yeesh
Via Boing Boing, there’s quite the little internet kerfluffle over this figurine of Mary Jane, the lead female character in the Spider-Man series:
Ok, so, that’s breathtakingly sexist. I get why people are upset by this.
But why are longtime comics fans especially upset by this? In what way is the sexism here different from generic comic-book sexism, the 14-year-old-boy-demographic stuff that’s on display anytime you pick up a comic with superheroine characters?
I mean, having superpowers but no Y chromosome apparently gives you hypertrophied sexual characteristics and an affinity for skintight clothes in small quantities, and it’s been that way for decades. But the webternet consensus appears to be that the MJ figurine crosses some line in the sand, if this list of appalled reactions is any indication.
Maybe it’s not the presence of sexism, but the quantity of same that puts this beyond the pale. I mean, hand-washing? In ripped jeans, a visible thong, tremendous cleavage, and pearls? While bent over suggestively? You can’t see it in this pic, but apparently the figure is barefoot, too. This is not far removed from porn.
But what’s possibly even more disturbing: in following the discussion I came across this mention of DC Comics’ line of “anime”-style figurines. I find the anime style in general to be pretty yucky on a visceral level, and the guy who posted about the anime figurines explains why pretty succinctly:
OK, seriously, we can argue back and forth about the male gaze and sexualized depictions of woman and issues of empowerment and patriarchal dominance all you want to, but let me just plain make it clear that sexualized infantilization is a cultural pathology we do not want to import from Japan.
(via)
Sexualized infantilization. Yup, that about sums up why I don’t like anime. Provincialism it may be, but I find it hard to parse a world where everyone looks like a shell-shocked nine-year-old. When they’re also sporting tremendous breasts… excuse me while I find a place to hurl.
Aprille said,
May 16, 2007 at 10:29 am
I hope this makes you feel a little better. I know it did for me.
jack said,
May 16, 2007 at 10:45 am
Heh, yeah. They should make a figurine out of that.
At least the head is covered — I didn’t mention it in the post, but the face on that MJ figurine is as aesthetically offensive as the whole object is politically offensive.
nicheplayer said,
June 13, 2007 at 2:07 pm
What’s wrong with being sexy?