IntroductionComic books are a huge part of American popular culture. Even if you haven’t read any comics, you most likely have at least some knowledge of some of the most famous characters, like Superman, Batman, or Spider-man. With the recent wave of action-packed superhero movies (The Avengers, Christopher Nolan’s popular Batman trilogy, The Amazing Spider-Man), the American audience has rediscovered their appreciation for those spandex-clad heroes and their desire for justice. But like any other cultural phenomenon, the world of comic books has its fair share of problems. About 40% of comic book readers are female, but women are still not fairly represented in comics. And in the comic book community, the presence of female fans is not always acknowledged, appreciated, or welcomed.
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For this culminating project, I wanted to examine the role of women in comic book culture, both in the way that they are represented in comics themselves and in the way that they experience comics and interact with other members of the community.
Zina HuttonI interviewed Zina Hutton, a 22-year-old who has recently graduated college and has been an avid reader of comics since the age of 10. She has collected thousands of comics, including floppies, trade paper backs, and digital comics. One of the most impressive pieces of her college coursework was a 38-page paper on the history of gender and superhero comics. In graduate school, she hopes to continue her studies on comic book history by writing her capstone paper on the history of racism and comics.
I follow Zina’s blog on Tumblr, where she is a member of comic book fandom and regularly contributes to fandom by writing fanfiction. In the last 21 months, she has written 700,000 words of fanfiction and essays for comics. She also makes video blogs about problematic aspects of comic book culture/fandom. When she sees instances of racism, sexism, or other forms of discrimination/bigotry, she is honest and upfront about these problems and doesn't shy away from confronting them. |
“I first started reading comic books around age 10 when I moved to Florida from the Virgin Islands and stumbled across a comic book store with my older sister. My interest developed long before age ten though. When I was little, my dad and I watched the 1940s Max Fleisher Superman cartoons as well as the 1960s Batman series. I knew that there were comics for these shows, but since we lived on a small island, getting those comics was a near impossibility. So I continued to be quietly interested in comic characters because of animated shows like Superman the Animated Series or Batman Beyond, but the first time I held a real comic book in my hand I was ten.”
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"I want to have my future career and education revolve around [comics]. I want to document the history of comic books and comic book culture and put out books that stand out because they’re not written by old white dudes who can only look so far into claims of racism and sexism in the industry/culture/fandom spaces."
Zina's Favorite Comics
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When asked what she looks for in comics, she answered, "I look for good art, tight storylines, fewer instances of women
twisted into improbable positions for the male gaze, and funny quips when
they’re necessary."
Currently, Zina keeps up with three Marvel titles: Gambit, Hawkeye, and Ultimate Spiderman.
Sexual Objectification of Women in Comics
Fortunately, awareness of the sexual objectification of female characters has increased, and some comic creators have even acknowledged criticisms about it from fans. In June 2012, DC Comics released the cover and solicit of an upcoming issue of Catwoman. Fans all over the Internet were outraged by the ridiculous, spine-bending pose that Catwoman was drawn in. They poked fun at the cover by drawing parodies and expressed their disappointment about the drawing. Amazingly, DC actually listened! They released a second version of the cover and made an effort to draw Catwoman with better proportions and anatomy. This is one instance where comic book fandom was able to influence the decisions of comic creators in the industry.
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When Zina says that she looks for “fewer instances of women twisted into improbable positions for the male gaze” in comics, she’s talking about the way that female characters are often drawn as sex objects. They are constantly posing in sexualized ways, even when they are supposed to be in battle, and their poses emphasize their breasts and butts. These poses are unnecessary to the plot, and they are degrading to the female characters who seem to be mere fantasy fodder for heterosexual male audiences.
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Representation in Comics
I asked Zina, “Has reading comics ever made you feel negatively about yourself?” She answered, “Yes. Figuring out that only a certain kind of superhero mattered (white, male, buff) when I was little really threw a wrench into my plans to be a superhero and I was upset that I couldn’t be like most of the superheroes out there.”
For people in minority groups, reading comics can feel alienating when you can’t find any positive representations of people like you in them. Especially after the New 52, DC’s recent reboot, readers have been wondering when things are actually going to change and when DC is going to diversify their titles in a way that reflects the many kinds of people who read their comics.
