Holy Sexism In Wonder Women's Comics

Pallas Athena and Wonder Woman have shaped up history and influenced women throughout generations due to their power in defending justice. These strong, independent women have shown many similarities that have given women the confidence to stand up for themselves leading to the opportunities today’s women have. They both liked to settle battles and fights by peaceful means. These two women, symbolized fortitude, wisdom, and intelligence. Pallas Athena, the Greek patron goddess of the Amazons and Diana Prince the modern heroine of Wonder Woman (2017) both demonstrate a feminist

“I always thought that if I could pull off great boots [...] that would make me happy. But the hair gets in my face, the boots pinch… and this leotard is giving me an epic wedgie.” Ms. Marvel in No Normal and Generation Why defies “the typical oversexualization and damsel in distress archetype of women in comics.” (Sujei Lugo, Boston Public Library) Ms. Marvel is not depicted similar to how women are depicted in other comics. Kamala Khan’s costume and wardrobe—especially her costume and what she decides to wear—is anything but typical. When Kamala Khan decides to “run around JC all powered up,” she realizes that she needs a costume. After finally acknowledging the costume, Kamala’s first words to Ammi upon arriving at home are “Ammi! Where’s

Sexism, from the lack of women creators to the hypersexualized characters, is an enormous problem facing the comic book industry today. It is the 21st century, and the comic book industry is still a male-dominated industry. Thankfully, there are fewer distress damsels and more leading ladies, but I remain unsatisfied and believe that we need more. With female versions of superheroes doing better than their male counterparts, it will continue getting better. This world absolutely can not become better, until all aspects of life ceases the discrimination against

In Sherman Alexie’s Flight, female characters are objectified and reduced to simple roles because their primary purpose in the narrative is to display their sexuality for the gratification of the men. Before his affair is revealed, Jimmy is seduced by his young lover: “Jimmy sits on the floor. He grabs a piece of fried chicken, a leg, and takes a bite. It’s a little dry. So, okay, Helda isn’t much of a cook. But that’s okay. That’s perfectly okay. Because she turns on a CD player and starts dancing. She dances for Jimmy! Dances for me!” (Alexie 116).

Bercuci, L. (2016). Pop Feminism: Televised Superheroines from the 1990s to the 2010s. Gender Studies, [online] 15(1), pp.252-269. Available at: https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/genst.2016.15.issue-1/genst-2017-0017/genst-2017-0017.pdf [Accessed 14 Jul. 2017].

Wonder Woman was dressed in a costume that incorporated the colors of the flag, showing that she is ready to help America defeat the Nazis. During this time, 2 million women poured into the workforce, doing tasks of the men who had gone off to fight in the war. With women running farms and factories Wonder Woman played a huge role in uplifting women. However, when World War II ended, and American men came home, many women began losing their jobs and Wonder Woman lost her power. When Marston died in 1947, the new writers and editors didn’t have the same commitment to symbols of, “strong, free, courageous womanhood”, and made Wonder Woman spend less time fighting the bad guys, and more time as a regular-person persona.

Who doesn’t love a good superhero? The perfect figure, the spandex suit, the flowing cape, flawless looks, and the powers we can only dream of having. Superheroes have been around for ages now, leaving an everlasting imprint on our hearts. It is no secret that males dominate the superhero industry; both the heroes themselves and those who create them. Superman, Batman, Ironman, and Spiderman have become the top heroes of all time; there is nothing wrong with them holding the spotlight, but female heroes are underrepresented. There are notable female heroes, but they tend to be drawn with a busty figure that few women are naturally blessed with, and show little emotional rational in fights. Take Black Widow (Marvel) for example, anyone would love for her figure and kick-ass moves. Wonder Woman is our hero of the hour, she has made her way onto the big screen; casting her into the spotlight more than ever. She screams fights for love, promotes peace, is a beacon of hope, and screams feminism. What’s not to love? The new movie released on June 2, 2017, has called more attention to the American-spirited, Amazonian woman than ever before. The movie is the first fully female directed movie, Patty Jenkins brings a great female to the big screen. Although the movie is great and supports feminism, is the movie the depiction of Wonder Woman that should be idealized?

