Blogpost 9: Respect in Women

Watching movies are rewarding especially when you idolize the characters in the movie. While in line for tickets, I couldn’t help but overheard two men talking about the movie that was showing. These two men were talking about what they have read and they hope seeing it in the movie, to my surprise our seat was beside them and took notice what they are talking about. They talked about how great the hero is and they should release more masculine movies like that, while they were whispering they also said they should make the heroine show more skin. I asked myself “why is that?”

I was skimming though as site, I stumbled upon and article in KINJA titled “It'sGreat We're Getting A Captain Marvel Movie. It's Also Not Enough.” written by Lauren Davis. She was excited on a Captain Marvel movie that was going to be release for it has a lot of women/ female superheroes in it, but as she said in the title this movie is not enough. In her article, she cited on different female heroines that could make it in the big screen and she showed that they are worthy of having a movie. One of it is batgirl, a strong, young and brave teenager, who wouldn’t like a movie about her? They just need a chance on the big screen. In Lauren’s article she conveyed the strength and passion that many female characters have.  “One thing that the most recent Marvel movie announcement made clear, however, is that female superheroes are still playing catch-up.” Said Lauren, I think this will give more courage to the females and resolve the problems of sexism and stereotyping.

On the other hand I also read an article of the same site titled “Why Do We Care So MuchAbout What Female Superheroes Wear, Anyway?” written also by Lauren Davis. In her article she showed that women besides the fact that they want to look sexy they also want to be respected in a way they are viewed by men. She started off with a female super hero who was just a teenager but had a different impact on the viewers, this heroine had a sexy outfit and has big breasts that looked like it was implanted in her, not the very least good example of a heroine. She also cited that not all the female power fantasies revolve around their breasts just because the artist drew it like the breast are going to explode, some women like it conventional. Lauren also said that to look at women as heroes, not just an accessory. She also take in thought of the children around us because they idolize these kinds of heroes too. “It's not that kids need to somehow be shielded from images of women's breasts and abs. Rather, it's that these costumes convey a message to children about what powerful women look like” said Lauren for this will be the reason why children prefer bigger breasts, sexier and a bit slutty, as  they get older.

Going back to what had happened in the movie house, it’s ok to watch masculine movies but why do they have to criticize the heroine that way. Women are humans’ too not sexual objects, it’s not a threat to the main character that the heroine showed less skin and looked conservative. It really made a difference when female characters are respected, also we should make more movies on heroines. We care so much for the female character because it portray us and gives us strength but when we see them in tights and spandexes some would see them as sluts, so why do we have to look up to them if they are produced that way. There are a lot of female heroes that needs a spotlight and needs to be seen by the world, it’s inspiring that the makers are changing a bit the heroines and improving them.

Blogpost 8: Objectified Characters

Have you ever wondered why do comic book artist think and write about these kinds of heroes that portrayed such a masculine type. What were their thoughts and how do they write about these kinds of comics where in real life there aren’t any superheroes who are buffed. Are they really men? Or some of them are female illustrators. What if all of the problems disappeared, and no one gave a BS type of answer, will some people think about that?

When I was browsing through the net I saw an article that intrigued my attention on an article titled “When AreComic-Book Superheroes Gonna Be Objectified Like Wonder Woman?” written by Dan Avery in the Queerty. In his article he wrote about his opinion on about the comic books that have been selling through decades. He cited on how men superheroes looked like in dressed in comic book, he also said that men are barely drawn sexy in any way, poses, clothes and even on the story. As the men looked buff and wore skin typed clothes, women often wore sexy big breast clothes. In his opinion he is troubled by the fact that on the side of men, they do not usually please the same type of straight men in their comics. In fact men would be glad to draw women clothing rather than drawing muscular guys for muscular guys. “It’s too easy to say comics are created by straight guys for straight guys. Entire communities of gays comics fans have popped up nationwide” said Dan, when comic books were a hit there was also the time gays shined.  He thinks that these kinds of comics where muscular ideal guy’s women believe are straight guys who write it for them.