In June 2011, when DC was criticized for the lack of female writers and artists in the New 52 (the percentage of female creators decreased from 12% to 1%), the company released a statement, saying, "We hear you." They promised to improve and work with more women. "We’ll have exciting news about new projects with women creators in the coming months...We know there are dozens of other women creators and we welcome the opportunity to work with them."
Zina feels that DC has not upheld this promise. “They’re putting on a good show, but still putting out more of the same material.”
"I think the comic book industry nowadays needs to grow up. They’re catering to a group of people that don’t all want what they’re getting while ignoring the fandom that isn’t made up of old white dudes. They’re ignoring demographics and vocal people in favor of more of the same grim, dark, and gritty."
"The biggest problems in comic book culture are the sexism, heterosexism/homophobia, and racism. There are also lacking positive portrayals of trans* characters and characters who aren’t stereotypes of their respective minority groups. The industry puts out these bland and uniform books where issues aren’t addressed except barely and mostly incorrectly and then the fandom follows suit in holding up these perceptions.
On the New 52, she says, “It's boring...I actually like that they’re trying to streamline the canon and push for timelines that make sense, but at the same time, the fact that their canon currently has benched or depowered most of the women/children/people of color in the universe that had important roles makes me see red.”
For people in minority groups, reading comics can feel alienating when you can’t find any positive representations of people like you in them. Especially after the New 52, DC’s recent reboot, readers have been wondering when things are actually going to change and when DC is going to diversify their titles in a way that reflects the many kinds of people who read their comics.
In June 2011, when DC was criticized for the lack of female writers and artists in the New 52 (the percentage of female creators decreased from 12% to 1%), the company released a statement, saying, "We hear you." They promised to improve and work with more women. "We’ll have exciting news about new projects with women creators in the coming months...We know there are dozens of other women creators and we welcome the opportunity to work with them."
Zina feels that DC has not upheld this promise. “They’re putting on a good show, but still putting out more of the same material.”
"I think the comic book industry nowadays needs to grow up. They’re catering to a group of people that don’t all want what they’re getting while ignoring the fandom that isn’t made up of old white dudes. They’re ignoring demographics and vocal people in favor of more of the same grim, dark, and gritty."
"The biggest problems in comic book culture are the sexism, heterosexism/homophobia, and racism. There are also lacking positive portrayals of trans* characters and characters who aren’t stereotypes of their respective minority groups. The industry puts out these bland and uniform books where issues aren’t addressed except barely and mostly incorrectly and then the fandom follows suit in holding up these perceptions.
On the New 52, she says, “It's boring...I actually like that they’re trying to streamline the canon and push for timelines that make sense, but at the same time, the fact that their canon currently has benched or depowered most of the women/children/people of color in the universe that had important roles makes me see red.”
Two characters who have been excluded in DC's new universe are Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain, both former Batgirls. Instead of choosing either women to fill the role of Batgirl in their new universe, DC decided to use Barbara Gordon, who was the first Batgirl. Prior to the reboot, Barbara Gordon was disabled. She had taken on a new identity as Oracle and was using her computer and hacking skills to provide information to other members of the caped community. Many readers loved Barbara's new role as Oracle, and they were angered by DC's decision to bring her back as Batgirl because as Oracle, she had been a positive representation of a disabled person in comics.
Fans became increasingly vocal about their disappointment in DC for excluding Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain. Some even started a campaign called Waffles for Stephanie (based on Stephanie's love of waffles in the comics) to show their support for the character. Meanwhile, DC remained firm in their decision to keep Stephanie and Cass out. Fans were ecstatic to learn that Stephanie Brown would return as Nightwing in an upcoming arc in Smallville (the comic, not the TV show!), but then she was replaced by Barbara Gordon! Afterwards, leaked information appeared, stating that DC considered Steph and Cass's characters "toxic," and thus they would not be used in any upcoming storylines. Steph and Cass have become rallying points for female readers who want to see the characters that they love in print, but DC doesn't seem to care. |
I asked Zina her thoughts on why DC might have benched Cass and Steph, and what she thought of fandom's reaction. "I
think that DC is making a point that the fandom won’t get what they want
especially in terms of female role models. If you think about it, there’s no
reason to bench them both. Both characters could have been incorporated into
the reboot and they could have actually been characters without them being
connected to the Batfamily. I feel that DC realized that there were characters
that weren’t traditional parts of comic canon that women were identifying with
and since their goal was to market to men at a certain age, they got mad and
then got even by erasing them. I
think that fandom’s anger is justified but that their erasure of Cass is
problematic. All you see after a point is Stephanie-Stephanie-Stephanie and
sometimes, it’s hard to remember that Cass didn’t really get a second chance.
