(Though I’m not sure it really left?)
I’m not even sure where to start on the topic of sexism in genre fiction. My purpose essentially is to defend genre fiction, though it’s kind of a damning defense. Really, there’s no winning for anyone on this topic. This post will likely be full of images of the cheesecake variety.
The first item I wanted to address is the idea that it’s a one-way streak. Women aren’t the only ones objectified in fiction. Is Power Girl unrealistic? Maybe (though Gemma Atkinson might say otherwise), but when’s the last time I met someone that looked like Dick Grayson? And why does Namor go around wearing nothing but his underwear? Next you’re going to tell me David Boreanaz was cast for Buffy based on his acting talent. New Moon just made a babillion dollars because the producers have given up pretending the attraction isn’t all about hot shirtless dudes.
I’m not saying it’s not still lopsided. We’re much more likely to see an ugly male character than an ugly female. And female villains typically are gorgeous, as opposed to the archetype of the hideous male villain. Even Madame Masque, who has a terribly scarred face, hides her mutilation and has a fantastic body (and was beautiful before her injuries). In the current Iron Man cartoon they even remove the damage to her face entirely, and she’s just another cute girl. To be fair, art styles have changed, and even male villains more ugly back in the ’60s and earlier than they are today. Other than a sinister sneer and that terrible haircut, Norman Osbourne isn’t particularly unattractive. Doctor Doom and the Phantom of the Opera were rocking masks long before Whitney Frost.
I would say sword and sorcery fantasy art is even more complicated. Red Sonja is running around in a chain mail bikini, sure, but Conan is often wearing even less. And that princess is distress is awfully shapely for a long line of inbreeding and pretty darn clean for people living in an age where they thought bathing was for the birds. Is it better or worse that high fantasy art is often not even telling a story, and just marveling in the beauty of the setting and the human form?
You could say that sexism is particularly bad in the comic book industry, a market in which the vast majority of both creators and audience is male. But I say thee nay! And this is where I bristle a little bit and get to the heart of what bothers me. People talk about science fiction and fantasy as though those are the only places sexist imagery exists. Who do they think they’re kidding?
Why yes, I would like some - wait, this is a trap, isn't it? The redhead is hiding an axe or something.
I took a tour of a Hollywood studio a few years ago. There was a display that featured some of the clothes worn by the “Friends” stars. I’m pretty sure I could have wrapped both hands around Courteney Cox’s waist. Tiny! And this is an actual human being.
Not my first choice to take on Mr. Freeze, is all I'm saying
In some ways, it’s worse. If some comic book artist drew a superhero they way women are portrayed on, say, a fashion runway, I’d probably drop the book. Check out that image of Batgirl’s back I posted up top. Babs has some muscles. There is meat on those bones. She’s a superhero for gods’ sake.
Beyonce can’t sing, but she looks great doing it badly. In her prime, Britney Spears could bounce any number of bright shiny things off her abs, and we could watch her do it all day, but, again, no real talent (though she does got some mad dancing skills). Are those Victoria’s Secret ads aimed at my wife? I don’t think so. And Hollywood’s idea of a high school girl and what I remember from high school are vastly different.
It’s all fiction of some form or another. Fiction exaggerates life for entertainment purposes or to sell things (probably both). Genre fiction takes that exaggeration and adds more to it; when you punch someone, they don’t just get annoyed, they go flying through a wall. Spies have gadgets that allow them to see through walls and can shoot people half a mile away from a moving helicopter. It’s natural that human physiology is going to be exaggerrated as well. But please, critics out there, stop pretending like the exaggeration or the exploitation of the human form, male and female, is unique to our humble genre fiction, or worse. We’re not doing anything that the rest of the world isn’t already.
And since you can’t apparently discuss this topic without her:
I’m a big fan of Power Girl. I think in a lot of ways she’s a better role model for young girls than Wonder Woman, for various reasons. But all people ever see is that boob window. I’m also all for closing up said boob window, primarily for that reason.
I dunno. Am I just a chauvinist trying to excuse cheesecake? Am I looking too much at context instead of simply the images and how some of these characters appear to outsiders? Or simply totally crazy? Or do I simply think the world needs to get off our back and start looking at its own behavior more?
