Wonder Woman and Buffy - two chicks with great powers, male fantasy or female empowerment?

[shadowkat]

I liked this post by gabrielleabelle quite a bit, it expresses fairly clearly some of my own thoughts on the issue of how female sexuality has been exploited by and for men in comics historically...and why this is a problem.

http://gabrielleabelle.livejournal.com/216802.html

As I stated in her blog - it is particularly an issue in the comic book world. We see more female than male nudity in comic books and anime films. Often women are sex objects. If provided with power - it is in a manner that suits a male fantasy, going back as far as Wonder Woman. Who was allegedly created as a feminist role model in a world torn by male hatred. The creator was William Moulton Marston, a controversial figure in later years. According to a documentary on comics I saw a while back - Marston was described as a fetishest who was into dominatrixes and Wonder Woman came from his own sexual fantasies.

In regards to Wonder Woman - Marston, wrote:

Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.

A statement that is unfortunately to a degree true today. This was written in the 1940s. How many times have you heard or read the statement: "Don't be such a girl!" Recently, Dawn said it to Xander in the Buffy Comics, "Oh Xander, don't be such a girl!". And how often have we heard the statement - "Don't be such a boy!" in derogatory terms.

Years after Marston created her - his creation was cited as an example of bondage themes in modern literature:

Marston's Wonder Woman is often cited as an early example of bondage themes entering popular culture: physical submission appears again and again throughout Marston's comics work, with Wonder Woman and her criminal opponents frequently being tied up or otherwise restrained, and her Amazonian friends engaging in frequent wrestling and bondage play (possibly based on Marston's earlier research studies on sorority initiations). These elements were softened by later writers of the series. Though Marston had described female nature as submissive, in his other writings and interviews he referred to submission to women as a noble and potentially world-saving practice, leading ideally to the establishment of a matriarchy, and did not shy away from the sexual implications of this.

To move away from this, DC tried to re-envision the character without super-powers, making her fists and kick ass fighting skills:

At the end of the 1960s, under the guidance of Mike Sekowsky, Wonder Woman surrenders her powers to remain in Man's World rather than accompany her fellow Amazons to another dimension. A mod boutique owner, the powerless Diana Prince acquires a Chinese mentor named I Ching. Under I Ching's guidance, Diana learns martial arts and weapons skills, and engages in adventures that encompassed a variety of genres, from espionage to mythology.

But feminists such as Gloria Steinman - fought to take back their heroine - stating, don't robe her of her powers. The fight over Wonder Woman ended finally, with Diana getting her powers back. Sekowsky was bewildered by the outtrage, citing that he'd made her a woman, someone women could actually identify with. Clearly Sekowsky did not get it. And Wonder Woman eventually returned to her roots.

Here's an interview describing the controversy regarding Wonder Woman and comics in the Boston Globe:

IDEAS: But in the 1950s Wonder Woman was depicted less as an athlete than as a va-va-voomy pinup -- and her secret passion for Army intelligence officer Steve Trevor became central to her story.

ROBINSON: After Marston's death in 1948 -- and particularly after psychologist Frederic Wertham's 1953 treatise "Seduction of the Innocent," which called Wonder Woman and her sidekicks lesbians, and therefore a "morbid ideal" for girls, and a threat to masculinity -- the comic's feminist politics were subverted. Although Wonder Woman was later appropriated as a feminist icon, when Gloria Steinem put her on the cover of the first issue of Ms. in 1972, she has failed to keep pace with the women's movement. Even today, Wonder Woman is no sister.

Steinman's attempt to take her back from Sekowsky, who had re-written her to get away from the Marston's view of her.

IDEAS: Later comic-book characters like Supergirl, Invisible Woman, and She-Hulk were career women who kicked male butt daily -- yet you say they're no feminists.

ROBINSON: Female superheroes through the 1970s, though tough, lacked both Wonder Woman's heroic feminism -- her antagonistic relation to patriarchy -- and her civic feminism, based on the notion of equal participation in society. And since then, comics have become postfeminist. Suddenly women in comics don't face any discrimination. Today Invisible Woman -- formerly Invisible Girl -- is called the strongest member of the Fantastic Four, as though she had never been depicted as almost pathologically shy and retiring. Somehow mainstream comic books went from prefeminist to postfeminist without ever going through feminism.

Perhaps, Whedon in the Buffy Comics is attempting to address that. Yet, it is a man who is doing so. Which begs the question, does Whedon get it? Can he?

IDEAS: Why can't we have it all -- feminists with super-powers?

