Since the overall response to my question was a positive one, I’ll be posting the paper I did for a class about oversexualization of female characters in comic books. Bear in mind that I haven’t proof-read this yet and that I wrote it early in the morning. XD Essay below the cut.

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Aaaaand finished my essay on the sexualization of female characters in the DC reboot and comics in general.

Would anyone want to read it if I put it up?

So, I’ve been seeing all the stuff about Red Hood and the Outlaws all over my dash, enough to know that I’d probably be disgusted when I read it. And I wasn’t wrong.

The thing is, I’ve been a fan of comic books my whole life, but I’ve only had access to anything as of the last few years. Even then, I haven’t read many of the actual books themselves, because I don’t know where to start. So maybe I’ve only seen the Teen Titans show and absorbed some other information via osmosis, but there are a few things I know for a fact about Starfire.

She is a beautiful, strong character made all the stronger because of her personality. She has righteous anger when the situation calls for it, unbridled joy she doesn’t feel like she has to hide, and an incredible amount of love. Her relationships are intense because she is so passionate, but they’re truly heartfelt. She lives as though every moment is her last.

And you know what? She never falls out of love. She never forgets the people that are important to her. Starfire lives on emotion, and she’s used her friends and positive experiences on Earth to put her terrible past behind her. She’d never forget Dick, or any of the rest of them, not even for a moment. She may see humanity slightly differently than others, because she’s alien, but she does not only see them as “sights and smells.” She may have a looser understanding of human etiquette and sexual behavior because of the fact that she IS an alien, but … no. Just, no.

This portrayal of Kori is a betrayal not only of everything that character stood for, but everything she is. This violates every other canon. This is like bad fanfiction from the far reaches of the internet that somehow managed to get published. It’s one thing to slightly change a character’s original if you’re remaking it from something that was a few decades old, but this? This is Anne-Rice-grade character inconstancy. This is changing the character just for the lols, and in this case, for the sexual appeal. And it’s disgusting.

I don’t know what you’re doing, DC. But if even a moderately casual fan like me can see this, there’s a problem.

marcusto:

I wanted to make a Jay-Z 99 problems joke but that may not be proper. And there is the issue wondering where is the place for what and my friend Andrew Wheeler ( @Wheeler ) wrote a very well written article about the New 52 and the recent outrages surrounding the new issues.

That not-so-awkward moment when you’re reminded that Marcus To and Andrew Wheeler are your heroes all over again.

Come on, DC. We want women who are comfortable in their own skins, but that doesn’t mean having to SHOW all that skin. We want women who are strong and know what they want, but we also want to respect the character’s canon personality and everything. No more Starfire jumping people just for the sake of sex, please. That’s not who she is. We want women with a complex, interesting place and outlook on the DCNU, not just ditzy eye-candy with a few powers.

DC, around half the population is female, and a great many of them read comics. Get used to that, and learn.