On the other hand when talking about women being objectified in different kinds of comics I would rather say one article made me smile. In the article “What Would Female Superheroes Look LikeIf They Weren't Objectified?” written by Elizabeth Plank on Arts.Mic. She showed illustrations of another work of an illustrator on female heroes if they weren’t objectified. First is about super woman who doesn’t even need to wear spandex to show her strong side, second  power girl who’s big breast made her look awesome and fierce, there are a lot more. “Although female superheroes such as Wonder Woman are often considered bold feminist icons epitomizing female strength and duress, they’ve also been the targets of criticism because of their sexualized facade.” said Elizabeth. She wanted to make people see after all these sexism on super hero women if these problems didn’t exist super hero women would be freely recognize

Women are highly sexualized in comics and real life. Fit women in yoga pants, leggings, skirts and shorts attract men’s attention. I think if you can look at a woman sexually and appreciate her mind personality and courage. Wonder Woman is a sexy and strong character but yeah the way she is drawn does show the pig in us. Good thing there are people who would see her differently. I refuse to pretend like sex is not on the brain of men and women whom ignore it. When I was still a child I would watch Wonder Woman and I will probably to grow to want the sexual attention of men because of what I saw in her that men liked so much.

Blogpost 7: Game Gender Portrayal

While playing video games with my older brother I took the liberty to always play second player and pick out only women in a variety of characters in the game. I didn’t know why but I never picked out male characters in games because they don’t look like I am capable of using them, while the female role I can actually be them and idolize them. It puzzled me when my brother told me why do they look like that slutty and every time they are being hit they shed clothes or better yet have bouncing breast in every game we play.  

While browsing through the internet I stumbled upon an article “She Has No Head! – No, It’sNot Equal” written by Kelly Thompson in CBR (Comic Book Resources). In her article she cited why women are viewed as a sexual object through men on of it is the women’s body type, for in fact men want these kinds of body where they would look sexy and sluttier. First in her article she showed that Men are viewed as the strong bulky and athletic, on the other hand Women are seen as a sex toy and they are portrayed as a Porn Star to the eyes of many. I would make sense why comic book artist didn’t put muscular women in their comics because of what they see in them, but couldn’t they just give women a little respect on what they look like. Second she showed that all of the heroes wear spandex clothes, but why do females have to look sexy in that to be frank it spandex are worn to make you look sexier and they said this is equal to what male heroes are wearing. Also almost all of the female heroes have their cleavage shown and most of the female heroes have bigger breasts. Third is about female heroes beauty in comics, while male heroes look muscular and terrifying. Women are seen as helpless idols because of their beauty and their body poses. Lastly posing of female heroes where they would look slutty and portray a more sexual vision. “I’ve frequently heard the argument that superhero comics are primarily male power fantasies – that men want to be those powerful men and they want to have those beautiful sexy submissive women on their arm and I’m sure there’s a certain amount of truth to that.” Said Kelly, we shouldn’t have to stereotype everything we have to respect each one, one way or another.

I have also read in another site article titled “Damsels In Distress: Female Representation inVideo Games” written by Eugenia Zobel de Ayala in HASTAC. In her article she cited that women in video games are less picked and unfavorable when men play fighting or different types of game. Women in video games are weaker and they sometimes dress lesser than a man who’s just wearing shorts to a fight. Also she showed that women in games are more vulnerable where men are more equipped with different kinds of powers and gadgets, just like her example where Sonic the hedgehog have this sneaker of speed and swiftness while Princess Peach in super Mario wore a dress in a racing and she looked pretty in pink. Eugenia said they are basic kind of heroes where the disadvantages of women take place. She also cited different characters too like the ones in DOA. “By lifting the 'damsel in distress' heuristic from female video game characters and designing female characters that are as capable and badass as are present in real life, women could easily take the role of the hero- and could absolutely sell video games.” Said Eugenia, where she would hope that the makers of video games improve more on the female characters.

Growing up is hard when people put things in your brain that would make you feel comfortable and uncomfortable. Being a girl with an older brother I always chose to be the girl in playing video games, I took notice that when I also played again in a role of a girl, the girls are weaker in videogames rather than picking the male characters where they would have different statistics. Movements aren’t the same and they look more seductive as ever. I can see now why women want to look sexier and some of them what breast implants. female heroes posing it’s not frightening but seductive in a disturbing manner, where we would ask why would we be afraid of these kinds of heroes where we could just have sex with them.

