'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

I do not believe that comics are inherently sexist. The current portrayals of characters in comics tends towards being very stereotypical towards the genders, but this does not mean it is inherent. When considering the role of gender in comics, it is important to put it in context of the time period in which the comic was written. In modern times in particular, comic stories are beginning to show more of a realistic set of relationships between the genders. So, while people may object to what they feel are sexist themes in comic books, I believe it is something which is improving with time. When creating comics, writers seek to make their characters relatable to a large, contemporary general population. In order to do this, they have to use some stereotypes and other generally acknowledged themes to make superhuman characters and stories more identifiable to every day people. When it comes to gender roles, this often means that the men and women in comics are portrayed in a way that ...

In the 40’s and 50’s not only did comic book writers treat their female characters as objects of lust and annoyance, but they simplified their goals in life down to children and marriage. We can partially blame this on the comics books code and society, because most women were starting families with their husbands and the societal norm was more likely to buy comic books that promoted the values shared by millions of American families. The code also make it hard to diverge a characters motivations from the assumed average desires ; so for women whose only valid option was a home life, this stifled their comic characters options immensely. Male characters had more options within the male sphere because while working an office job was common, it was not the ultimate goal of most men. A man could do almost any job so long as his family was taken care of, meaning Clark Kent could work in TV, Bruce Wayne could be a playboy (not common but still an iconic male figure at the t...

Comics must be inherently sexist. Despite the influx of female readers, there are just more male readers of comics. I don't want to stereotype, but comics fans generally have problems with women, and therefore, comics objectify women to play off of male reader's fantasies. Lets look at a few female characters in comics: Bat-Girl, Bat-Woman, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman. After Frederick Wortham suggested that Batman and Robin were possibly homosexual, creators introduced Bat-Girl as a romantic love interest to Batman. Bat-Woman was also created as a love interest to Batman, but she was created more as a copy of Batman, but with lipstick and other female products on her utility belt. This suggests that even a female copy of a male character is unable to escape issues of gender. Bat-Woman was depicted this way for much of her life, but new creators in 2006 brought Batwoman back as Kate Kane. Not only was she no longer Batman's love interest, she was a lesbian! Big shocker there...

When looking at comics they are most certainly male oriented. The reason for this could be that the majority of comic book writers when this medium was exploding were men. It was only until wonder woman when women began to actually have a significant influence on the hero role. Even then wonder woman had very sexist ties to her story. The writers included underlying messages with this new hero. There were undertones of bondage and a tribal message. Since wonder woman was from the amazon originally there was a very animalistic influence on her character. In addition wonder woman soon became a make fantasy so one can argue that even after wonder woman's appearance sexism still existed in comic books. Though one can say this is sexism another point of view is that it is better than having no women at all in a hero role. Once wonder woman came onto the scene other women such as cat woman and other counter parts to heros became more common in comics. Without wonder woman, women would no...

Whether we like it or not comics as an overall in comic history have been sexist. But as time has passed comics have been becoming alot less sexist. Women used to be portayed as the average housewife doing all the right things. When women have a powerful role in a comic book they are always portayed as a sex symbol. This is inherently sexist and offensive to alot of women. Some people may say comics are sexist because of the lack of female heroes. But in reality most of the comic book fans are male so it really takes the theory away. If most comic book fans are male than it gives the comic book writers and inscentive and reason to make most of the charecters male. We need to realize this is a business people are looking to make money in. Feelings are going to get hurt this is a busniess and people need to realize that.

Over the years, cartoonists and writers alike have been asked (and accused) of publications like comic books and pulp magazines are sexist towards women. In past publications, comics did have sexist qualities, but sexism never became an inherent part of the comic book culture, frequent as it was (and is). Ever since "jungle heroes" like "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" came into existence, details like costuming, dialogue, and general appearance came into question. Most of the sexist accusations fall on superhero comics, though that is definitely not the case. The teen and adult romance comics increasingly condescended to women and their opinions. Of course they did not receive most of the finger-pointing, although they were closer to real life than superhero comics ever would be. Considering the 90% male audience, superhero comics had the most impact on their views of women, which most writers took to their advantage. Even though most female characters were r...

During the time period that comics first became a form of published media, the roll of women in society was much different than it is today. Women today hold very prominent roles in society including the government, celebrities, CEOs of large businesses and corporations, as well as in Police Departments and even the military. If the first edition of Wonder Woman came out today, society would absolutely attack it as a sexist comic that puts down women. This is really only because of the prominent role of women in today's society. Back in the time period of Wonder Woman, women were encouraged to take on the role of the "housewife". It was not something that was looked down upon or that meant women were not fulfilling their potential. It was what was encouraged of women, and what was expected. There weren't many female super heroes in comic books, Wonder Woman being the most famous and prominent. Some say that because of this comic books are sexist. They say that the ...

Since the beginning, comic books have portrayed in very much the same way; in the vast majority of comic books damsels in distress, as well as the typical 1950s housewife, and there weren’t very many popular woman hero comics. But I don’t think that comics were sexist, at least not during the time period when they came out. But now that we look back at the comic books and the way that they portray women with our 21 st century mentality they come off as sexist. Even with the introduction of Wonder Woman as very strong and independent woman and as well as lead Superhero, there is still some sexist aspects in the Wonder Woman story according to the 21 st century popular mindset. For example, Wonder Woman can’t be married because of the complications that would arise from her being married and having a family. But because of the popular belief in the 1950s that the role of women was to get married have kids and stay at home, Wonder Woman couldn’t just come out and say that s...

