The hypersexualization of women in comics

I think discussing the issue of the hypersexualization of women in comics in a blog titled "Busty Superhero Chick" is probably a good place for such a discussion. :-)

Let's go ahead and start with an explanation of the name of my blog. First, it's meant to be something easy to remember, and I think it is.  Next, it's also a play on you guys and how you generally like your superhero women - with big boobs.  :-)

As for the issue of hypersexualization of women - in short, comics are largely geared to male readers, and the artists tend to be male - so basically it was an inevitability that women would be drawn in such a way as to have proportions that were impossible for a woman to have in real life.  Having female artists helps somewhat, since they would be familiar with what would be realistic and unrealistic in regards to women's body proportions, but the expectation of skimpy or otherwise degrading costumes is such that it's what they draw as well.

And since this question is likely going to come up - what about my costume?  Isn't it rather skimpy as well?  And the cleavage hole isn't exactly what most women would wear in their everyday clothing.  First, keep in mind that it is a superhero costume, so it's supposed to stand out from your regular everyday attire.  Also, I cover up more than most.  You'll note that most of my legs are covered, and my arms are covered entirely.   Initially, the costume design was going to have me wearing just shorts for bottoms, but we decided that the skirt adds a nice feminine touch.  I still wear the shorts that were intended all along, it's just now worn under the skirt.  As for the cleavage hole, it's meant to be a distraction - and the smiley face an additional distraction as well as being a memory device.  So as far as superhero costumes go, I think it's rather conservative, especially when compared to the sorts of costumes that are out there.

For instance, look at the Phantom Lady.  Her top is basically glorified suspenders!  She's a "wardrobe malfunction" waiting to happen.  Every. Single. Time. she goes out to do her hero thing!

Then there's impossible proportions, such as Rob Liefield women.  Most of his women have such strange, oddly proportioned torsos and limbs, and those impossibly tiny pinched-in waists!

And speaking of impossible proportions, consider the character Red Monika of Battle Chasers and her enormous boobs.  For a real woman to have such proportions, her boobs would literally have to be the size of watermelons!  Try strapping two watermelons to your chest and then see if you can get anything done - much less the expected superhero action stuff!

So yes, the hypersexualization of women gets very bad.  No woman can look like these superhero women - not through exercise and dieting, not through surgery, and certainly not through the combination of both.  I'm not sure how to say this without sounding like some mushy feminist, but these kinds of depictions sets unrealistic expectations of how women should look, both to boys and girls.

And yet, consider the market.  Very few readers, both male and female, want superhero women who are fat and ugly.  In order to attract - and keep - readers (who again, are mostly male), then the writers and artists need to make the female heroes attractive and their costumes flattering ("Flattering" can be done without being skimpy, BTW).  

There's also the question of their personalities.  How tough and badass can a superhero woman be and still be womanly?  When is she a woman, and not just a man with a hot bod and boobs?  You understand what I'm saying with that previous sentence?  What I mean is, if she walks like a man, talks like a man, can kick ass like a man, then what makes her a woman?  And yet, do you guys really want a "real" woman for your female superhero character?

That is, do you want her to be complaining about her "female problems" such as periods, cramps, hormonal imbalances, yeast infections, and the like?  Do you want her to be whining about her relationship problems with her significant others, her parents, her GFs, etc?  How much female "whinyness" are you willing to put up with?  Not much, I would bet.  My guess is that you would say, "I have that in real life with my wife/girlfriend/etc!  Why would I want it in my comics?"

So that presents a challenge to both the writers and the artists.  It's a balance to find the right amounts of what would be considered realistic vs the expected exaggerations of the superhero elements in a typical comic book story.  In other words, the unrealistic is expected in a comic book story.; after all, how many women do you know in real life that can lift fully loaded semis over their heads?  But I would also say that reading comic books isn't so much about seeing Wonder Woman lift boulders over her head and the reader expecting to be able to do the same with the right about of dieting/training/exercise; instead, the story is about the message that comes from the story.

