The 5 Most Ridiculously Sexist Superhero Costumes
Female superhero costumes are the comic industry's "No Cooties" signs: They prove that the people who designed them think about girls (a lot) but don't really know how they work and are making sure it stays that way. I am not an enlightened man. I consider the wipe-clean cheerleader costume a greater advance in clothing technology than the spacesuit. But the only "strong" in many "strong female comic book characters" are the oblique muscles required to point their ass and boobs in the same direction.
Marvel
Psylocke's buttocks are like the Mona Lisa's eyes, they follow you no matter what angle you're looking from.
Behold five characters whose costumes are so impossibly, illogically sexual that they look like they were designed by M.C. Escher after he didn't get laid for 20 years.
#5. Power Girl
Charged with making a female Superman, Power Girl's costume designer's only thoughts were "breasts" and "done." They'd already given Supergirl a miniskirt (and, as a consequence, the entire population of Metropolis got a panty shot). With Power Girl, they upped the ante and opened a tit-window. Most spandex heroes have a symbol on their chest summarizing their character, and so does Power Girl: an empty hole full of cleavage.
DC
Check out the empowerment on that!
There is no counterargument. Fans and writers have tried to explain Power Girl's breast-viewing port several times, and each theory is more ridiculously unsupported than the breasts they're attempting to justify.
DC
And why doesn't her costume inflate when she flies?
The most common (and ridiculous) explanation is, "I am strong and empowered and therefore love being naked and stared at." You know, the same reason Superman flies around in a thong. One writer claims it's to show that she's healthy, so we can only be grateful that Krypton never discovered gynecology. Another is the idea of distracting villains, because when you mainly fight robots and aliens and can punch through a tank, your best weapon is nudity. Oh, and the absolute best explanation:
DC
"I show off my tits because I'm such a dumb blonde I can't even finish my own clothes. I also cry. Girls do that, right?"
DC have made it very clear that they consider the rest of Power Girl a superpowered breast-delivery service ("Faster than a speeding bullet! Bigger than a human head!"). They once changed her entire back story from solar superpowered alien to magical Atlantean and back again, and the only thing that stayed constant was the hole in the costume.
DC
Even on-panel you have a disappointed girl and a ridiculously pleased baby-faced manchild.
#4. Starfire's Reboot
Starfire has always been the Captain Kirkiest character, a brightly colored alien demanding to be shown "more of this Earth thing called love," but her latest iteration is about as sexy as a speculum. It's certainly going for the right place, but it's so cold and clinically aimed that only those who've given up on regular sex could enjoy it.
DC
I'm not saying the designers view women as sexual targets, but she has big glowing red weak points to help you aim at her throat and crotch.
Of course, in the story that revealed her costume, she spent most of her time nude and bikini-clad, presumably because that was the only way to make her costume look reasonable.
DC
This is basically her new costume. And personality. And motivation.
Note the character actually telling you, "If you have a problem with this, you're totally a prude." In 2011, DC rebooted their universe to attract a new market*, and their rebooted Starfire made sure the new demographic wouldn't contain ovaries.
*Because their existing one is famous for hating change and not multiplying.
DC
The site isn't playing saxophone music. You're just hearing it anyway.
Critics have pointed out that the original Starfire was always polyamorous, but that's like saying the original Superman could only jump really high. Starfire is now best known for the Teen Titans cartoon, which had 2 million viewers, aka 20 times more people than were buying her comics. So many of her biggest fans were young schoolgirls, the market demographic least likely to read comics and most likely to be warned to stay away from people who do. The TV show's version of Starfire was an awkward-but-hopeful shy girl who wanted to be cool and make friends. She was a positive character who allowed awkward-but-hopeful shy fans to insert themselves into the show. The comic's decision to take the same character in a much creepier "I'd like to insert myself" direction couldn't have been more poorly timed.
DC
The new direction is "Literally break your own spine to aim breasts at male eyes."
Her rewritten back story apparently had her coming from the planet Penthouse Letter. Her ignorance of human conversation manifested itself via thinking it's unnecessary to know someone's name before having sex. The rest of the team are already bragging about who's ridden the interplanetary bicycle in the first issue, in the middle of a firefight in which she's saving them. I understand the direction they're going for, but come on, guys, we already have the Internet for porn.
#3. Wonder Woman's "Compassion"
Wonder Woman preserves 1940s sexism like a chunk of amber in a bustier, exploited by modern artists to reanimate terrible extinct ideas in some sort of Chauvinist Park. Her weapon AND weakness are both bondage --she has a magic lasso and can be kept hostage if she's tied up, but only if it's by a man. Ninety years after women were allowed to vote, she wasn't allowed to wear a jacket because the fans complained too much. That happened in 2010, and the general consensus was that she should consider herself lucky she's allowed to wear pants in public (and that the "fans" are actual cavemen).
DC
Damn those feminazis, we can only barely see that the breasts are bigger than her head!
As Seanbaby will tell you, Wonder Woman's classic outfit makes her look like a cross between a stripper and a stripper who can't afford enough clothes to get to work. And that's not the outfit we're looking at.
