Sexualization is an emphasis on secondary sexual characteristics and sexuality.
A sexualized character is one with emphasized secondary sexual characteristics and sexuality.
A hyper- or over-sexualized character is one with extreme, exaggerated focus on secondary sexual characteristics and sexuality at the expense of or in place of other attributes
that’s it
Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits
An excellent breakdown of major problems with female fantasy armor and a few suggestions on how to make female warrior sexy/appealing without stripping her off protection.
Written from the perspective of actual armorer.
EDIT: For all math fans, the author also recommended his follow-up post that examines formula from the above image in detail.
edit 2: Updated the links
After discussing the disturbing attitude towards female protagonists in video game industry Jimquisition once again tackles the topic of gender in games by commenting on controversy around Dragon’s Crown female character designs.
Sorry to post again about not-exactly-warrior-outfits, but it’s a very relevant case concerning strictly related areas (character design, women in popular culture).
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
this entire blog is a good read for information and problems re: character design
We’re one follower short from 300…
…and I’ve run out of reblog material.
Any submissions? Guys?
Which brings us to the question that inspired this piece — so f#$@ing what?! Do clothes make the hero? And the answer, honestly, is a resounding, ‘eh.’
Which is not to say a costume is irrelevant. There is the oft heard question, “Why would you fight crime in a bathing suit?” That question, by the way, is totally fair. On one hand, if you are an nearly indestructible Kryptonian, you could fight in your birthday suit and not have to worry about getting skinned alive if thrown into a building or bounced through the street. And hey, the less under your secret identity day clothes the more comfortable, right?
On the other hand, even Superman wears tights, so why can’t the women? The swimwear approach to costuming after all is routinely mocked, be the hero female or male. Just look at Aquaman and Robin. One suspects that they are mocked for the swimwear of justice because that kind of costuming is perceived as something only a super heroine should wear. Because female heroes are drawn with bare limbs and scantier uniforms not because they don’t need the physical protection but because it’s sexy.
Ah, male gaze. My old frenemy.
So that’s the solution, right? Just slap some dockers on them ladies and everything’s equal in female and male depictions, right?
Well, not really, no. Putting a female hero in pants does not mean she is somehow protected from an artist positioning her primarily for the male gaze. For example, Marvel Comics recently began a new ongoing called Fearless Defenders which stars Valkyrie and Misty Knight. Both of these characters wear pants and, yet, I lost count by about page five of how many times Misty’s ass took center stage in any given panel. Basically, where there’s a male gaze will, there’s a male gaze way — pants or no pants, tights or bared legs.