Blog 6: Decades of Poses

Have you ever notice about people telling you what to do, what to look like, especially how you should act? While I was in one of my friends Photo Shoot as one of the models I was asked to pose a bit sexy for her, and she gave me points and tips. While the men pose manly, I asked myself why should I pose sexy while men pose with a strong personality? So I went and asked her why, although she also doesn’t know I went online on strong poses for women and why women are always seen as a sexy icon.

While browsing on my small problem I stumbled upon an article in the website called KINJA titled “10 Stupid Arguments People Use To Defend Comic Book Sexism” written by Rob Bricken. In his article he had a problem on people that have been arguing on about sexism on comic books, and he wrote it to make readers see what non comic book reader’s views are.  Rob wrote down 10 things non-readers have a problem on the portrayal of women in comic books. The first view is on how they are drawn but heroines are sexier, their art style is also different. Rob cit

ed an example where a hero crouches down that looked manly and strong, on the other hand there’s this image also of a heroine using the same position as his counterpart but they view it as a more seductive. It said that heroes are never drawn exactly how they are posed because they see that as a more feminine attribute. There are still a lot that rob had cited. “We bring up problems with sexism in comics, and will continue to bring them up, because the comics industry has been treating fictional and non-fictional women with a double standard for decades.” Said Rob, comics have been around for decades, comics should at the very least fix this sexism in their comics.

On another article titled “These Male Superheroes Objectified Like Their FemaleCounterparts Is Absolutely Perfect” on the Buzzfeed written by Javier Moreno. I read also this article where the same heroine had a problem with his counterpart hero, this time it showed the same sexist treatment to their counterpart. He cited a picture of Thor but with revealing clothes on and with his hammer, and The Punisher with just a drape of a scull covering his testicles.  Javier also bluntly showed the underwear of the hero and with a big not so erected penis. Javier mentioned what his friend white said “Sexiness isn’t inherently a bad thing, it just needs to be an equal thing.” Where to as we should respect each other and give equality on what we see.

Going back to what I have been puzzling about people at my age read comics a lot and still increasing, comics have been here for the longest time and a lot of readers get their ideas and adapt to what they have read. If these kinds of comics show a lot of sexism, there are no excuses that people who have read it are a bit sexist. What we read sometimes affects us on what we see in our surrounding, just like what I have experienced on our Photo Shoot. I noticed that  my friends read comics too, maybe what they have read are classically conditioned in their brains and we don’t even notice it.

Blogpost 5: Color Stereotyping

During our primary age we loved super heroes, whether it is in the movie, in television shows, cartoons, or someone in real life. Children look up to their own super heroes; they copy them and play the pretend game. We choose our own idols whether it is Superman, Batman, or Spiderman we see them as our role models we want to be someday. Children often like superheroes because they save lives and in a fun way. But why are these all male superheroes?

                        I watched a movie on about the green lantern, later on I started to notice there was a yellow colored villain in the series. I looked it up on the internet and I bumped into an article in a website called Soc Theory and it was titled “GenderStereotypes And Over-sexualization of Women in Comic Books” written by Clew. Clew had also watched a Green Lantern Movie, he didn’t know anything about green lantern or what he is so he also looked it up on the internet and found out that Green Lanterns universe is not just green, there he cited the color pink, violet and purple where woman in Green lanterns universe wore. He cited that artist showed these heroes as a feminine type due to their colors. As normal superheroes would wear Blue, Yellow, and Red because they are considered as the primary colors and they show masculinity. He said in the his article that isn’t that just stereotyping in women, and how women wore their costume and poses. He also cited different heroines that showed a lot of sexist in their clothing and color. “But the oversexualization of women only serves to further objectify them.” said Clew. Women should be treated equally even in making the character like that sexy and good looking, chances are people would see them as vulnerable and weak.

