IT’S DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS (SUPERHERO EDITION)

There is outrage on the Internet. 

Okay, there is ALWAYS outrage on the Internet. At the moment, it’s about rape and sexism in comics. Specifically, it’s about two recent stories:

1. Todd MacFarlane, Len Wein and Gerry Conway went on a panel and justified the lack of good female characters in superhero comics by saying, basically, there’s no demand, comics are a reflection of our sexist society, and comics are for boys anyway.

2. Mark Millar said in an interview that rape is just a plot device, therefore it’s not misogynistic to use it, even if you use it A LOT.

Much has been written about how wrong-headed and dumb these comments are, and I’ll leave it to io9 to cover that.

My own two cents goes something like this:

1. To be totally fair, I do get what MacFarlane, Wein, Conway and Millar are trying to say, which is this: as writers, they bristle at the idea of people saying, “You can’t write about that.” As a writer myself, I understand that. No writer really wants to be put in a position where their creativity is dictated by what is acceptable.

On the other hand, MacFarlane, Wein and Conway are also arguing they’re only writing what the market wants. So, they’re fine with tailoring their material for the market, but they’re not fine with people who are NOT the market telling then what they can’t write. Or something. There’s a fairly obvious contradiction.

2. Also, it’s not just about the writers. Mainstream comics publishers tend to be risk-averse when it comes to their superhero characters (which essentially serve as product brands). That doesn’t mean they won’t greenlight any new projects or titles that cater more to female readers – but they won’t mess with their existing brands/titles if they think it will alienate their core base. And they know who that is. (It’s called “fan service” for a reason.)

3. This isn’t just a comics issue. Novels, Hollywood action films and television tend to deploy the same trope: male hero does manly things, and women are mostly there to serve as love interest/assistant/cheerleader/eye candy/victim – and when they don’t, they're basically bad-ass spinny killbots. So there’s a larger cultural context to all this.

And that context, sadly, doesn’t stop at storytelling formats. It’s an issue at SF/comic conventions, too (so much so that John Scalzi recently started a policy of refusing to attend any convention that doesn’t have a clear anti-harrassment policy – and the fact that recent incidents at conventions have made this necessary speaks volumes).

And THAT is a subset of the overall bigger problem in society of sexism and double standards where women get paid less and have parts of their body regulated and their worth as human beings is calculated by their BMI and sexual conduct much in the same way that guys generally aren’t. And don’t get me started on the whole “rape culture” thing in which women who get raped are asking for it – especially when the rapist is a star player on the local football team.

So.

Given all that, I do get why MacFarlane et al are getting all defensive. They don't see themselves as part of the problem, and they definitely don't see themselves as misogynists, and resent being labeled as such. That’s understandable – a misogynist by definition hates women, and I don’t think any of these writers actively hate women. At worst, they’re just not very good at writing female characters in a context that doesn't involve victimization.

And for my money, that’s really the point that people should be trying to get across here.

It’s easy to get sidetracked by arguing over whether Mark Millar is a misogynist jerk, or whether MacFarlane et al should or shouldn't be writing about women in refrigerators to please the fanbase. The real point is that they're relying on – and defending the use of – lazy conventions and formulas to tell the same stories over and over.

And what their critics are really saying is: dude, write something new.

The formula of male hero rescues/avenges female victim is so tired and done to death. Why not ditch that in favor of something else? Try coming up with female characters that act like human beings. James Cameron and Joss Whedon can do it. There’s no reason you can’t.

That doesn’t mean rape and wife-beating and other misogynist activities should be off the table completely. Just write them better, and understand the difference between rape and decapitation.

(Also, come up with some practical costumes.)

If the Twitter outrage is anything to go by, I don’t think comics publishers can keep hiding behind the old “we’re just giving people what they want, and women don’t read superhero comics” excuse for much longer. So why not take critics up on the challenge to be better writers?

A change is gonna come,

This is dF