Superheroes and Feminism

By Shaun Leonard

By Sheena McNeil
January 6, 2014

Shaun Leonard had an opportunity to speak with Georges Jeanty at the 2013 Vegas Valley Comic Book Festival about women in comics. He shares thoughts from Jeanty as well as his own insights.

Shaun Leonard is an Irish film, TV, and comics journalist currently based in Las Vegas, NV. He podcasts for film and television at isitabicycle.com.

"In comic books, the feminist movement is probably not as much (advanced) as Gloria Steinem probably would have wanted." Georges Jeanty, illustrator of Dark Horse Comics' Buffy the Vampire Slayer Seasons 8 and 9, understating the plight of female characters in sequential art.

Comic books, as much as (though often more than) any other medium, have been misrepresenting women in some form or another. The problem is not limited to any one aspect of comic book creation. Each component process of graphic novel production has its own part to play in the tradition of mistreating female characters, their storylines and their images.

Many people thank Gail Simone for pointing out the trend of "fridging" superheroines. By now a popular term "Women in Refrigerators" refers to women in comics who have been "killed, raped, depowered, crippled, turned evil, maimed, tortured, contracted a disease, or had other life-derailing tragedies befall" them, usually to further a male character's story arc. Simone's well-publicized letter illustrated one overused trope that privileges storylines involving men over any female character's plot, or, y'know, continued existence. This particular story-spur is endemic to comic books. Since Batman and Superman the death of a supporting character has been motivating vengeance plotlines and shaping character arcs through guilt over the loss of a loved one.

Comic book writers need new, better ways to motivate their characters. Whether it's Alexandra DeWitt or Uncle Ben, we can build characters without using the deaths of others to drive them forward. This tactic is so firmly rooted in comic book DNA it will never truly stop being employed, but it need not be so gendered a device. Male characters are often killed but are brought back stronger, or at the very least go down fighting. The true genius of Simone's term lies in how it points out the lengths to which writers often go to find gruesome ends for female characters and to make the (male) villains seem crueler and the (male) heroes feel more distraught. By all means: be dark, be gritty, be mean to your characters. But have each character's struggles mean something to them and not just to the man on the front cover. Women are mistreated and misrepresented in the real world far too often. They shouldn't have to be mistreated in all the fictional ones.

When comic book artists misrepresent the realities of women, it is much easier to point out. While Power Girl is the most famous example of nigh-impossible representations of the female form, she is far from the only one. Female characters are often placed in costumes that would make crime fighting an unrealistic pursuit, at best. At its core this problem is more subtly damaging than merely drawing women through the male gaze for the male gaze. Too many comic book artists are reinforcing gender roles, or worse, instilling them in impressionable readers of both genders. A superhero is a more perfect version of a person. Some would argue the point perhaps, but at their core superheroes embody ideals and beliefs, representing them in human form. Many fans read comic books to feel what it might be like to be more powerful or nobler. More heroic. Male heroes are drawn to appear strong and fast, to look physically superior. It is a problem when the most consistent thing women are drawn as is "sexy." It is a tacit message that women should aspire to be titillating and desirable, rather than powerful. That message needs to be changed.

"Joss (Whedon) was very adamant about saying, y'know, Buffy does not have huge breasts ... She doesn't dress like she's going to a strip club ... He was very adamant saying 'This is the character. We need the personification ... Buffy is a certain body type, she has a certain dress type, she has these types that in doing the book you have to be very conscious of.'" Speaking to Georges Jeanty at the Vegas Valley Comic Book Fest (Nov. 2 2013), it was clear that at least some writers and artists are aware of what they are doing when they represent women a certain way. While Buffy is a special case, given that there is a real life human being from whom the artist can take inspiration (which should foreground the point that artists can draw real women without damaging sales or readership figures), artists have literal carte blanche to draw the kind of female heroes that exist in real life and not doing so prevents true graphic equality.

Perhaps writers and artists are the most visibly culpable when it comes to comic book chauvinism, but publishers and editors, too, have to accept blame. There is a disheartening lack of options for the discerning comic book fan seeking a title featuring a strong female character who exists beyond helping / loving / inspiring her male hero / lover / paramour. When one of the Big Two publishers does end up with a critically acclaimed, beautifully drawn title featuring a strong female character, it would be beneficial to the diversity of the industry if the creative team was allowed to continue the work they began. Writer J. H. Williams and artist W. Haden Blackman left Batwoman, featuring the adventures of Kate Kane, the only homosexual title character in the history of the DC Universe, after issuing the following official statement: "DC has asked us to alter or completely discard many long-standing storylines in ways that we feel compromise the character and the series. We were ... prohibited from ever showing Kate and Maggie actually getting married". Whether DC's decision was motivated by a desire to please noted homophobe Orson Scott Card and those like him or by a fear of doing something new in a medium defined by its willingness to recycle everything old, the fact remains that they denied themselves and their readers an opportunity to see something new, diverse and empowering. Comic book readers need the option to support comics and heroes of varied backgrounds, ethnicities, genders and body types. And when readers have the option to try something new, they need to use it.

We vote with our dollars. There's a reason there are so many X-Men -and Avengers books. When publishers see good sales on one book they guide / boss their talent into creating similar content. Fearless Defenders was an interesting take on an all-female group of heroes. Due to ever-decreasing sales it has been cancelled at issue #12. Female solo titles often go the same way. Titles like Journey into Mystery and Red She-Hulk also didn't last long after they became vehicles for Sif and Betty Ross. As far as I can tell these decisions were not motivated by any form of sexism or publisher preference, they simply weren't making enough money. No one is suggesting anyone buy a comic they're not interested in, but if you want to show the money men that there is a desire for more female characters in comic books, you should support the upcoming relaunches of She-Hulk and Black Widow, or the upcoming teenage Muslim Ms. Marvel.

Comic books, like science fiction, looks to the future more than any other era. Why then does the genre not seek an equal future by representing it? Heroes are supposed to build a better world and that means a more diverse and equal one. We have more options now than ever before. Whether it's with our money or our tumblr mashups, we can tell people what we want and what we think. Gloria Steinem says she was inspired into activism by Wonder Woman stories: "the relief, the sweet vengeance, the toe-wriggling pleasure of reading about a woman who was strong, beautiful, courageous, and a fighter for social justice." After all, justice is equal and for all, so any hero who fights for justice fights for equality. Shouldn't that make every hero a feminist?