction. I'm not looking for a "strong woman" story per se, but stories about women who are strong. Because there's a fundamental assumption that the strength is solely in the upper body strength of the character, it seems as though women are only delegated to a more obvious upper body attribute.
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| *sigh* |
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* I found Dr. Bahlman later and apologized for my outburst--not what I said, but that I had been so uncouth as to interrupt.
** Another reason I love Wonder Woman: She isn't like She-Hulk or Spider-Woman--a feminine counterpart to the more popular male version of her power set.
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