                        I have also read in another on The Daily Dot site and the article titled “Strong FemaleSuperhero Pose meme gets a Hawkeye reboot” written by Aja Roman. Where she was browsing through tumbler and saw memes in our generation what would males or super heroes would look like if they were to replicate the poses that female heroes or characters are. She cited different pictures where Hawkeye one of the heroes on The Avengers posed like Harley Quinn. She also cited in her article the different types of pictures that could get the attention of readers like the poses of Mary Jane that was copied by a different guy and it doesn’t look as appealing. She mentioned 8 different types of  strong female characters with poses and ideas of guys in them. “We look forward to seeing where fandom takes the Strong Female Superhero meme next. After all, so far, it’s had more twists than a, well, strong female superhero.” Said Aja. We should also put empathy in what we see or do to others it’s all good with fun and laughs but to realize these are just as valuable

                        Going back children often look up to male heroes; they inherit what they see in their idols, whether there are female superheroes. It is hard to make them be liked in a society where we grew up with male heroes. We also tend to stereotype these kinds like people walking around, wearing pink or a bit girly clothing; we tend to judge them as if they were gay. I learned some of us do liked other colors in life, whether its pink to violet meaning feminine or blue to black for masculine. It doesn’t mean that if these super heroes wear these kinds of clothes or colors they are weak and vulnerable. Also heroines in their clothing are just as sexist, why don’t they let male heroes wear shorts and plunging neckline and see how men would feel.

Blogpost 4: Childrens Clothing on Superheroes

                                When we were still kids we wore shirts that had a logo of a superhero on them. On other shirts it’s the super hero himself. I wondered why children (mostly males) always wore superhero clothes and it seems that a female child always clings to make ups and wishing to be the wife hero. The other day my family and I were shopping for clothes and then I saw a child crying for a shirt he wanted. Over hearing their conversation the child wanted the protagonist on his shirt.

                                So as I was browsing through the internet, I stumbled upon articles about what parents have to say about these problems. I read “Children’s Place Doesn’t Think FemaleSuperheroes Belong on Boy’s Clothing” on the Mommyish.com which was written by Meredith Bland. In her article she said that she saw a tweet from a mother complaining about shirt merchandise that excluded the female protagonist while all the male heroes were there. The mother got a reply and said that the shirt was intended for boys, Meredith broke down 2 assumptions why and what the seller’s thoughts were. On another article “Awesome Mom Creates Girls’ Clothing ThatIsn’t ‘Girls’ Clothing’” in the same site written by Koa Beck, saying that they it’s ok to wear boy-ish clothes. In this article she cited that a mom made a Plan B for their girl children to wear what they want but still look like a girl. Girls who aren’t fond of blouses and skirts wore shirts that set of a feminine style and that the kids were ok with that, some female kids prefer what male kids are doing these days. “We know that this kind of bias exists in children’s clothing. It’s everywhere. But when Children’s Place made the choice to remove a female character, the only main character who is not on this shirt, they made a statement. And that statement is: People who respect women don’t shop at Children’s Place.” Meredith said. Its unavoidable that there still exist these kinds of biases, this is what she think she got out of it.

As I see it, I tried to look for more information about clothing that female children wore. I found out one article in “The Stir by CafeMom” website titled “Superhero Underwear for LittleGirls Are a Big Step Toward Gender Equality” written by Jeanne Sager. She was happy to see that products are improving very well towards the female clothing, female underwear’s are selling like hotcakes and they don’t need to buy male superhero underwear for their ladies. In Jeanne’s article she is happy on seeing this part of improvement and she is thrilled, because she said she’s tired of being a mom who would care for the smallest importance of her children. She cited different reasons and problems she has encountered before this happened. “Would you buy superhero undies for your daughter?” Jeanne said saying with a brave front. The society was denied of female superheroes underwear, but this time the tides have changed.

                                Going back to what I have overheard it seems that this kinds of children are normal; wanting to get their favorite superheroes on their shirt is just a sign that they really like them. Same goes for girls because to what I have encountered the kid that wanted the shirt was a girl but the mall didn’t have that kind of clothing, just barbies and girly blouses. For m I didn’t notice this kind of problems that kids have, even when I was still a kid I didn’t like super heroes that were on our clothes. I wanted girl outfits but wore shorts and shirts but I wore men clothing. It’s really a big step forward for kids these days.

