Fictional female superheroes and supervillains: in theory, wonderful fantasy figures, much like Dominatrices. After all, a strong, uninhibited, ultra-empowered protagonist in a story of her own making should be a positive role model for women everywhere, shouldn’t she? Yet the lines sometimes get a little blurred about whose fantasy these fantasy figures exist to represent. If a woman is only strong for the sake of a man’s erection, something is wrong.
Here are some succulent chunks of an article by Laura Hudson at Comics Alliance:
“…Let’s start with Catwoman. The writer and artist have decided that out of all possible introductions to the character of Selina Kyle, the moment we’re going to meet her is going to be the one where she happens to be half-dressed and sporting bright red lingerie. That is in fact all we see of her for two pages: shots of her breasts. Most problematically, we are shown her breasts and her body over and over for two pages, but NOT her face. No joke, we get a very clear and detailed shot of her butt in black latex before we ever see her face looks like. Can’t you show us the playful or confident look in her eye as she puts on her sexy costume? Because without that it’s impossible to connect with the character on any other level than a boner, and I’m afraid I don’t have one of those…
…And that is the whole problem with this false notion of “sexually liberated” female characters: These aren’t those women. They’re how dudes want to imagine those women would be — what Wire creator David Simon called writing “men with t*ts.” They read like men’s voices coming out of women’s faces. Or worse, they read like the straight girls who make out with each other at clubs, not because they enjoy making out with women but because they desperately want guys to pay attention to them.
This is not about these women wanting things; it’s about men wanting to see them do things, and that takes something that really should be empowering — the idea that women can own their sexuality — and transforms it into yet another male fantasy. It takes away the actual power of the women and turns their “sexual liberation” into just another way for dudes to get off…”
And this seems to be the problem, both with fictional superheroes and villains and with Dommes. Powerful women are often perceived (and depicted) as existing only to fulfil the fantasy of a man. Which, to me, doesn’t seem all that powerful.
Can you imagine what male superheroes would look like if they were drawn in the way that their female counterparts are? You don’t have to. Bleeding Cool have done it for us, demonstrating just how ridiculous Superman and his pals seem when posed like Wonder Woman on the Justice League cover.