We read comics not to learn how to imitate the super abilities of the heroes, but instead to absorb the lessons that are taught from their experiences.  Perhaps that's what the writers and artists should be concentrating on when it comes to the female characters - that is, what lesson will the reader come away with about humanity in general, and if applicable, women specifically?

I tend to believe that most of you won't be interested in stories in which hypersexualization is the message.  Yes, there's always going to be the weird perverts who get off on these hypersexualizations, but there aren't enough of them for most comic companies to make the kinds of profits that eventually finance blockbuster movies.  Instead, I think that most of you want good human interest stories with clear, understandable messages about the human condition, as well as giving the message that "with great power comes great responsibility" - which applies not just to those with super powers, but all of us. 

There's always going to be the hypersexualizations of women in the comics, but as a free-market advocate, I believe that those comics are always going to inhabit the margins of comic book sales, while the more realistic depictions of women are always going to be the bread-and-butter of comic sales.  So fear not, my friends.  But it also doesn't hurt to have the occasional reminder that these hypersexualizations exist, especially when these reminders come from men.  If it gets to the point that you guys can see it, then it must be pretty bad!  LOL

I was trying to think of some way to end this particular blog entry, but instead, I think I'll leave this open-ended in case I get some responses from you all.

What's next? Incorporate my boobs?

I've been asked enough times in the past couple days to comment on the website, Incorporate My Uterus, that I'm going to do that now.

First, before anyone starts "correcting" my "misunderstanding" of the point that the website is trying to make, let me say now that I get the point, so don't waste your time. :-)

Yeah, I get that a lot; others - specifically liberals - trying to "clarify" things for me as if I were stupid when I don't fall in line automatically with whatever belief system is being touted or cleverly expressed, as in this Incorporate My Uterus campaign.

The thing is, when I was a teen and well into my adulthood, I was told over and over how critically important it is that we don't let men reduce us women into just tits and ass. Whenever we are reduced to objects or body parts, then we lose our identity, as the line goes. And yet, as demonstrated in this campaign, it's apparently acceptable if liberals reduce us to body parts.

So with that, my take is that when liberals reduce us to body parts, then they only show themselves to be hypocrites. Either it's wrong all the time to be reduced to body parts, or it's not. There can be no exceptions made just because the one doing the reducing happens to be one of the "good guys". I am more than my uterus, just as I am more than my tits and ass.

So my response to the creators of this campaign is this: Stay consistent with the message of respecting the whole woman, because it goes for you just as much as it does for those you oppose. No matter how cleverly done a campaign may be, reducing a woman to her uterus is just as bad as her being reduced to her tits and ass, and all the creators will have accomplished is to make asses of themselves.

Sarah Palin and "Boobgate" and the sad state of journalism today

I’ve done pretty good in recent weeks in not getting so heavily into politics on my blog, but friends, I just have to say something about the whole stupidity of the Internet rumor that Sarah Palin has had a boob job.

They’re calling it Boobgate! “Boobgate”? Seriously?? BOOBGATE??? What the hell, man!?

I shouldn’t be surprised, but even some mainstream press are covering this piece of bullshit! Sorry for the language, folks, but this is how moronic this whole “story” is! Look, I get that the “not-biased” media hate Palin, but why do they have to report on every stupid rumor that comes out just because it says something bad about her?

Don’t they know how petty and juvenile it makes them look? Hey, and it’s not just conservative Republican women they do this to – it’s pretty much any woman in power that they don’t like. Back in ’08 a big ado was made when Hillary Clinton had shown a little cleavage. I mean, DAMN! – the people need to get their minds out of junior high! Contrast this to the outrage from the press that arises whenever the issue of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's sexual orientation comes up (in regards to Kagan's sexual orientation, what difference does it make whether she is gay or not? Non-issue for me, but surprisingly, not for a lot of leftists!).

You know why it’s unfair it is to be reporting on “Boobgate” and Hillary’s cleavage? It’s because these reports are making it personal in a way that they wouldn’t do with the men. Instead of reporting on Palin’s politics or Hillary’s statements, they attack their fashion choices or their bodies. In other words, it’s a cheap shot, and one they wouldn’t do to the men.