ROBINSON: Even in the 21st century, the one thing mainstream comics can't acknowledge is that there are social problems that might be open to solution by a movement. Apparently that's scarier than any supervillain or bug-eyed monster.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2004/04/04/wonder_working_power/

Now, best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult is writing Wonder Woman.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/04/26/picoult.wonder.woman/index.html

Picoult's five-issue run doing the title makes her only the second woman to write the character in its 66-year history. But despite the assignment's historical significance, when DC originally approached her to pen the story -- the company had noticed a character in Picoult's "The Tenth Circle" was a comic-book penciller -- she wasn't entirely sure she had the time (or the desire) to do it.

And what is Picoult's take? To explore the human side, to explore Diana, and what it is like to handle all these things, a woman we can identify with.

"Over the years, she has had many different incarnations in the human world, some that I thought were pathetic," she says. "[But[ there's never been something that a reader could sink their teeth into and say, 'Oh yeah, this is why I'm like her.' "

"You can be the strongest woman in the world, and be incredibly sure of yourself in many realms of your life, and yet there's always going to be a chink in your armor," she observes. "There's always going to be one part of your life that you wonder, 'Am I doing a good enough job?' "

It's that very real internal struggle that drives Picoult's fictional "Wonder Woman" story. Recent events in the DC universe find Wonder Woman (and Prince) struggling with her place in the world.

"She is not human and elevating herself to the level of a superhero like Batman or Green Lantern. Instead, she is other than human and she's slumming it with all of us," Picoult observes.

Reading this, makes me wonder what would happen if a woman was chosen to write Buffy - in the same manner that Jodi is writing Wonder Woman. There aren't nearly enough female voices in the comic book or television or film industry. Our media permeates our lives, yet it tends to be written mainly by one group, white men. With few exceptions. As a result, women and minorities are depicted through their lense, we see ourselves as they see us. We see our issues through their eyes. We see our fears, desires through their pov.

What if a woman wrote Superman? Or Batman? Kelly Armstrong wrote Angel for a bit, to bad reviews - and I admittedly did not like her run. Gender and race does not dictate how good a writer you are. I'm no fan of Picoult's and I can't stand Stephanie Meyer - who writes a partriachial anti-feminist view of the universe. But I do wonder what would happen if we had more voices. Voices such as JK Rowlings or Kim Harrison or the many online. What if Marni Noxon and Jo Chen wrote Buffy? Or the writer of Persepolis? Or a woman wrote the X-men? (For a bit Louise Simon was an editor, but to my knowledge they have never hired a female writer in their entire run.)

Women are writing, but remain on the fringes. And it is getting better...sort of. There's a female editor at IDW overseeing the Angel comics more or less, and Jo Chen, a female artist is drawing the cover art on Buffy, and Jane Espenson is writing bits and pieces here and there.

Better...but not quite there yet. At the moment, as the recent issues of Buffy have demonstrated, the girl is still being shown as primarily the guy's fantasy. She's still being written to fit his worldview. Although, I'm willing to bet his intentions are well-meaning, much as Skewosky's were when he reinvisioned Diana as un-powered living amongst us, a kick-ass superhero, without her powers. There's a battle going on in our culture regarding the role of gender identity and gender power. The Court of Appeals recently permitted a class action suit to be go through against Wallmart regarding it's unequal pay practices for women. Men were making more than women at Wallmart and were promoted above women, regardless of skill level.
This is also an issue in the entertainment industry and publishing field. As well as in construction.

Men and women have to get beyond how they identify gender roles. Male and female traits exist in all of us. Was listening to a co-worker today, explain how she and her friend used to make money mowing neighbors lawns and shoveling - typically boys jobs, but it didn't stop her. She played sports. She was a tom-boy. And she won't be caught dead in a dress - or heels, bloody uncomfortable. But she is female and heterosexual. NOT butch. And I've met men who liked to wear pink, enjoy flowers, and love musicals, and hate sports. Who wish they could wear a skirt. And no, they are not gay. Just as I've met people who are homosexual or queer or gay that do not fit the stereotypes. Our gender should not dictate our jobs or how we live our lives. My brother is into kids and a nurturer and excellent teacher. I'm more clinical, critical, and prefer analyzing things, along with business. He loves sports. I love theater. We have both male and female attributes.

To define someone by gender - to assert power over them by that definition is as limiting as defining them by race or ethnicity or age. One of the things I love most about the internet is to a degree we are blind to such things. One of the people on a posting board I used to belong to - referred to themselves as hir - they did not want to reveal their gender. They liked not being treated on that basis. It was freeing. And to a degree I've found it to be too - when people did not know.

