Superheroes: The Influence Of Women In Comic Books

Watching action movies and reading comic books are a few past times that many Americans love to do. Throughout history women in comic books have always had the same role; needing to be rescued or looking super hot while saving the world. Regardless, research shows that the influence of female superheroes are not as positive as some people want them to be. Superheroes not only create self esteem problems but also, creates gender role confusion and self objectification issues.

William Marston created Wonder Woman, for example, because there was a empty space in the comic book world. She was created with the mindset that love conquered violence and peace before war. Marston wanted this character be a woman so that she could have those soft

“That if you’re really smart, that’s great, but if you’re super sexy, that’s when you really start obtaining some worth.” (Amy Shakelford, 2013)) The outfits these women wear that are skin tight and cover only what is necessary, they would not be ideal to save the world in but for some reason this is in every superhero movie. Could it be that this is the outfit of choice because most comic book writer are men or because they are trying to attract a male audience? Either way; Many female actresses are being picky about what roles they accept, they only want the parts where the female role is just as interesting as the male

After watching this, the group had more of a need to reinforce gender roles but it did not affect how they felt about their self esteem. Behm-Morawitz argues that the hypersexuality of superheroines is to reinforce the gender role beliefs rather than challenge them, this effect would surpass any benefit received from watching a strong, capable and intelligent female character. The problem arises when viewers (women) watch these superheroines in action; they admire the power and the status of these courageous women then desire to emulate them. These superheros have unrealistic body dimensions and outrageous activities, such as, Wonder Woman saving the world in nothing but a small one piece. It is 21st century and 2017, feminism is everywhere and people are constantly getting offended by basically anything. But do we even know the history of these superheroines? Wonder Woman was inspired by her creator wife who was one of the first female graduates from Harvard. Catwoman was created for sex appeal and to inspire woman to be badass. Overall, female superheroes have their positives and negatives. They may create a few issues of self confidence but they also show how powerful women can truly