For example, what if Joe Biden got a penis enlargement? Do you think the press would report on that? Can you see Katie Couric leading with, “Boy, Biden’s ‘package’ looks a little plump today, doesn’t it?” Then there would be “before” and “after” shots of the front of Biden’s pants just to show the difference! They could call it “Weinergate”! See how stupid it would be to cover something like this?

And besides, if Palin did have a boob job – SO WHAT? Isn’t it supposed to be “her body, her choice?” And where are the feminists in all this? Why aren’t they speaking out over this outrage? Oh, that’s right, it’s because Palin is a conservative!

To paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., “An injustice to one woman anywhere is an injustice to all women everywhere”. If the feminists were worthy of the bra straps of their foremothers, then they would have stopped this nonsense a long time ago, regardless of the political or social views of the woman that’s being unfairly criticized. Such hypocrisy from them demonstrates why they are out of touch with the regular woman nowadays, and it's why I can't call myself a feminist.

Power Girl's cleavage hole: Now Magog gets it

In the #6 issue of DC Comics' Magog vs. the JSA appears the scene below. See folks? Magog gets it. Even when he knows why Power Girl has that cleavage hole in her costume, he still can't help but be distracted by it. It works, guys! Your horny side will betray you - even when you know what we're up to! :-D

Controversial pic of a U.S. Women's skier? Are you serious?

Check out this image of Linsey Vonn, one of our women's skiers for the U.S Olympic team.




































According to this news article, that pose is suggestive and semi-provocative! I just have to ask:

IN WHAT WAY??

I've looked at this several times now, and I just don't see what these critics are talking about! She is in a skiing pose! Fully clothed, no less! I just don't get it! Is she guilty of being a women while skiing, is that it? Women aren't supposed to ski?

If any of you have any idea of why the above pose is considered provocative, please let me know in what way!

A pro-rape Facebook page? Damn!

This was actually the first time I had heard of the pro-rape Facebook page.

Had I known about it back then, my response would be to suggest that those men who are pro-rape to spend a week in prison and see if they don't change their minds about rape. Why do they assume that rape only refers to man on woman?

The cleavage hole in the costume: Explained

Below is an exchange between DC Comics' Power Girl and Cyclone (in case you don't already know, PG is the blond and Cyclone is the redhead) in January 2010's issue of the Justice Society of America 80-Page Giant #1.

If you wish, go ahead and scroll down to read the exchange before I continue. What I wish to discuss is related to the exchange below. I'll wait. Hmmhmhmhm... lalala...

Okay, what did you think? Cyclone gets it on why PG has the famous "cleavage hole" in her costume. Pretty much, it's the same reason I have the cleavage hole in my costume: It's theater. A little more on this in a bit.

I've attempted before to explain one of the purposes of my blog: To tease you guys on your obsession with boobs. I've also discovered that in the process of teasing you guys on this, I am also partly contributing to the objectification of women, which was not quite what I was shooting for with my blog - but it also demonstrated to me on how easy it is to drop into the trap of objectifying women. So then - why do this? Why make this blog on boobs, and why have that cleavage hole (and the smiley face on my boob, for that matter)?

I thought about this, and I'll try again to explain. I want to keep working on this until I get a good working explanation that will be functional for such discussions. I know I haven't gotten to that point yet, and I am not certain that I'll get to it this time around, but hey - nothing ventured, nothing gained, eh? So let's have at it, shall we?

Most women who want to show cleavage would simply wear a low-cut top or dress. There's trashy ways to show cleavage of course, but there are outfits that can both show cleavage and yet still be fashionable, stylish and elegant. For example, think of most formal ballroom outfits or bridal dresses. Like I said previously, those outfits show cleavage by being low cut enough to show cleavage.

