Whole Heap of Little Horses

8bitmaximo:

mooncalfe:

a few friends and i were discussing sexism and cheesecake in Big Two superhero comics recently (what else is new!), and it was mostly us trying to convey the usual concepts of sexual objectification to somebody who was fighting us on it (the common “superhero comics are for men” defense and…

I pretty much agree,

Let’s put it this way, If I masturbate to a picture of a lady or dude, that’s objectification, I’m using that human as an object, it was only there for my pleasure and I can toss it when I’m done. I think it’s natural and not going anywhere.

A part of sexism is when you think it’s okay to treat actual human beings the same way you treat your porn. ( NOT COOL. ) Empowered is under the pretense of “hey this is cheesecake, it’s not a realistic setting, it’s just here to be fun and sexy.” So the objectification is forgivable because we are aware that this is not a message nor an insight into the author’s head that it is okay to treat everyday people in this manner. But when you have a series that’s supposed to reflect reality and is supposed to be more about realistic drama and actual society like cape comics often try to do, when characters are objectified in a constant pattern and is not addressed, it says two things.

1. Objectifying actual people is normal behavior.

2. It is acceptable behavior.

Basically, when I want to look at porn, I’ll look at porn/cheescake…When I want to read a story that centers on reality and our society and that’s what I’m expecting but the author makes it pornographic without addressing the issue of objectification within the context of the story ( and they better do it well ). I’m going to think the author perceives reality as the equivalent to porn, and I’m going to be disgusted.

TLDR: Don’t shit where you eat.

Also like to add as a fan of Empowered, and a girl, I always thought Emp was a bit of a deconstruction of female superheroes with the “super thin hypermembrane” that is her suit, not looking entirely different from most other superheroines’ supersuits (IE painted on), and the crap she has to put up with as a result, like not being able to wear anything under the suit, being incredibly self-conscious of how she looks wearing it.

For the most part I don’t mind superheroine costumes being a little cheesecakey as long as it’s done tastefully, such as Power Girl’s Boob Window (TM), and the artist doesn’t intentionally draw them sexy just for the sake of drawing them sexy (stripper heels, absolute cleavage, spinebreaker poses, ‘O face’). Of course that doesn’t mean ALL superladies should have cheesecakey costumes, it really depends on what the character does and they’re personality, but that’s more a general character design rule. It also has a lot to do with the writing. If Empowered had a darker tone, or even just making Emp a slightly more successful cape, it wouldn’t work and would just come off as kins of sleazy. It works with Empowered because she’s sympathetic. I understand that she came from less-than-honorable origins, but over the course of the series thus so far she’s become a well-rounded character and fun to read.

So yeah, I more or less agree with everything Ross and Maximo said, and this kind of just turned into me schpeeling about Empowered.