Wo wir grad bei 300 waren: Das Book Blog des Guardian hat einen schönen Artikel mit wahnwitzig vielen Links zum Thema „Sexistische Darstellung von Frauen in Comics“. Auch Frank Miller kriegt (in den Kommentaren) sein Fett weg.

„Sometimes, defending superhero comics’ right to a place in mainstream culture is like defending a sozzled, lecherous uncle’s right to a wedding invitation. I dearly love them, but I’m ashamed of them, too. This year, for instance, three tawdry incidents have left DC Comics and Marvel Comics, the “Big Two”, facing accusations of misogyny from even their most ardent fans.

First and worst was the case of “Mary Jane Watson: slutty housewife”, when Marvel released a statuette of Spiderman’s girlfriend bending over to pull his costume out of a laundry pail, showing off maximum cleavage and thong. Soon after came two issues of monthly comics with irredeemable front covers: Heroes For Hire #13 showed three busty superheroes menaced by an alien insect called the Brood, which many saw as a deliberate reference to the “tentacle rape” genre of Japanese manga comics; Justice League of America #10, meanwhile, showed Power Girl with breasts that were surreally oversized even by comics’ regrettable standards.

Superhero comics have always been plagued with sexism. Back in the 60s, the problem was marginalisation – just as every black superhero had to have “black” in his name, female superheroes were called something like Shrinking Violet or Invisible Girl, and certainly knew their place.

These days, there are lots more strong women in comics. But marginalisation has been replaced by objectification: female characters get stuck with implausible curves, skimpy costumes, and stripper poses. Then there’s Women in Refrigerators syndrome – the way male writers seem happy to make violence against women (often sexual violence) into a cheap plot device.“

Den Guardian-Artikel habe ich über das Linkblog When Fangirls Attack gefunden, über das ich hier gestolpert bin. Und seit der Guardian Blogs hat, kann ich das Gejammere von Nicht-Bloglesern allmählich nachvollziehen: Wer soll denn das alles lesen? Und wann? Qualitätsoverkill galore.