An outfit with a cleavage hole, however, simply has a hole cut where cleavage can be seen. PG's outfit has an oval shaped opening while mine is more of a chevron shape. The thing is, an outfit can be designed to be low cut and yet still not show cleavage, but an outfit with a cleavage hole ain't designed for anything else BUT to show cleavage! Because of the deliberate intent to show cleavage, a cleavage hole is often considered one of the "trashy" ways of showing cleavage.

So what do I think? Do I think cleavage holes are trashy? If I did, I wouldn't have one on my costume, would I? Do you think I would deliberately wear something that I regard as trashy - especially since I'm an admitted conservative? Do conservative women dress trashy? It's just not done, is it? Would June Cleaver sport a cleavage hole in one of her classy 50's dresses that she seemed to always wear?

Let's hit the questions above in order. I think cleavage holes are fine under certain circumstances; for example, in a superhero costume, or perhaps a cheerleader costume. In other circumstances, while I don't think they're trashy per se, I do think that they can look very odd on a woman's standard everyday top. You can have holes in your jeans and look fashionable, but holes in tops would just look odd, or like you don't take care of your clothes.

In regards to conservatism and attire, just because I am conservative does not mean that I wouldn't wear something a little revealing. There is a reason I wear the long sleeve crop-top with the cleavage hole and the short skirt: It looks good on me for one, and it serves as a great distraction in battles with bad guys - and bad girls, for that matter.

And the thing is, who says that being a conservative woman means dressing like the stereotypical school marm? Why can't we be conservative yet hot? Have you seen some of the women on FOX News? They look pretty hot to me. This is in contrast to the liberal women I've seen who dress in various degrees of sloppy. Basically though, nearly their entire wardrobe consists of blue jeans, t-shirt and flip-flops.

Which brings me to my costume. Like I said above, while tops with cleavage holes might not be appropriate for everyday wear, it's a different story for a superhero costume. Superheroes are supposed to be showy and larger than life. It's theater, as Cyclone explained in the exchange below. As egotistical as it may sound, superheroes are meant to draw attention to themselves for various reasons, but two primary ones are:

1.) To provide a visible symbol of hope to the general population that no matter how bad things get, someone is on the job to set things aright (Captain America is one such example), and

2.) To draw the attention of the bad guys away from innocent bystanders by drawing attention towards the superhero. Thus, the costume has to stand out from your usual everyday attire.

Because of my long (I'm 6 foot 1) and curvy proportions, my costume emphasizes those aspects of myself even more. I have long legs, so I wear a short skirt. And of course, I have big boobs, so I have a crop top which ends just below the bustline as added emphasis, and of course the top also has the cleavage hole. As for the smiley face, it's mainly to draw attention there even more, plus it's a memory device; that is, it's one feature on how you remember me: as the superhero chick with the smiley face on her boob. Theater! And marketing! LOL

In my next blog post, I'll discuss how we superheroes utilize the attention we draw from supervillains.

Breasts and society again

Anonymous said...

Hi. I have been reading your blog for awhile, and I believe that while your goal was to make fun of guys who obsess about women breasts, I think you ARE contributing to objectification of women. The positive note for you to counter this issue is that you fully explain yourself.

I apologize that you are getting a headache, but as I said before not all men are like that.

I do agree with you that men (such as myself) wired visually, and is a human component to the mating process with women. And there are men that are hybrids. What I am saying is that they feel from the inside and express themselves.

If you were truly upset about this, this blog would not exist.

Although objectification of women is not a positive thing, you DON'T HATE men because of it.
In conclusion, I say you should continue writing your blog. As a busty women, you are wise and are willing to educate to make society better for your gender. As a guy, I am learning a lot from you about the female perspective.

I posted Anonymous’ response above, because he pretty much captures the responses of my blog entry from last week about boobs and society. Most of the other responses were from those I know in person, so it was an interesting weekend for me. ;-)

Nearly all of the responses I got said what Anon said, that I was more objectifying women rather than my true intent of poking fun at men for being so obsessed over boobs. All I can say is that I’ll work on being clearer as to what I’m trying to do with my blog. Thing is, I kinda like how I’m doing things now, and I don’t want to mess too much with something that is working.

