Sexism in Comics is Not New--Here's What You Should Do about It

I agree. If Starfire is going to sleep around and be a total whore, I won't be buying those comics. That's my official stance on anything I don't like. The best way to fight it is NOT TO SPEND YOUR MONEY ON IT.

@alphaomegasin said:

I think people complain for the sake of complaining. Having characters in comics being portrayed as promiscuous is honestly pretty welcome to me. People do act like this in real life. To cry about it is pointless since it's a character trait, part of the perssonality that the writer is trying to express and show how it affects them and people around them.

If only most of these readers were as open-minded....

Besides the fact of Starfire's new attitude in the reboot, you have to consider the possibility of the character being revamped from the reboot. Obviously some traits about certain characters will not be there and sometimes, it may have been for the best.

@Babs:

Overall, I agree with what Babs has said in her article (as well as with that messy business with the 7-year old, as a Father, that's -- more than just odd.).

Wonder Woman #1 was, for me, and excellent read. They look like they're cooking her up to be a mystic champion, which fits well I think. She's rooted in Mythology, seems only right she fights some kind of "Invisible War", as she's uniquely suited to do so. For example, Superman is vulnerable to magic, and doubtless, this "New" Superman is more vulnerable still. The threats Diana seems to be about to deal with would churn him under their magical hooves and spit him out broken and bloody. Batwoman #1 was also good, and this book served as my introduction to her. Batgirl #1 held my interest, and I will continue to give it a shot, as I will with Catwoman #1, though I think the latter has some fancy dancing to do to find a line that hooks me.

I won't be buying another Red Hood book. My interest in this was primarily seeing Roy and Kori back in action, (I was willing to tolerate Jason) and I am sorely disappointed. I am an old fan of the Teen Titans, going way back to Dick as Robin, as I believe G-Man is also, so me and Roy and Kori have a history together, and it troubles me that not only was the history discarded, the very nature of their relationship -- as friends, if not Family thanks to their time in the Titans, is completely scuttled. As much as Starfire's new "cultural alien amnesia" annoys the SMURF out of me, Roy's decision to take advantage of it may irk me more. I think Kori's depiction has had enough said of it, for the moment.

As a new comic book reader, I feel it's imperative to vote with my wallet. After seeing the animated "Under The Red Hood", I was very excited to see Red Hood getting his own comic series. I started becoming disappointed that it wasn't going to be basically "The Adventures of Jason Todd" and he would instead be rolling with two other people. Then I saw some of the pictures of Red Hood #1 surface and all of them were of the one girl in her bikini on some beach. That's not what I want to read when I pick up a book about Red Hood.

I had this book series on my pull & hold at my local comic shop and I removed it from my p&h and didn't buy the first issue because of this. I respect my wife and her beauty; I owe it to her and myself to not read things that are so overly sexualized like that. It's ridiculous. I think of how it would make my wife feel to see me reading stuff about women like that. It's the same with her, she doesn't read crazy macho Fabio kind of stuff that would make me look weak in comparison.

So many great stories can be told without overly sexualized females/heroines. Always remember that romance is different from sex. A book with a great romance hook will make you really feel for the characters when they're in danger. You don't get those kinds of emotional hooks from just sex.

Sex may sell, but romance can change lives.

/end-comic-noob-rant

*EDIT*: Just fyi, I'm not like up-in-arms about this kind of thing. I understand the overly sexualized female kinda comes with the comic territory but there are plenty of awesome books that don't make the art over the top boobs in your face all the time. I flip through each book I buy first and just make sure there isn't anything I would find uncomfortable. I can tell a writer what I want to read by my purchases. When I purchase ten issues of "Batman" and don't purchase any issues of "Boob-ma-geddon: Thong-a-thon!", the publisher/writer will know I want Batman. Silently voting with my wallet is powerful and I also don't have to feel angry, sad, retrospective, or what not. I can just enjoy the stuff I am buying.

I posted it in another thread:

Way I see it

Starfire: Dressed in a thong and a bra and go around sleeping with two men.

Namor: Dressed in only a thong and go around flirting and demanding intercourse with other's wives and girlfriends.

The only difference is that the women all have integrity and the men don't, that's more sexism toward men than women if you ask me.