Throughout my research paper I am going to compare and contrast the differences between how everyday people look at a female superhero, like Wonder Woman, and male superhero, like Superman. In the paper, I would like to look at the differences in the amount of clothing Wonder Woman has on and the amount of clothes a male superhero normally has on. I would also like to look at the physical differences the two genders have when it comes to muscle physique. Another interesting topic to look at is how we look at a female character and a male character, as in who the intended audience is. I would like to look at superhero action figures, and show how the ‘boy’ toy section differs from the ‘girl’ section when it comes to superheroes. Even though Wonder Woman is just as powerful and important as other male superheros she is often easily centered out from other superheroes because of her physique, lack of clothes, sex appeal and her gender.

Two questions came about with these changes in clothing. The first being, why didn't these influences change women's costume in the same way as that of men? Taking the history of humanity as a whole, there can be little doubt that men have played a greater part in social life, and have been more easily influenced by social factors, than have women. It can be said that if social and political influences have been the chief factors in bringing about the greater uniformity of men's

Throughout the world women are depicted to be oversexualized among forms of media such as video games and comic books. The idea of oversexualization towards female characters is that they have been often drawn and animated in hypersexual ways. Even going as far as viewing them as a sex object, their revealing body images are eye candy through the eyes of men. Hence women found in comic books and video games are frequently emphasized by their excessive physical appearances, objectification, portrayal, and character role.

The Silver Age of Comics represents a foreshadowing of the decline in quality and appreciation of comics. After the golden age of comics came the silver age of comics, which began 1952 and ended in the early 1990s, it was one of the first time the comic book industry's really started to introduce the superhero roles into their comics. The first hero that really is in the golden age of comics this hero was a masked detective who has similar features to batman but just not as popular known as the The Clock. The Clock first appeared in the comic book Funny Pages #6 Nov. 1936. “During The Golden Age, comics were mainly based on war and horror stories.

“Wonder Woman is a walking- and sometimes flying- paradox of attributions and images. She is, at once, a female sex symbol and feminist icon: physically vulnerable, morally virtuous, financially independent, self-determining, and, in tune with her womanly ways, self-sacrificing” (Wright 6). Wonder Woman was created by William Marston in order to show and achieve women empowerment. At the time that Wonder Woman was assembled, there were no women superheroes. The only superheroes that were created at the time were powerful, strong, fully-clothed, white, males. Even though Wonder Woman is just as powerful and important as other male superheroes, she is often easily centered out from other superheroes because of her physique, lack of clothes,

Wonder women is a superhero movie based on the DC comics character. The movie received a great amount of positive feedback with a 92% rating. Diana Prince portrayed by actress Gal Gadot, is the daughter of Queen Hippolyta. She’s raised on island known as Themyscira, where the Amazonian race are located.

Marvel has recently released a line of t-shirts based on the popular “Avengers” comic book series, that advertises two different t-shirts, one designed for males and one designed for females. These t-shirts have brought up various concerns regarding gender stereotypes/biases. This all started once the t-shirts hit the market. One of the first things people noticed was the color. The t-shirt that was created with males in mind, is sold in a shade of blue. On the other hand, the female constructed t-shirt is in between a shade of red and pink. These two colors are commonly categorized as male and female colors, blue is for boys and pink is for girls. This trend started many decades

Frequently, most superheroes in cinema are portrayed by male characters rather than women, creating a distinction between gender roles. Indeed, through the passage, “These results may suggest to viewers that women are less important, knowledgeable, and capable than men – and less likely to be a hero” (Miller et. al) women are much less likely to be featured as the hero within the film, and more likely to be featured as the “damsel in distress” of the story. Furthermore, women are much more likely to be depicted in a sexualized fashion, even when displayed in the role of hero. This feature of women with a lack of dominance defies feminism, as they lack roles in superhero films and they are portrayed with the sole purpose of boasting