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Superheroes, Women and Selfies

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Escher Girl!!

 

The other day I read an article about the impact female superheroes have on women and their self-esteem. (I found it interesting because the article posits that even showing women as competent, confident do-gooders does little to positively impact women because those do-gooders are still so sexualized.) Then, knowing better than to do so, I read the comments. I was not shocked to see the usual claptrap there. One popular lump of bull crap I’d like to address is the complaint that male superheroes are, too, idealized and sexualized. To which I would say: Nope. The heroes I’ve seen in comic books are clearly meant to appeal to men, not women. While I think it’s fair to argue that many of the men who play superheroes in the movies aren’t exactly hard on the eyes, let’s remember that some of them are…how do I put this?…SHORT. (Obviously, short men can be handsome/sexy, but for some folks being tall is important.) And some of them are Andrew Garfield.  And that the superhero genre experienced a bit of a renaissance when that granite-jawed hunk Micheal Keaton was cast “Batman.” In other words, male superheroes in the movies are not uniformly gorgeous. And even when they are the emphasis is not on their looks, it’s on their badassery.

Moronsayswhat?

“But let’s assume that the authors have teased out the necessary data/variables. Fine. The interesting question is why boys (and later men) use such stories to find aspirations to do better in life – knowing full well that they never will be Batman or the Flash, while women find themselves demoralized. I could go on, but I’ll stop here with the question. Why do I find my spirits lifted when I watch a good superhero show and why do women feel dispirited, even if the characters are like Xena or Supergirl. Are the only uplifting heroes for women to be found in women as victims stories?”

Ooh, ooh! Let me take this! Here’s the answer, dummy-man: It’s because women are valued primarily for their looks, they are aware of this, and they take that awareness with them whenever they ingest media.

This is one of the reasons “Jessica Jones” is so interesting. Krysten Ritter is occupying a space in the show that’s normally reserved for men. While she’s obviously very very very pretty, the show is not about that. The show is about her inner torment, her struggle to do good and be good. She’s not running around in skintight-catsuits. She’s kicking butt in clothes that look like they were left over from some 90’s movie about adorably rudderless slackers. It’s pretty remarkable if you think about it, subversive even. I can see why people would find her portrayal of Jessica Jones empowering.

This may seem like an odd non-sequitor, but I’ve been thinking a lot about gendered complaints about selfies lately. (In case you can’t tell, those complaints are a bit of a bugaboo for me.) I’ve talked before about how, yes, selfies are sometimes taken in a bid to get attention and validation. (I also said this didn’t bother me.) I’m not sure I talked about the face that

  1. Men also take selfies…often in bids for attention and validation!
  2. Women take selfies for a variety of reasons: I’m with this cool person! I’m in this cool place! I saw this cool thing!

But, yes, women do sometimes take selfies because they’re feeling hot and, dammit, they want everyone to know that. It’s because women carry around the awareness with them every day, every minute of the day, that they are primarily valued for their looks. Hell, when I was in my teens and twenties, I thought it was my damn job to be pretty.

I would argue that if you find the proliferation of selfies offensive, you should work for a world where women are valued for something other than their fuckability. Where men don’t routinely say things like this:

I guarantee you the scope and/or nature of selfie-taking would change.

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