After all, if I wanted to mess with something that works, I’d be a liberal! (badaBOOM!). Why do you liberal guys and gals do that anyway – mess with stuff that works? You mess with it and then when it doesn’t work, you’ll tax the rest of us because you (probably intentionally) created a class of people who are the disenfranchised “victims” of the “new ways” of doing things.

Okay, I’m digressing here. Getting back to the topic…

There is a Romanian tennis player named Simona Halep who was known more for her DD’s than her tennis skills. Note the images below.



























There are two things (no pun intended) to take away from this:

1.) Those pics weren’t shot to demonstrate the technical proficiency of her tennis swing, and

2.) This shows just how much big boobs move around on an active woman, and also shows why a shrunken-down male superhero couldn’t hide in an active woman’s bra without serious injury and probably death.

Halep is an example of the convergence of a woman of her generous proportions + mens’ tendencies towards visual sexual stimulation + today’s technological means of sending images anywhere and everywhere around the world in an instant. If you do a Google search for her, the majority of the pics you find will be those like I posted. That’s how she got her fame: that outfit plus her breasts captured shifted in various directions.

You guys no doubt enjoy those images of her breasts in unusual positions, but how do you think she feels? She had stated that they get in the way, and that it was why she was going to have breast reduction surgery. I have no doubt that it will indeed help her in her tennis game, but I also think that she didn’t want to be known as a glandular freak. She probably didn’t want people to come to her matches just to watch her breasts bounce. And I don’t blame her. She’s still a teenager, after all, and already has enough to deal with without also having to deal with being thought of as a freak show.

Had she asked me, I would have told Halep to talk to another tennis player known for her boobs. I mean, of course, Serena Williams. She's just as busty, and yet she also wins tournaments - so it can be done. It might have done Halep good to know that she has - ahem - a bosom buddy (pun intended that time!) who knows what it's like to play tennis while busty. If nothing else, Williams could have suggested a better bra for her to wear, because Halep does bounce too much. It's a moot point, though, because Halep has already had the surgery.

It’s because of women like Halep that I made my blog. Busty women need to be seen for more than their cup size, and I had hoped that, by creating this blog, I could show that women like me can be busty and still have a brain. You know what’s funny? Non-busty women wish they were busty, and some have breast augmentation surgery in order to give the appearance of a larger size. Meanwhile, busty women often get tired of lugging around their heavy breasts and get breast reduction surgery! I bet even if God had made all women a good sized C cup, we’d find something else to be unhappy about! LOL “We all look alike! There’s no variety!”

It’s also why I say to the ladies to accept themselves as they are. Non-busty women have advantages that busty women do not. Here is just a short list. Women like me deal with back and shoulder pain constantly. Eyes rarely go above the chest. In sports – especially physical sports – we get the wrong kind of attention. It’s neither cheap nor easy to find outfits that look good and are tailored for our proportions. That also goes for bras. The bras I get are not the nice, slender fashion types that you see in most department store catalogs that you guys are always thumbing through (don’t lie. You know you do it). Nope, what I get resembles the Golden Gate Bridge.

Having said all that, let me finish by saying that I am very happy and proud to be a woman, and in particular, a busty woman. I mentioned previously that I am not a feminist, because too many feminists want to concentrate on the negative; that is, on what women don’t get in our society. Not me. I’d rather concentrate on the positive. Despite not quite hitting my mark of my blog being a gentle poke to you guys who obsess over boobs, I still think I managed to carve my little niche on the Internet. It doesn’t mean that I should stop trying to strike that balance I’m looking for of celebrating the busty woman while at the same time teasing you guys for obsessing over boobs. So what this all means, dear friends is this: I ain’t going anywhere. :-D

The thing is, when I had viewed that site that was at the center of my self-examination of my blog and it’s purpose, it really didn’t change anything that I didn’t know already. All that did change was the awareness of just how much booby stuff is truly out there. In other words, it wasn't a question of content, but of quantity. And Anonymous, you are right: If I were truly upset about this, then this blog wouldn’t exist. But for better or worse, it does exist. Let’s just hope that I get more right than wrong. :-P

The question of breasts and society

On Facebook yesterday, I mentioned that I needed a drink. It's because I was reading this at the time: Victoria's Secret Compartment

Look at that site!

