Comic books: Because women are sexual objects in these too!

Lol feminism
/thread

Who creates the comic books? Often men.
Who reads the comic books? Often men.
Who sells the comic books? Often men.
Who do they sell to? The readers, which are often men.

Kids these days don't sit around reading comic books about Wonder-Woman or Superman. They spend their time on the internet browsing porn and/or playing video games. I have yet to see a kid sit outside and reading a comic book that I'd drool over getting some few years ago.

A woman in tight outfits, with hour-glassed shaped body, massive cleavage and a very curved arse are not okay. But when the male characters, who look like they spent their last five years inside of a gym lifting weights, that's okay then? Why should there be a diffrence? Women want their eyecandy just as much as men want theirs. It's the same in movies. The male characters are always these steroid munching muscle-mountains while the female characters are the hour-glassed shaped supermodels.

Sexism exists for both genders.

Morgeth wrote:

That pretty much sums it up

No, it's not all okay. But as said in the beginning of the thread, the males are not drawn to attract females, and as such are not made out of the same ruleset. I personally can't stand the insane bulginess of most males in comics, it's just silly.

Actually, I feel the same way about how the only available male human character model in wow looks....

First off, I'd just like to say that the concept of large breasts is not a modern one. The appeal comes from the subconcious attraction. The initial instinct of a straight male is to catch the attention with someone with breasts, it all comes down to noticing potential mates. Therefore, when designing a comic book initially, what better way is there than to slap badonkas on a cover?

This leads in to who the target market was at the time. Males! Due to strong iconic characters being introduced, comic book writers needed to appeal to male audiences and give them a reason to have some interest in a female character.
^
What I mean by that is in most comic books, fans will want to be that character. "I wish I could fly like Superman" So when a female came into the market they needed a new appeal, boobies.

But without going too into this, is there a further message telling women they should look like that? Fuck no! It is only to play on the wants of their primary audience - the man. A lot more women are reading comics now, but not nearly as many as men. Sexualising has gone down in a lot of comics but if the target market is still mainly men, why change it all of a sudden?

I see your point, but I can't really argue much into it - I've only met a couple of girls who read / have read more than 1 comic book and they both thought the female characters were sexy.

(Did that make sense? It did inside my head.)

Morgeth wrote:

That's assuming you prescribe to that definition of attractiveness. For me, 'rosy cheeks and "kissable lips" (whatever that's supposed to mean)' is not what I'd consider an attractive male character. Lean on the otherhand... is nice unless it gets too lean. Too bulky can be bad, but so is too skinny. Comic book heroes typically range from one side to the other depend on who the artist is.

For me at least, the typical 'heroic build' for male characters is attractive. Add in just a little bit of intentional sexualizing and yum.

Most male comic book heroes might not be intentionally sexualized, as female characters are, but they are intentionally over-masculinized, which can be attractive by default. And it still creates an unhealthy focus on an unattainable physical appearance instead of personality.

Morgeth wrote:

Because all women have the exact same taste in men, and all men have a power fantasy about being huge and muscly.

No. Just no.

Dat comic... Oh God, why...

I will say though, who has the right to tell them not to draw a woman like the or a man as large as the hulk? It is a piece of creative work - if you don't like it, don't read it.

Vaell wrote:I will say though, who has the right to tell them not to draw a woman like the or a man as large as the hulk? It is a piece of creative work - if you don't like it, don't read it.

QFT

Sanara wrote:Because all women have the exact same taste in men, and all men have a power fantasy about being huge and muscly.

No. Just no.

The girl in the comic was drawing what she likes in men, not what evey woman wants a man to be like.

And no, we do not find the same thing attractive but nor do men?

True, there are certain standards -most- people find attractive, such as that on women most people would like shapely breasts and a nice bum. In men most women find tall with at least somewhat broad shoulders attractive.

It's the norm of what people like to see, but perfected and often over-the-top. It does not bother me, but in some cases it becomes somewhat of a parody. xD

@Vaell: If someone wants to see highly feminime men, they can always just switch to Japanese comics, yes xD

Granted, this is one of my favourites.

In regards to the earlier comic, I don't entirely agree with its content, especially as I don't agree with the standard presented in it. But neither do I think that male characters in comic books/video games are catered to feed female sexuality to the same degree that females are to feed male sexuality. At the same time, comic books and video games to tend to present an ideal that you want to strive for; big muscles and the girl with dat ass.

Media and commercials steadily fill us with so much bullshit it's almost funny. Women are always in need of something to better themselves, whereas men just need to drink beer and have massive explosions to motivate them. Women need to be pretty, and men are dumb as fuck. Buuut. Drifting from the subject, and since a discussion like -this- on forums like -these- will probably spawn the regular dumbass responses (which are already strong in this thread) I'll refrain from going too seriousface.

Morgeth wrote:

Score!

TBH... I'm not agreeing with how comic books portray things. I disagree with the oversexed style, but... comic books have developed their own culture. Saying it's bad, while I understand the arguments, is basically feeling some of the canons in the comic culture should change. While I may consider some of its styles outdated, I still feel it's a fairly niche art. I'm not sure if branding it foul play is entirely the right approach.

