Wondering about Wonderwoman

 

        From Wonder Woman to our recent Spider Woman, there has always been controversy over female characters in superhero comics. It’s been a fight feminists and other gender equality supporters have been battling. Whether it is the objectification and sexualization of their bodies or how they are mostly portrayed as side characters, there’s always been troubles in the comic world when it comes to females.

 

        Many people believe that society is no longer degrading to women, but that is untrue. Sexism still happens today, even in comics. Marvel recently released the cover of their new Spider-Woman comics, and many fans were outraged (McKay). The artist’s name is Milo Manara, a man known for his extremely erotic comics (McKay). Despite the outrage, many people argue, “What else do you expect when you hire Milo Manara to draw a superheroine?” Others wonder why Marvel even hired him in the first place (Schedeen). Jesse Schedeen, a writer of IGN,  also says, “She [Spider-Woman] may as well be a nude woman wearing body paint for all the coverage and padding her suit provides.” Websites and magazines such as Bleeding Cool, Mary Sue, Time, The Guardian, and Slate also agree, saying that the heroine had “unrealistic anatomy, a sexualized pose, and the costume resembles body paint” (McMillan). The critics agree with the public: Marvel really needs to clean up their act.

        Spider-Woman is not the only female character that has been oversexualized. Of course, costumes are tight for both sexes and are often also revealing. But there’s a difference in what that tight fit is being used to emphasize. Male costumes highlight a character’s power and strength by making their muscles appear larger (Schedeen). Female costumes make their bodies appear more sexy, and many times they appear overly and/or unrealistically sexy (Schedeen). It’s all about how they appear to those who are attracted to them rather than how much power they have (Schedeen). It isn’t bad to make a character sexy, but sometimes it overloads the true characteristics. Female characters aren’t given much muscle mass, if any (Schedeen). Rob Weiner, a librarian and pop culture expert, says, “Both men and women are getting tired of all the objectification of women in superhero comics and all of the sexualixation” (McKay). And he isn’t the only one who thinks this way.

 

        The oversexualization of the female heroes in media isn’t only humiliating; it’s damaging, too. Studies show that when teenage girls see these images of other women who are sexualized, it decreases their self esteem, gives them a negative mood, and can cause them to obtain unhealthy eating habits to be as unrealistically skinny as the characters (Anika). Showing more heroes with realistic anatomy would benefit young women. The degradation of women in comics isn’t all about their appearance. The social representation of superheroines is rather negative as well.

 

        A comic blogger who goes by the user GRRRL, used the Bechdel Test on recent Marvel and DC comics to see how well they made their female characters be more independent and not always needing a man. A comic - or any piece of writing or film - passes the Bechdel Test if two or more female characters appear and talk about something other than a man. There is also a Reverse Bechdel Test, which would be passed if two or more male characters showed up and talked about something other than a woman. Overall, DC scored a 64.3% on the Bechdel Test, and a 61.9% on the Reverse Bechdel Test. Two of the DC comics she tested were Catwoman and Wonder Woman. Catwoman completely passed the Bechdel Test with 100%. Wonder Woman passed both tests with only an 83.3%. Both comics received an 83.3% on the Reverse Test. Catwoman and Demon Knights were the only DC comics out of the study to receive a 100% on the Bechdel Test. DC Comics did very well with this study, but Marvel didn’t do so well. In this study, Marvel earned only a 41.7% on the Bechdel Test; that’s 22.6% lower than DC’s score. As for the Reverse Bechdel Test, Marvel got a 95.8%, which is higher than DC’s score by 33.9%. This was not a surprising discovery. Marvel had absolutely no female-led comics to test, while DC has nine running female-led comics. Lack of female representation really does not benefit Marvel’s appearance. Some of the comics GRRRL tested were, The Avengers, Mighty Thor, and the Uncanny X-Men. All three of these comics were tested with similar scores. None of the Marvel comics that were tested completely passed the Bechdel Test. Meanwhile, The Avengers, Mighty Thor, Moon Knight, New Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man, and X-Factor all passed the Reverse Bechdel Test (GRRRL). It’s common that we believe that male-led comics will pass the Reverse Test, and female-led comics will pass the Bechdel Test. From this study, we see that those assumptions are completely untrue.

 

        The problems society has with negative female representation are not a recent issue. This is a battle that’s been fought since the beginning of time in many different forms such as comics. But feminism is growing stronger for the better as time goes on. Saying that equality will take place soon would be like saying pigs will fly, yet it is true that society is beginning to clean up its act.

 

 

Works Cited

Anika. "Negative Media Images of Girls and Teens." Day of the Girl. Day of the Girl, n.d.

Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

 

GRRRL. "ComicbookGRRRL Do Not Offend the Chair Leg of Truth; It Is Wise and

Terrible." ComicbookGRRRL. ComicbookGRRRL, 30 May 2012. Web. 06 Mar.

2015.

 

McKay, Hollie. "Women in Comic Industry Trying to Change How Female Characters

Are Portrayed." Fox News. FOX News Network, 17 Nov. 2014. Web. 06 Mar.

2015.

 

McMillan, Graeme. "What Is Marvel's Problem With Women?" The Hollywood Reporter.

The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Aug. 2014. Web. 06 Mar. 2015.

 

Schedeen, Jesse. "Between the Panels: Sexualizing Superheroes - IGN." IGN. Ziff

Davis, 1 Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.