I would say that in some ways comic books are sexist, but not entirely. Comic books do not feature women in their comic books as much as they feature men and that is apparent to people who do not even read comic books. Even when women are featured as super heroes in comic books they are portrayed as weaker humans. For example in the Fantastic Four the Invisible Girl is called the Invisible Girl rather than the Invisible Woman making her seem younger and inferior to her super hero counter parts. Also the Invisible Girl can only turn invisible, that is her only power. This is also another example of her being inferior to her super hero counter parts. All of the other members of the Fantastic Four have powers that are so much more useful against the villains they fight. There is an explanation for the lack of women figures in comic books however. The fan base of comic books is made up with mostly men. Authors cater their writing towards their readers so why would they write abo...

In my opinion, comics can definitely be considered inherently sexist. When comic books were first created, the genres that were used were targeted more to the male population. These genres include superheroes, crime, and horror. These don’t normally attract the female population. Along with the genres, many of the main characters in comic books are male. However, I don’t think that the creators did this because they were sexist. I think that the reason for this could be a result of the time period that many comics were created in. During the 1930’s to 1950’s, women weren’t normally the targeted audience that many mediums pointed their stories to. Most of them (mainly comic books) were created for the male population. Although, this could be argued because of the creation of the first popular superhero character, Wonder Woman. Many may say that her creation showed that comics weren’t sexist, but even she was originally created for men. Wonder woman didn’t become a symbol for feminis...

I would say that comics are, in fact, inherently sexist. Since the beginning of the comic book industry, sexism has been apparent. The reason being is that it is a male dominated industry, both behind the scenes and in readership. Although comic books matured as the times progressed, women in comics will always be cast as the inferior role to the male’s superior. While the creation of Wonder Woman proved just the opposite, forms of sexism were still evident—through her characterization. Wonder Woman was the superior in her own comic book, disregarding the most common form of sexism in comic books, but writers didn’t include many males in her storylines beside Steve Trevor. Comic books were sexist and still are but people are still buying these comics and remaining loyal fans. So, should we judge the comic industry for doing what they need to do to reach their target demographic? Or should we judge ourselves for divulging in the media that we call sexist and not do anything abo...

To a lot of people comics come off at a big sexist industry, in my opinion I think they are inadvertently sexist. I think a lot of the writing and male domination in the industry had a lot to do with the time period in which the comic was written. In the 1930’s into the late 1940’s when comics were in their golden age, women didn’t have a big role in society. They started to work jobs during the war, but after the war their jobs were given to returning service men and the women returned to take care of the house and kids. This transferred to the comics, the writers wrote about current times and events and women had no significant role or power during this time. There were no dominant women roles in comics until Wonder Women was created. The man who created Wonder Women, William Marston, was a psychologist who had strong feelings towards feminism, he thought women were equal to men and even better fit than them in certain positions. Without Marston it could have taken years before a wom...

Comics are inherently sexist. They are inherently sexist because they have to over exaggerate certain aspects of the sexes, especially the illustrators. They have to do this because in order to grab the audiences attention the characters must appear superior to the average human. These exaggerations usually end up being on parts of the body that are specific to each sex. For example women are usually disproportionate in have thin waists, large breasts, and attractive faces. Men are usually portrayed as having broad shoulders and large biceps. Other then the illustrations the storylines of comics have been inherently sexist. For example Wonder Woman is portrayed as a strong, powerful, independent woman. He has the opportunity to marry the man of her dreams but in every comic something gets in the way of their marriage. The point the author was trying to make was that if Wonder Woman ever got married she would cease being a super hero, and be stuck being a stay at...

Comics were and still are very sexist. Comics are designed to be read by men only. Comics are generally stories about crime, horror and fighting. No woman is interested in these kinds of stories. These are purely for the male preference. Even though they are male stores, many women superheroes were created to attract women to comics or show that women are equal to men. The most famous is wonder woman. Over time, she has become the female icon in the comic industry. She is a great character for women to look up to. Although she is a female icon, there are many features about her that are sexist. First off, she carries a lasso that she uses to “seduce” her criminals, who are usually men. With her lasso, she can make her captives do whatever she wants. Men like a female in control, and wonder women became very attractive to men. Also, she is part of the Justice League but usually gets put in the lowest positions. For example, in one comic the Justice League is having a meeting a...

I don't think that comics are inherently sexist. The use of the word inherently is too strong of a word, and does not exactly apply to the nature of comic books. Although most superheroes are male characters, I don't believe that comic book writers were all sexist. It depended on the time period. Women started to be represented in a more respectable manner as time progressed. Wonder Woman is an example of how comics are not inherently sexist. Before wonder woman, women were portrayed in unrespectable roles and were undermined by male protagonists. Although the author of Wonder Woman, Marston, did not expect to create a character that women could look up to, he created a symbol and an important hero for future comic books. As a psychologists he viewed the world differently. He saw females as superior to men therefore, his goal was to create a character especially for men. She not only impacted the culture of America during the fifties and sixties, but she impacted ...