The link was sent to me by a reader. What got my attention first, though, was this image:












The woman is pulling a whole freakin' full length bazooka from her bra!

Yeahyeahyeah... I know what some of you guys are going to say - "It's just a cartoon!" and "It's exaggeration for humorous effect!". But guys, check out that page, and see how much of this "titty show" stuff runs in the entertainment media! It was enough to give me a headache! It's why I needed a drink, by the way.

Anyway, one of the reasons that I made this blog was to poke fun at the often absurd obsession that you guys have with boobs. I've said before on this blog that to me, they're just boobs - that is, they're a part of my body just like my hands or my knees. That's it!

And yet to you guys for some reason I don't understand, boobs are a magical, mysterious and almost mystical force of nature - so much so that there is literally tons of stuff out there just on boobs, and there are websites like the one I linked above that are sources for other such mammarian imagery. Sites like that are out there because you guys will watch it, and time and money are invested in such sites because you guys will buy what they offer, which is various expositions of a woman's mammary glands. Yeah, guys - they're mammary glands. They're the equivalent of a cow's udder. They are what we use to feed babies with. You call them boobs, tits, bazooms, etc, but they're just breasts.

Not only do you guys spend money for these titty shows, but women spend money as well to make their boobs look more presentable. Especially bothersome to me is that they will pay to have foreign objects surgically inserted into their breasts so that they look larger. I've always said that a natural A cup beats an inflated D cup any day, but apparently, I'm in the minority opinion on that, because thousands of women will endure the health risks of breast augmentation surgery. Granted, being busty myself, it's easy for me to be critical of women who go through such surgery - I'll admit that much - but I still say that they should just accept themselves for who they are.

Let me say this: I often defend you guys against feminists who want to find sexism under every rock, behind every tree, and in every pair of men's pants. I tell them that guys obsess over boobs because they are wired that way - to be sexually attracted by sight. I think God gave men that visually-stimulated sexual attraction so that you would notice us. Otherwise, we probably could never get you away from your sports and your drinking binges with your buddies. I tell the feminists that at least we get SOMETHING out of you with our boob bait.

I'm not going to go into an anti-feminist tear here, because even though I'm conservative, I don't see feminism as totally wrong - just wrongly applied. Let's just say that I support the feminism that helps women to become better and stronger people, and not the kind of feminism that is man-hating and indulges in whiny self-pity and institutionalized victimhood. Women and womanhood have a lot to offer society, and "victimist" feminists often forget that during their narcissistic rant-fests.

Having said that, when I am confronted with sites as the one I linked above, I have to wonder if my blog is helping matters, or if it's only contributing to the problem. In other words, is my blog truly poking fun at you guys for being obsessed with boobs like I want it to be doing, or am I only contributing to the problem of you objectifying women? That's where I am at right now, and that's what I'll be mulling over for the next few days.

Anyway, I'd appreciate your input on this matter, from both the men and the women.

Now to go get that drink.

The Reason The Donald let Miss California keep her crown.

As you may have already heard, Miss California was allowed to keep her crown, this despite her views on gay marriage, and despite the racy pics of her that were posted on the Internet. I picture The Donald thinking about the benefits and drawbacks of allowing Miss California to keep her crown and for taking it away, and about the potential flak that is to come from either act. But I believe that the final determinant in his decision was arrived at when he first laid eyes on her in real life and thought:

"Damn, she's hot."

"Only in a Woman's World" show

Um, I'm trying to decide how I feel about this upcoming show...



On the one hand, it's good to see a show with a largely female cast (even if they're cartoon characters), but on the other hand, they're largely stereotypes. What do you think? I think I need to see more first.