Let me start off by saying that, as a man, I am remarkably feminist. I am not, how ever, a perfect feminist. I don't believe that things which involve women and men are generally sexist. I think mostly that sexism is something measured on a scale rather than as an either or, but for the most part, I think men are just inconsiderate of the female perspective on issues, not that they (we, really) are anti woman, but just ignorant of the struggle that faces most women.
I once read a feminist text book that, in one portion, said that opening doors for a woman is sexist because it mocks the woman's social standing and also implies that she is weak. I think this is overly aggressive. I open doors for everybody, male or female, because it is the polite thing to do.
That being said, the rest of this is me bitching about blatant sexism in comics. Like I said, tough, sexism is on a scale not an either/or. Sexism can be found in pretty much any context, even when the writer or artist is a woman, simply because it is an example of other works that may be harmful to the political atmosphere, the social atmosphere or the religious atmosphere and how those atmospheres effect women.
After I list a few examples, I will talk about ways to overcome the sexist stereotypes and how to make a story better for women readers, and also the social, political and spiritual worlds that each of us is a part of.
Extreme Exaggeration of the Female Anatomy
When I first began looking for an artist in the comics field I put up advertisements stating that I wanted well drawn, natural looking women. It was a requirement. Out of the 50 or so pages of submissions I got only one or two of them had bothered with sending submissions of women that had been drawn well and respectfully. The vast majority of submissions were by artist who exploited the female body to try and gain financial profit. I'd asked one artist, who's work was otherwise extremely well drawn, if he could draw women with breasts sizes that weren't exaggerated and his reply was that he wasn't going to compromise his artist vision for profit. Yikes. That is how some people define artistic integrity? Okay, well, he won't be getting the job from me. The thing that sucks is he is almost certain to get it somewhere else.
What gets me upset about this is when people talk about how men are drawn with just as much exaggeration. I used to be one of these people, to be honest, until I looked at it a little closer. The women's bodies are almost always identical. If you take women from a specific comic and remove details from her costume that would identify her, you would have no idea who she is. The only differences between women characters are hair style and sometimes one will have a cleft chin. The men have exaggerated bodies, too, but they are varied and reflect the personalities and powers of the hero. Captain America is very different from Spiderman, Wolverine and the Hulk.
Comics are, for the most part, written by heterosexual males, writing about heterosexual males, for heterosexual males. The sexuality is only obvious when it comes to women. The vast majority wear next to nothing most of the time or dress in clothing that emphasize the breasts, buttocks and thighs. A prime example is Power Girl. Her breasts were abnormally large for a teenage girl as Supergirl, but as a grown up Power Girl they are enormous and her costume has a hole cut out to show cleavage.
The thing of it is, though, it isn't just the breasts being too large or overly exposed. The vast majority of body parts are exaggerated on the women in ways that men simply aren't. The stomaches are made extremely thing, the thighs are muscular and the heads, hands and feet are smaller than normal.
Recently a woman, Jodi Picoult, was hired to write Wonder Woman and asked DC comics if she could alter Wonder Woman's costume. One of the things Jodi had wanted to change was a simple addition of shoulder straps. DC said no. I assume they thought that it was vital to the character profile that she not have shoulder straps.
After Jodi's short run on Wonder Woman, DC comics hired Gail Simone to replace her. Gail argues that the fact that Wonder Woman makes the eyes pop out of your head is what makes her special. Gail Simone once stated on a message board I frequent, that she believes the fact that Wonder Woman is a strong, intelligent, beautiful woman is what makes her a feminist icon.
