nsg

August 12, 2013 3:57 pm I don't see why anything that took place a year ago is invalid to you, but okay. I think Jim and the people above me detail some problematic things said by creators recently or how they are generally treated. I don't make a habit of continuing to pick up books that I know won't escape these issues, so I'm probably not the best person to barrage you with a list of evidence, especially when I think the dearth of female creators and ratio of male to female characters speaks for itself, but here are some things that have stood out to me recently: The treatment of the relationship between Doc Ock and MJ in the earlier issues of Superior Spider-Man, that came very close to non-consensual sexual acts. It seemed to be played for laughs without understanding the undercurrents in that situation, before Slott abandoned that plot. I found the treatment of the two women in The Spirit/The Rocketeer to fall into the trap of portraying women at that time as constant nags and their boyfriends are helpless and lovable men who don't know how to deal with them. Sure, Mark Waid pokes fun at these idea in the beginning of the issue when Betty discovers the body, but he then does very little to elevate her from her previous characterization and seems to be having to much fun playing with that trope. This is extremely lengthy, but definitely worth a read regardless of whatever your feelings on the series might be: http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2013/05/who-whitewashes-the-watchmen-part-1/ http://www.hoodedutilitarian.com/2013/05/who-whitewashes-the-watchmen-part-2/ Namely in the second link, where he writes about the current treatment of the Comedian and Cooke's attempt to establish a connection between him and Laurie. As I stated before, I think the fact that so many female characters are devoid of characterization and personality speaks volumes, there doesn't need to be a murder or rape in a comic every month for sexism to be prevalent, the general lack of effort in portraying them is enough. Also, I think the character of Harper Row and her younger brother is an example of the type of pandering that takes place.

August 12, 2013 2:48 pm The issue has a lot more to do with the characterization of a female character than their appearance. It's impossible to deny that the majority of female superheroes are drawn in a ridiculous fashion, and sure male superheroes don't exactly have realistic body types either, but there are huge differences there. The reason all men are drawn with rippling abs is undoubtedly a male power fantasy, it's also what an extremely athletic male body looks like, with a few exceptions, most female superheroes do not look like athletes. Michael Lark's Forever from Lazarus is what an athletic woman would look like, but as a man from the letters column complained, she looks "too butch", she doesn't fulfill his ideal of what a woman should look like, therefore we have women who are supposed to fight crime, but have a waist that probably cannot sustain the sheer weight of their breasts. Gilbert Hernandez's women characters are outrageously proportioned. Seriously, look at Fritz. He hasn't spent his career objectifying them and using them as plot devices or given them virtually no personality, he has spent 30 years telling stories about women and he has done it well. There has been murder, sexual violence and more sex than you can imagine, but you can't call him sexist because he respects his characters and treats them as humans. Sure, you can list some books led by women, but how about some produced by them? Just because Catwoman and Wonder Woman have their own titles doesn't mean that sexism no longer exists in superhero comics. Maybe it'll be an improvement when Catwoman doesn't spend 3 pages of her first issue having sex with Batman or when Wonder Woman's history hasn't been retconned to make sure that there are men prevalent in it. It's not that women aren't interested in comics, it's just hard to look at images of a person that is supposed to represent you that is extremely offensive and the attempt to include you are merely pandering with little real effort. There is a reason that there are a great number of female creators outside of superhero comics, many of them leading their own publishing company or working for one, its because Marvel and DC make it painfully obvious that they are not welcome and their attempts to show otherwise pale in comparison.

March 6, 2013 3:08 pm http://4thletter.net/2013/01/on-mark-andrew-smiths-sullivans-sluggers-kickstarter/ Check the comments for Stokoe's response. The whole thing is worth a read too.