What I find more difficult to digest is how a comparable styling is becoming a trend in fantasy... and in Wow. Take Sylvannas (as example! you perv)... I want to see a banshee queen, the rotten mother of all zombies! And instead we get a perfectly slimfasted beauty queen with fierce lipstick cause "she's badass". *shrug*

Do I want to be attracted to a woman that should look like a frozen T-bone steak? Some of the races were supposed to have their own and unique style, but their unique features have been watered down to make those features playthings on sexified models.

Horde players have been spared of this for some time but I recall the impact of brining in the blood elves. Suddenly we had boys fiddling their sexed up toons in every direction. And back then, I wasn't even on an RP server. I recall choosing Horde deliberately, together with my raiding buddies back then, because it looked less "picture perfect".

And let's not forget Blizzard's lovely "less = more armor" for female models ... *sigh*
We would lol at how it all looked on Forsaken and consider ourselves lucky Horde didn't venture that way... before the blood elves.

Nothing wrong with appreciating a beautiful person, but sometimes I wish wow sported more female models that radiated the complexity of the character instead of their cleavage.

I wish they did Sylvanas in a two-face concept. One half of her as she is now, beautiful banshee queen thing, the other half a forsaken rotten mess.

Aye... That would be awesome. Much like the logo of the Forsaken.

Vec wrote:I'm not trying to condemn comic books here, I love 'em. I hope you guys realise that. It just grinds my gears how acceptable it is to one, abuse the human anatomy whilst completely ignore the variety of the female body and two character designs with impractical costumes and armour. Don't get me started on the plate belly-showing business.

Vec wrote:Also if the male super heroes were being sexualised.. they would have bubble-butts, soft lips and smooth backs. Just sayin'.

Right, let me comment on the main two/three points of this thread, as shown by the above quotes.

For the record, I have nothing with comic-books, i don't read them, i don't care for them. and I find that as a medium for story-telling its rather meh...

But to the argument, You are saying that Sexualising a Female character is absolutely acceptable, it is actually fine to go to the barbie body-type and put on all the bells and whistles that might be found sexy/attractive as long as it is achievable perfection? (Like the Anne Hathaway example, while there's only one reason to put someone in a skintight leotard/jumpsuit "Dat ass!" which is rather bloody sexualising) But in comics, that doesn't happen, the artists go over-board and create unattainable role-models, with inperfect human anatomy, with bodyshapes that when they happen in the real world, the poor ladies get breast-reduction surgery to avoid back-problems.

On the other hand you're saying that doesn't happen with the male characters.

Now, I can really, really, really understand the first part, but I don't understand the blindness and the hypocrisy to the second part of the argument. How is it any different with males? (And if it isn't. well it isn't a problem?)

I mean, Tall, broad shoulders, a strong jaw-line, wavy hair, a piercing glance, toned, muscled... (ad fyi the smooth back) are both symbols of Male Virility(sexualisation; regardless if you find that attractive or not, heck I don't find women that need a support-pole beneath their chest so they can stand upright attractive, but i can still confirm that it is a symbol of virility.)

That's beyond what's possible too, the tiny legs, the huge shoulders, even Arny had legs half a meter wide to par with his shoulders and not the triangle shapes of cartoon heroes. Its overly accentuated, it is just as exaggerated. There is a reason why most of the times the attributes: Ugly, deformed face, hook noses, fat, small height are being attributed to villains and not the heroes...

And come on with the costumes, males have just the same problems, panties over tights, Capes, even on people that can't fly... a lot of bare arms to show the awesome biceps (another beauty ideal, or skinny nerds would have gotten laid far more often in high-school *cry*)

And lastly, considering you posted a picture of an actress doing an adaptation to show that in movies females are being less "archetyped" and that's an acceptable argument? lets have these guys

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

be played by these guys:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Women aren't specifically targeted in comics, or treated unfairly. The entire genre, men, women, aliens and animals suffer the exact same bastardisations, don't cherry pick.

Amaryl wrote:
And lastly, considering you posted a picture of an actress doing an adaptation to show that in movies females are being less "archetyped" and that's an acceptable argument? lets have these guys

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

be played by these guys:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

YES!!!! A thousand times yes! I would totally buy that movie and watch it 5 times in a row!

I really would

Better.

If Avengers was remade, this is how I'd like to see it done...

Bill Murray is Iron Man


Lou Ferrigno to come back as the Hulk


Jeff Bridges as Thor


Danny Mcbridge as Hawkeye


Jason Mewes as Loki



(And Captain America isn't involved.)

I must say I am very much enjoying this thread.

Oh if we remove huge guys and big boobs can we get rid of the super powers too? I find them un realistic and an unobtanable ablity for developing minds. (See what i id there, it is allllll part of the art form. Im sure there is feminist comics out there without boobs for the objecters.)

The argument that huge bulky mecho images are not as harmful as big chested women is rather crass too. Bad is bad, not boobs are worse so the otherway doesnt matter.

And captain america should be the imp from GoT. I dont know his name, but he is my fav actor now!

Jeanpierre/Ragnilde wrote: models that radiated the complexity of the character instead of their cleavage.

This asks for a gag boss with this kind of ability:

Radiant Cleavage - Turns all male character models into females.

I believe the current art-form to be a good one. As a matter of fact, this level of sexuality and it being very difficult, or impossible, to attain the relevant "assets" is a good thing.

You know why? Because else you're going to put a plastic surgeon out of business. A (wo)man with a spouse and kids will become unemployed because we didn't create a nigh unattainable body-image for women.

THINK OF THE CHILDREN.

:p