She got to be a back up character in someone else’s story. It’s telling that
the posterchild for this movement for role models in comics and female unity
and that sort of thing is really the blonde character and not the Chinese one."
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Fandom Interactions
I asked Zina whether she has ever encountered hostility or conflict in fandom, and she replied, “When haven’t I encountered hostility or conflict in fandom?” She described various arguments she had gotten into with popular members of fandom and how her confrontations with them had caused others to alienate her. The disagreements she has had were about things like fan elitism, racism, and other problematic occurrences in fandom. The first argument she had was with an extremely popular fanartist who criticized fanfiction writers and shamed them for writing certain kinds of stories. “After I [challenged her], I was essentially persona non grata in fandom. I got rude anonymous messages. The friends I had made in fandom made excuses for (username omitted) and distanced themselves from me. People literally stopped reading my stories because of it. To this day, I get s--t from people about it and a lot of the popular people in fandom don’t deal with me because of it.”
Another conflict occurred when Zina called out another popular fanartist for being racist. This fanartist had whitewashed a character in their work, drawing them with a lighter skin tone than they actually had. Upon being criticized, "her response was to use anti-black racism as a joke and put the character in literal blackface before blowing her up and making her fat. It was racist and sizeist and all around gross...and it made me feel unsafe so I called her out. I reblogged her post and called her a racist as it is the proper term for someone who is using anti-black imagery to have a laugh. I lost more followers and got rude messages and reblogs of the post and it was upsetting that these people would look and see anti-black racism and go “it was just a joke”. In addition to that, [the fanartist] never apologized or took down the picture."
Because Zina spoke up about things in fandom that offended her, she was ostracized and attacked, demonstrating how fandom can become a scary, unsafe space for people who don't blindly follow the status quo. "...if you criticize anything, [other fans] lose it and use disgusting language in order to attack. This has been my fandom experience, being abused and attacked for speaking up about things that angered me."
Another conflict occurred when Zina called out another popular fanartist for being racist. This fanartist had whitewashed a character in their work, drawing them with a lighter skin tone than they actually had. Upon being criticized, "her response was to use anti-black racism as a joke and put the character in literal blackface before blowing her up and making her fat. It was racist and sizeist and all around gross...and it made me feel unsafe so I called her out. I reblogged her post and called her a racist as it is the proper term for someone who is using anti-black imagery to have a laugh. I lost more followers and got rude messages and reblogs of the post and it was upsetting that these people would look and see anti-black racism and go “it was just a joke”. In addition to that, [the fanartist] never apologized or took down the picture."
Because Zina spoke up about things in fandom that offended her, she was ostracized and attacked, demonstrating how fandom can become a scary, unsafe space for people who don't blindly follow the status quo. "...if you criticize anything, [other fans] lose it and use disgusting language in order to attack. This has been my fandom experience, being abused and attacked for speaking up about things that angered me."
"Being a part of the comic book fandom is like being in high school again, only it's like attending a very small private high school that thinks that only a few people that attend the school are worthy of going there.
You're excited to be part of a greater thing because it's a good school and there's a lot of history, but at every hallway you see posters reminding you that the only type of woman is a damsel or that the only important people at the school are the big white dudes. It's erasing and uncomfortable and when you complain to the teachers about it, you get told that you're lucky they let you take any classes.
And then when you think you've found your clique and you've made your little niche away from the sexism and the reminders that your school doesn't want you, someone swoops in and helpfully reminds you of it. And your friends are torn between getting angry on your behalf or telling you to apologize for not fitting in because they're trying to get in on the same environment without any trouble."
You're excited to be part of a greater thing because it's a good school and there's a lot of history, but at every hallway you see posters reminding you that the only type of woman is a damsel or that the only important people at the school are the big white dudes. It's erasing and uncomfortable and when you complain to the teachers about it, you get told that you're lucky they let you take any classes.
And then when you think you've found your clique and you've made your little niche away from the sexism and the reminders that your school doesn't want you, someone swoops in and helpfully reminds you of it. And your friends are torn between getting angry on your behalf or telling you to apologize for not fitting in because they're trying to get in on the same environment without any trouble."