A recent comic story line featured an "emotional spectrum" of Green Lantern rings based on different colors: red rings use rage, yellow rings use fear and violet rings use weaponized male relationship anxiety. The all-female Star Sapphires use the rings to steal superheroes, encasing them in the wonderful brainwashing power of love until they don't want to hang out with their old friends anymore. And while every color ring puts the kidnapped character in the same "skintight with highlights" look, the Sapphires decided to forgo that "tight" bit and just paint Wonder Woman in a few places:
DC
DC's website makes Total Recall's stance on gratuitous boobs look conservative.
The costume was so ridiculously naked that another version had to use her iconic WW logo to hold her boobs, facing toward the camera. This shows that at least her designer's subconscious is good at making clothes suitable for their intended purpose.
DC
If you're thinking near-total nudity is just the Star Sapphires' thing, here's their gender politics with a male Star Sapphire.
DC
I've had dreams like this, too, but I don't draw and sell them in public.
In a climactic battle in the recent Blackest Night event, the Sapphire ring lets Wonder Woman triumph over the black ring of death itself because of her feelings of love for Batman. Even in a life-or-death struggle, the most famous female comic character in history is only allowed to live because she wants to bang a man. Though in fairness, wanting to sleep with Batman isn't sexist.
Warner Bros Pictures, DC Comics, Polygram Filmed Entertainment, though we're not 100% those guys actually want credit for this
He knows everyone wants to touch them.
Well I hope the more extreme feminists are happy, DC has pandered to your desires on several characters and the new costumes look like crap, Powergirls costume has been redone and looks terrible, as does Zatanna's and several others, a lot of people hate the new costumes, thankfully some are saying they may be changed back over time.
ReplyA lot of the hate directed towards the new Power Girl costume is because there is no boob window. Doesn't that kind of prove the point in this article?
with the jacket over the shirt i thought wonder womans new outfit looked nice and sexy and it seemed modest to be it was just a low cut shirt. dident seem sexiest, but thats just the closthes i have not read the comic so i can not coment about the character. adn haveign first watched teentitans on tv and then hearing about the comic series i was like who are these ppl ya know they seemed like totaly diff people
ReplyI don't get your point with number 1, are you saying that women, if they had amazing bodies, wouldn't show them off? because from my personal experience women who hate revealing outfits and ridiculous proportions are all ugly, and the ones who have amazing bodies take advantage of that (i.e. work at hooters).
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesThat is absolutely not true. Not all women want men to look at them. None of them want men to ogle them like creeps (unless they are being paid for it, and I really can't see how they could deal with being objectified for a living. Being objectified is very humiliating, in my experience).
There's a difference between being proud of a nice body and being a sex object. You're right, though, usually ladies who have what people view as a positive body type tend to show it off more. But ladies (even gorgeous, attractive women) don't go walking down the street in a half-inch of fabric and 6-inch heels.
Every woman with a nice body shows it off/works at Hooters? Do you live in a freaking cave?
My problem with it is the power dynamic. It seems that in media geared toward straight men, the man is always the one in charge. He is the one with dominance over the woman. Always. And something about that makes me a little sick inside.
ReplyIt doesn't just seem that way. It is that way. And many times, in media geared toward women, the female viewers are told that this is what they should want.
Granted you had valid points, but this article didn't even attempt to be funny.
ReplyCool. And funny. "Fucooly."
ReplyI actually enjoyed this article, for what it's worth
ReplyWhen I read your recent article about “Worst defenses against sexism” it intrigued me enough to come here and read this over. This reminds me of an article Christina H. did on how unrealistic movies were. Funny enough, many of the commenter’s who disliked Christina H’s article in the comment section were immediately accused of being sexist.
ReplyWhen your article point is: "Fantasy should stop being so unrealistic." then the humor in whatever you are criticizing falls a bit stale. People try to make the point "but it warps the minds of our children." If your children are pretending to be super-heroes, then they are being children. If your teenage daughter or/and son are thinking these are how people should look, then YOU, the PARENT, need to sit down and give your child a reality check. Get off your ass and do some parenting, and stop expecting the WORLD to change for YOUR laziness. Even if by some miracle it did change, the problems you were facing would still exist, because this was never the source of the issue to begin with.
Movies, literature, comic books, have and always will display profoundly offending things to people. Sexism, racism, murder, torture, slavery, rape, and any amount of other disgusting aspects that are all part of humanity will always be . . . a part of humanity. Radical artists of every trade and genre will ensure that. Healthy people LEARN to accept these facts, and then deal with them. Everyone has made a biased and discriminatory decision in their life. No one is innocent in that department.
Also: “Near-naked superhorny women is a male fantasy. Being a hulking Adonis who can punch through tanks is also a male fantasy.” Is bullshit, and a sexist statement in itself. Sexism is a product of humanity. Not men. Women, AND men find POWER attractive. Being super powerful and sexy isn’t just some male fantasy by a LONG shot. And there ARE women out there that would LOVE to see some near-naked superhorny women.
Well said! You made just about every point that came into my head while I was reading this.
It's not supposed to be realistic. It's supposed to be entertaining. That's all.
