Relevant part starting at 6:00
In their new Extra Sci-Fi episode devoted to H. P. Lovecraft’s and Robert E. Howard’s impact on sci-fi and fantasy, Extra Credits crew devoted a segment to signifying also how those authors’ personal biases and the pulp publishing industry’s standards at the time led to the normalization of problematic tropes still haunting modern fiction, including pretty sexist depictions of women that this blog is devoted to.
We talked before on this blog that “historical accuracy” of scantily glad warrior women doesn’t reach further than to the times of 20th century pulp magazine stories, their covers and subsequent comics that followed the covers’ convention.
The fact is, armor/fur bikinis were invented essentially just because not every publication could afford being as “progressive” as Weird Tales, so characters like Dejah Thorris wouldn’t be allowed to be illustrated as nude, no matter the story’s original text.
Also, keep in mind how the myth of sexing up the covers to increase sales doesn’t hold up under scrutiny at least since the 70s era Conan comics.
~Ozzie
h/t: @filipfatalattractionrblog
PS: Despite what illustrations in the video imply, Red Sonja in Howard’s writing actually looked closer to that than the usual scalemail bikini depiction: