Enlightenment...perhaps why I don't like traditional comic books?

[alfreda89]

Have you ever stumbled across Women in Refrigerators?

This started it all off--from the web site:

"This is a list I made when it occurred to me that it's not that healthy to be a female character in comics. I'm curious to find out if this list seems somewhat disproportionate, and if so, what it means, really."

I should add that the parts I've read are not slamming writers for this--Marv Wolfman had some interesting thoughts on the topic, because the person who set up this site did ask the artists why the heavy slant to the women? But I buy Marv's comment--the men get to rise from the ashes to a new level, for the most part (Hal Jordan was robbed...) while women just get trashed out and don't recover. I am appalled to hear what happened to poor Starfire. She deserved better.

Do you read traditional comics? Did you ever? Had you noticed this trend? How did you respond to it?

http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/index.html

Comments

[ulitave.livejournal.com]

yeah, this list/book has been out for a while and it's very sad but true.

I did notice this when I was a kid reading comics but I read 'em anyway. By the time I went to college I quit reading comics altogether, until stuff like The Dark Knight and Maus came out.

[incandragon.livejournal.com]

I didn't notice this pattern when I was reading comics in high school and college. I'd like to see a comparative list, men in one column, women in the other.

It's a pretty violent venue, so I guess I lost the talley in the carnage. I suspect it's the short, common loop: male readers = male writers = male protagonists = male readers. It's hard to permanently maim/kill the main character than his love interest ... PLUS, of course, you can only keep sexual tension as a plot device for so long before it gets either stale or stable. Then you need a new love interest.

Really, though, the criminal is Disney--seeing as how most start off with the mother dead ...

[oliana0.livejournal.com]

It probably stems from the protect/avenge the girl macho-ism that is prevalant in historical story telling; picture the damsel in distress. Then there's the "I let her die" torturous feelings of guilt; an excellent justification for psuedo self-distructive behavior followed by deep meaningful converstations, or realizations about how it wasn't his fault and eventaul redemption (or better yet, a turn to the "dark side").

And there is no real male equivilant to rape in heroic story telling--male rape is unheroicly tragic; one almost blames the male rape victim. But female rape victims are tragically heroic for surviving and having to deal with the mental anguish and general aftermath.

Also why I like Jane Austen. Female heros and nothing really bad ever happens to them. :) Of course she didn't write comic books.

[tinpan.livejournal.com]

Oh no, what happened to StarFire !?! I lost track of the comic.