Away We Go...

Okay, for starters, let's explain what I'm doing here, and why I'm writing about comic books and feminism.

I am a junior at BSU, majoring in Telecommunications, and this semester I am taking a Women's Studies class. One of the big assignments this semester is the Engagement Project - in which we "actively engage with the Ball State and/or Muncie community through an educational awareness project". For my project, I have obviously decided to do a blog. The inspiration for this blog came about because of my love of comic books. In this blog, I will be looking at current going-ons in the comic book community (but still looking at past good and bad examples) and how they affect the feminist movement, as well as how they inscribe gender. I'll usually post links and such, but occasionally I might scan in some pictures from some of my old comic books to see how things have (or haven't) changed. I might post an interview or two up as well.

So, to kick things off, I'm going to post the story that specifically inspired this blog - the Supergirl panties controversy!!!

Okay, so it wasn't much of a controversy, but it was a step in the right direction. You see, for years Supergirl had the same outfit - a top (usually a t-shirt) and a miniskirt with underwear underneath. Here recently, DC announced that Supergirl would no longer have this outfit. From now on she will be wearing shorts underneath the miniskirt.

Some people spoke out about this (and pretty much immediately identified and cemented themselves as total creeps), but most really didn't care either way. I was one of the guys that didn't really care either way. I didn't read Supergirl (still don't), so it really didn't mean much to me at all.

But my paradigm has definitely shifted since I started this class. My eye is much more trained to notice things that are sexist, or are common misconceptions about gender. I came to realize that this underwear thing is a good thing. It may not make Supergirl a strong character that all girls can look up to (maybe it does - again, I don't read it), but at least it makes her less of a sex symbol.

And that's the least they could do.

Here's the original article at Newsarama:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/060926-Supergirl.html