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 feminist movement until years later. Her stories also portrayed her as very muscular with the ability to seduce men to get her way. The creators couldn’t even allow her to marry in fear that if she did, she would have to become a housewife, give up her powers and lose her thrill as a superhero. This shows that though creators may not have intended it to be so, comics have always been inherently sexist.
Throughout the 60’s, comics were at the forefront of social transformation. Possibly the best example of this is through comics reflection of the public’s view of the Vietnam War. At the beginning of the war a majority of Americans fully supported the cause. The idea that communism, the most evil idea conceived, could spread first through South-East Asia and eventually to the US lead Americans to accept the need to occupy Vietnam. However as the war progressed it became more obvious that it was less to defend democracy and actually just a proxy war against Russia. As support for the war diminished, comics greatly altered their position on the war to question the causes of the war, and whether the US should actually be there. The comic Iron Man accurately represented this shift in support as he stopped dealing arms, and took a moral stand against their use. As well as Vietnam War culture, comics also accurately portrayed youth culture in the US throughout the 60’s. Comics suc...
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