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.