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any of them wearing wildly inappropriate and sexist costumes?
Has anyone out there ever been punched in the fat of your thigh or hit it really hard against something? Ever notice how painful strikes to fatty tissue are? Yeah, what I've never understood is why women superheros would expose one of the most sensitive places on their bodies so blatantly...sure Power Girl can use it as a distraction and Wonder Woman is freaking Wonder Women but if the baddies had the chance to punch a female superhero in the breast I'm pretty sure it would hurt like hell. Granted super heroes apparently don't have a sense of pain where the should...(at least in my very limited knowledge of comics. i will admit that.)
ReplyCan't tell if you are male or female from the name but to reinforce the point, being hit in the boob effing HURTS. They are really sensitive and also bruise pretty freaking easily too so no, you wouldn't really want them exposed.
Also, ever see a sports bra? There's a good reason they are basically designed to be as confining and flatten your chest as much as possible.
you know what hurts more? getting hit in the nuts. yet superman refuses to take off that god damn speedo and wear a cup.
Huh. I used to feel so strongly about these things. I gave up on anyone else noticing this stuff and just got used to it. Well done.
ReplyWell I can't and won't say I disagree with the writer's sentiments. But I have to quibble over power woman and wonder woman. WW S&M overtones/undertones/whatever they are, have been their since her creation, and are a reflection of her creator's own eccentricities. Weird, yeah, but I think, while these qualities have been more or less downplayed in more recent years, that their still integral to the character, feminasts didn't like it when DC took away her costume and powers, but powers aside her costume has little to do with her character. Her weaknesses however are or should be integral to fully understanding her character, worldview, and motivations. A truly realistic character, I'm told requires the reader to consider their flaws in order to fully understand them. Rather than getting rid of them, I think her writers need to seriously research about BDSM, her creator marsten, his reasons for giving her such weaknesses, and explore them in story. In short I think they need to write her as a more realistic character with actual weaknesses, and not simplistic caveats thrown in to keep her from being too powerful for her stories to have any sense of tension, or difficulty. And I think that means keeping her weaknesses, powers etc, as they are and not simply exchanging them for another set literaryily convenient achilles heels. As far as power girl I'm just basely pro-boob window, they could take away all the other boob windows, boob tube tops, combat grade ass-floss thongs etc etc, but her power girl's boob window stays. If there really needs to be some vaguely practical justification for it, I'm going with the old standby of distraction, yes she may not always fight heterosexual human men, but I'd argue that given real world crime demographics, she's far more likely to fight them than anything else, and while it might only hold the attention of a heterosexual man, or lesbian, even a hardened convict gayer than a handbag full of rainbows would probably find their attention divided for some infintesimally small fraction of a second because 1, kesey scale 2, it's a f*****g inexplicable, and unexplained boob window. And since we're talking about a character amongst whom's list of powers is super speed, even a momentary hesitation is probably enough time to snap someone's neck. So really it only makes zero sense in the context of fighting robots or aliens. And using people as my basis, I say at least some robots and aliens are going to home sapiens fetishists, kinda of like a guy who fucks giraffes, but a robot and/or alien that fucks humans instead of tall quadrupedal even toed ungulates.
ReplyIf you use paragraphing it makes your comment look less like a daunting wall of text.
I believe Psylocke broke her spine in that first picture. I dont' believe the spine's physically capable of showing the ass, breasts, and full profile face all at the same time. I'm always bothered by ass-breasts shots.
ReplyYou left out Ms. Marvel. From her first, belly-baring costume to her current how-does-she-conceal-her-camel-toe outfit, Carol Danvers keeps getting put in costumes that scream, "My publisher once had me shack up with my rapist!"
ReplyThis article is kinda dumb,...its like if you wrote about how swim suit companies are evil and sexiest because they reveal a persons body.
ReplyCongrats on completely missing the point.
The point of comic books is not to stare at ladies. Comic books SHOULD be capitalizing on the talent of the artists and writers, not on gratuitous T&A. Swimsuit companies aren't there to entertain, they're there to make goddamn swimsuits, sexy or otherwise. There is nothing sexist about it swimsuits. You are a twat.
You know what always bothers me about those costumes? Necklines that go way past where the nipples should be and... where are the nipples? If you imagine the barebreasted version of the picture, those nipples would be practically on the woman's side and pointing down. Sexy!
Reply2011 saw a lot of attention being drawn to the way women are portrayed in comics in blogs and whatnot, of which I approve heartily. This, too.
ReplyHow did Madelyne Pryor not make this list?
ReplyTHANK YOU. I sometimes feel like the world is just watching the Emperor parade by in his new clothes - I honestly feel sickened by the attitudes towards women I see all around me, and people rarely talk about it. A little bit of faith in men restored:)
ReplyI can't actually find a coherent argument in number 1 no matter how much I look. The Bond analogy was made of insanity and snakes.
ReplyI agree that it was dense, but I think he meant it like: "it's ok that one party is overpowered because the other party is purposefully underpowered!" i.e., it's ok for this because it's been done on purpose, which the whole reason he wrote the article is because it's not ok that it was done on purpose. I think that's what he meant, anyways.