@katanalauncher said:

I posted it in another thread:

Way I see it

Starfire: Dressed in a thong and a bra and go around sleeping with two men.

Namor: Dressed in only a thong and go around flirting and demanding intercourse with other's wives and girlfriends.

The only difference is that the women all have integrity and the men don't, that's more sexism toward men than women if you ask me.

For some reason, they clossed that one, it looks that many people was making jokes of why men, dont get angry about sexism against men.

What justify a sexist point of view, there is no such things as sexism against men, what mean women and men cant be equals, what is a sexist point of view.

Sexist about Sexism is not cool.

@katanalauncher said:

I posted it in another thread:

Way I see it

Starfire: Dressed in a thong and a bra and go around sleeping with two men.

Namor: Dressed in only a thong and go around flirting and demanding intercourse with other's wives and girlfriends.

The only difference is that the women all have integrity and the men don't, that's more sexism toward men than women if you ask me.

DUDE! SHHHHHH! Seriously.. Just.. Shhhh! You keep talking like that and before long people are going to realize that men actually have the ability to act with integrity and do the right thing even when mind bogglingly great sex is at stakes! Next, people will be expecting men to take responsibility for their own actions... and THEN WHAT???

Honestly, I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet...

@mordecaix7: "Boob-ma-geddon: Thong-a-thon!"

You may not realize this, but I'd bet hard cash that someone at Marvel or DC read your comment and started two new comic book series immediately... Yes... YOU could be directly responsible for the new Boob-ma-geddon and Thong-a-thon series... :-)

@Sner2000 said:

I agree. If Starfire is going to sleep around and be a total whore, I won't be buying those comics. That's my official stance on anything I don't like. The best way to fight it is NOT TO SPEND YOUR MONEY ON IT.

Didn't she sleep around before? Didn't she even tell one of her 'conquests' that it wasn't love and that they were only friends with benefits?

I can't help but wonder if the way you're judging Kori is actually sexist in itself... Listen to how you describe her... "A total whore..." Your words, not mine... Do you feel the same way about Hercules, or The Human Torch or Long Shot? Have you ever referred to them as "total whores" because, in all honesty, the term would be appropriate, except that none of them actually charge for sex....

What I'm saying is that, you see Kori having this no strings attached sex and you're calling her a whore.... Now, unless you get angry like this when you see male characters acting the same way, YOU are holding onto a double standard... Not the writers, YOU... Kori is a whore, but you're not suggesting that Roy or Todd are whores... You're not angry that Roy or Todd are acting this way, are you? You're just angry about Kori... and this IS a double standard...

for the sake of argument, lets define 'whore' to mean anyone that has no-strings-attached sex as Kori is doing in the scene that's being discussed... So, you didn't like it... You called her a total whore.. or rather, said she's acting like one, and you said you wont be buying those comics...

Soooo... With all that said... Will you be buying anything with:

1. Tony Stark in it... If anyone is a total whore certainly Tony Stark fits the mold...
2. Hercules... Pretty much the definition of whore... To make matters worse, he's MARRIED...
3. Long Shot.... Yep.. a whore...
4. Wolverine... Absoultely a whore... in fact, he just killed five people who it turned out were children of his and he never knew... How could he leave children all over the place and not know about them if he weren't a whore... And we've SEEN that he's been with a BUNCH of women in the Marvel universe... So, is anything with Wolverine off your pull list?
5. Batman... Are you going to stop reading Batman? How many women has he been with... In fact, that scene with him and Catwoman is one of the scenes that inspired this thread...

My point is simply this. If you consider Kori to be acting like a total whore, and you stop reading stories with her in them because of that... Then you have to do the same when it comes to men acting that way OR YOU have a double standard regarding sex, and that IS by definition sexist...

I completely agree with you. Power Girl is my favorite superhero, and they turned her into a

bimbo. No way I’m buying Worlds Finest.

@White Mage: There is giant chest, and then there is exploding chest

@waezi2: Shes always been a bimbo. I cant understand why a sexy joke parody of supergirl is so popular, get rid of her big tits and shes blander than your typical man catered female protagonist with a girl next door attitude.

With the current climate of American media, overly sexualized female characters are dying out pretty quickly anyway.

Girl says "I'm free to do what I want when I want."

Digital white knights "sekzizmmmmm".