Yet, gender also does have a role in who we are. We should not be ashamed of it. We are not weak because we are girls. We are not chauvinistic because we are boys. We are not strong because we are male. We are not shrews because we are female. Such generalizations are old hat and should be thrown to the winds. Until they are...we make fools of ourselves.

Comments

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

And it gets right to the heart of the issue: women's stories aren't often portrayed at all in mainstream media...so when they are, why is it that men are the ones telling our stories?

This is the question that I keep asking myself. Why was Xena's story told by a man? What would it have been if a woman had told it? Why is Buffy's?
Or for that matter any of the female icons and heroines? Sara Connor?
What would it be like if a woman were telling these tales? What would it be like if a woman were writing the story of Superman or Angel?

And then I look at fanfic, and the fact that most of it is written by women, men do write it - but most of it is by women. Why? Because we don't have the power to be writing the actual story. Angel hired one woman to hire an arc of that tale - a published author with little knowledge of comics, why didn't they try to get one of the original female Angel the series writers? Such as Craft and Fain? And Whedon only has one woman write for him in the comics - Jane Espenson. Couldn't he find any others?

It's not like there aren't women out there who want to write them.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Why? Because we don't have the power to be writing the actual story. Exactly. Exactly.

Your thoughts are my thoughts, and your questions are my questions.

I think it all boils down to the idea that men are the default. Women are taught all their lives to identify with male characters, we do it because all the stories we're surrounded with are about men. But men are taught not to relate to women. So the idea is that men can write for (and about) both men and women, but women can only write for women.

It's the same thing with race--white is the default, so even when there are stories about people of color, they're usually written by white people. A movie starring any black actor that isn't Denzel Washington or Will Smith is automatically a "black" movie. But movies starring white people are movies for everybody.

God, the world is so screwed up.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

The information age is making us more and more aware of this. We now have the ability to interact without knowing gender, race, age, etc - in a forum that we can exchange stories and ideas without a middle man.

As a result, we start seeing the patterns emerging.

Racefail, Comicfail...all of those come back to the same root cause...

I think it all boils down to the idea that mean are the default

it's the same with race ---white is the default

This is so true. When I was a kid there were two popular movies that I adored, that were a fixture of pop culture - Star Wars and Indiana Jones. In school, we did a children's play called Idaho Jones, written by one of our classmates. While there were female writers in the class, including myself, the person assigned to write the play was a guy.
And I got the role of a female German villian who was a giant, while Idaho Jones was played by a cute and small red-head. I remember writing my version of a female Indiana Jones, I called her Jade Falcon - and my tale was very different than his. Same deal with Star Wars - the hero was a farm-boy, the damsel - Princess Leia - who had to bind her breasts so they didn't show up and she didn't look too feminine in the first film. Chaste and in white. Later, after she got involved with Han Solo, in the last film, she were a slave-girl's bikini.

There were no films with a female action hero in which I could identify. TV came closest. And perhaps the occasional book - if you looked hard enough, there were women writers such as Anne McCaffrey and Andre Norton.

I think about what people are squeeing about now on my flist. Is it female heroines? Not really. It is Harry Dresden, not Rachel Morgan.
While Kim Harrison's novels have hit best-seller status, they don't have the same appeal as Butcher's. Or it is Doctor Who. A white male and British iconic hero. (The default is white, male, and English(British) or (American) English speaking. That's who controls the media.)

Oh sure, JK Rowling broke through with Harry Potter - but it was with a male icon that she did it. And Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series - but again it is a series that celebrates a male hero, the heroine caters to his whims. Both writers are examples of what living under a white male default setting has done to our brains. Why we begin to think that being a girl is a bad thing, and hate to be called one, people have even changed the word to gurl to avoid it. Even the tv shows written by women, demonstrate this tendency to cater to the male default setting - heck look at Shondra Rimes' Grey's Anatomy...she's a black woman, but in her story - the people with the power are the men. She shows the world as it is. She has broken some barriers with a lesbian relationship, but not quite.

It's hard to not think like this. Not when the media and everyone around you is telling you to do so.

I had a discussion with a white guy a few months ago, which was rather interesting. We were talking about racism and gender equality, which he was for. He said that those of us with the power - with these privileges - don't want to give it up. We don't want to let go of it. Not even to share it. Whether we admit it or not, he told me, this is the case...for everyone. Yet, I remember saying, you want to feel good about yourselves at the same time...think of yourselves as good people. Yes, he said, this is true. So we justify it or try to find ways to share it, without having to give anything up in the process.