Blogpost 3: Female Eyes

Recently many comic book / book movies were released, it wasn’t really interesting because it had the same superheroes just like Thor, Iron Man and Spider Man. I asked a lot of my friend whether the movie was great or not, a lot of the guys said it was and the girls said they haven’t watched it yet or they won’t watch it because it’s not interesting enough.

When browsing through my social media sites I stumbled upon an article on Time magazine’s site, where it is titled “Where Are All the(Good) Female Superhero Movies?” written by Jeff Alexander. He’s a married man that also like superheroes and looked up to them; of course he would watch movies about his favourite superheroes. He shared his experience on how his wife declines to watch a movie, and he watched it by himself at the theatres. After he told his wife what about how the movie was, he also told his wife about Scarlett Johanssen (The Black Widow) in the movie The Avengers. Her wife became interested in the movie and wanted to watch the movie now, why is that? In his article he cited examples of heroines that attract women to these types of movies. When a women’s characteristic is strong they get the attention of women to watch the movie. He also cited different articles where and why there were fewer heroines in the spot light, why do you keep watching the movie over and over, and why Brave the movie was a flop. I also read that in movies you always see a man in tights and there weren’t any strong women that could match up to the hero. He also explained that makers should make more female heroine in their movies just like The Black Widow.

“Still, superheroine sexism can be overcome, as long as there are those who want to do it, and do it right.” said Jeff. Sexism is one of the main problems of people today, maybe it’s because of the stereotype that has been going around.

I have also read in another article “The changing role ofwomen in comic books” written by Jennie Whitwood. In her article she said that there were a lot of comic books that were seen in 2011, she also said that there are controversies by the uneven gender portrayals. She was talking about how female characters in comics are hard to maintain in its situation. Comics couldn’t get female readers as much as romance comics did; comic book makers struggled to make female readers read their action comics. Women in comics are not treated well as the superhero in it, women in comics showed a lot of skin and had less clothing, they also made women look sexier in their comics. In her article she explain how comic books could get the attention of female readers, she also cited some examples of women who are strong. I took notice a lot of women who are strong are usually villains who are still devoted to their masters like Quinns devotion to joker. But still there are women like The Black Widow to look up to.

“For now, it seems that integrating the female voice into superhero comics is still as challenging as ever, but there are signs of positive change.” said Jennie. It’s not easy to make people change the way they see women in comics but at least they are improving.

Going back, I did do a bit of stereotyping in the movies I didn’t want to watch because of what I presumed that there will only be heroes and no heroine. I didn’t appreciate how women are treated in comic books either but im glad to see that they are working hard to make more female readers read their comics and become more interesting. As to that it became more psychological that women don’t usually read or watch movies that have the same men and the same heroes in it, because women have their gender issues.

Blogpost 2:Idolization

When I was a child I have always liked superheroes that were strong and independent, they were always considered a great big idol to children. Children look up to superheroes because they are fast and all they do is save the world and they don’t have to do house chores.  I notice that these kids are more aggressive to some children’s I have seen.

Last July of 2014 I stumbled upon an article about super heroes damaging gender roles to children, and the article was titled “DoSuperheroes Model Damaging Gender Roles to Kids?”. Stephanie Pappas who is one of the Live Science contributors, wrote the article she noticed that in her research that children are more exposed to aggression. She cited some of the movies that where superheroes are masculine, bold, strong and aggressive. She had an investigation where she let these children be exposed to some of the bold movies like “The Dark Knight” and had a talk with the parents; she interviewed them a year later. She found out that girls are more likely to have watched these kinds of movies once or never, but on the other hand boys watch more of these superheroes.

“Boys who watched more superhero media had higher rates of playing with pretend weapons, as well as higher rates of playing in stereo typically male ways” said Stephanie. It didn't affect the girls much but it did make them boyish and made them play with toy weapons

On the other hand I have also read another article on “Superheroes, Superpowers, and Sexuality” written by Rebecca A. Demarest. Where she had a survey on a University why these high school students liked these types of heroes, she found out about how they are suited up and how they are shown to the public. One of the things she cited on was about their physical appearance, where men are masculine so that would make them see that men are strong and have six packs.  While women’s’ clothing are built to promote their sexuality. She also cited in her article the importance of appearance of the superheroes, because the audience would be the first to decide what is appealing to them or not. Of course it also needs the right voice amount so they will distinguish what they are.

“Superheroes have a strong influence in our society, and as such we should look at the messages that they represent” said Rebecca. Before we idolize them we should also think through their characteristics, because sometimes the viewers rely on who they are idolizing

Looking back to when I was still in grade school I didn’t take notice that these kinds of things were important, I think I am also one of those girl who acts boyishly because of these kinds of superheroes I admire back then. It also influenced me to what their actions were I like to help out others but I don’t usually help myself to what I need. I also took concern on what Rebecca wrote in her 3 page article,  on how I dress and on how I idolize men today.

Blogpost 1: Heroines Revealed

Being one of the students in Multimedia arts, we appreciate different kinds or forms of arts. Comics are one of mediums of an artist; they juxtapose panels of images that are drawn, they also perceived stories in their comics. I was reading a comic about our common heroes, and I got curious about why are super heroes always get to be a guy. I also asked some of my colleagues that are there any women super heroes; they asked me “why would a hero be a girl? It would be weak”. Browsing through the internet I stumbled upon an article that tells about what comic books teach us about gender attitudes.

                        Speaking of comics I just read about an article that Christina Blanch wrote about titled “What Do Comic Books Teach Us about Gender Attitudes”. Christina Blanch taught students at a State University about gender through comics, she said that when the topic was opened the class seemed to be engaged. Students shared their experiences on reading comics, and she stated some of heroes in her article on what she saw on the students.  One example that Christina gave was the Man of Steal known as Superman, he exhibits the strong type of guy that is impermeable to harm. Blanch also added Lois Lane who is a gusty, beautiful character that was a headline-hunting reporter. By then when Superman was released they portrayed women as office and factory workers while the men were fighting in the war.  But when the war had ended her role as a smart and hard working woman took a toll. She seem helpless to the eyes of man, she was always abducted by villains and always been rescued. 

“My hope is that future comic book narratives reflect a society that continues to make strides in understanding gender.” Said Christina Blanch, as society develops we are in the process of developing our world. There are still a lot more comics to make and she hope it will make us understand more, so we could understand each other more.

                       

                        Besides Christina Blanch’s article I have also stumbled upon the “7 Female Superheroes to Look Up To” in allwomenstalk.com, it was stated there that female heroes doesn’t get enough spotlight as to their counterparts. So the author presented different female superheroes that the ladies can also look up to with out male counterparts. There were 7 female superheroes; one of them was Wonder woman, many have said that wonder woman was the counterpart of superman, but she isn’t. Unlike superman, Wonder woman was truly a figure of a powerful lady where she is beautiful, hard working and brave. She is a great example of a heroine because she fights for gender equality, so that men and woman have equal rights. Second heroine icon we can look up to is The Manhunter, as to what she is named because it was said that she’s tired of men getting away with all the murder and crime, so she is in search for justice. Great thing about her is that she has no special powers to do her job, she only had her brain and gadgets to fulfill her duties. These are truly amazing heroine characters to look up to, and there were still others.

"There are so many more female superheroes to look up to out there; these are merely my personal favorites. I love the diversity that the comic book world is continuing to introduce." from allwomenstalk.com it's not bad having to look up to men superheroes, although there are also heroines that we women can look up to.

                        In the article of Christina Blanch she presented other examples of superheroes that had an opposing effect on how women are viewed. Others have counter parts and portrayed as a support for the leading character, it was always like that but through time more and more comics are made and portrayed women differently. Little by little some are portrayed as strong willed like the female heroes that had no counterparts. I like comics but I never thought that other people’s views on women were different; I didn’t expect that the characters that were portrayed gave the ideas on the viewers such negative effect on women being in a lead role. I too also hope for gender equality on both sides like Wonder woman, whether you want to be different or to stand out, we should appreciate everybody around us. We are unique and remarkable individuals, we should use our talents to portray and understand each other. We are still making mistakes and trying to learn from them.