My friend Quinn told me about a folder on her computer called, “The Ones We’ve Lost.” They are the letters she’s gotten from young girls who dream of being game developers, but are terrified of the environment they see. I nearly broke into tears as I told her I had a folder filled with the same. The truth is, even if we stopped Gamergate tomorrow, it will have already come at too high a cost.

Rape and death threats are terrorizing female gamers. Why haven’t men in tech spoken out? – The Washington Post (via brutereason)

We mentioned it before, women ARE genuinely discouraged from pursuing jobs in the game industry. It is a simple, provable fact.

Also, those women who already work there have to either keep quiet out of worry about their careers or ultimately decide to leave after experiencing too much harassment or pressure to create things against their beliefs.

So yeah, tell me again how if we want media free of sexualization of women, we should make our own comics/games/etc. How if it was a problem, it would solve itself by now. How women just don’t want to actively participate in any change out of laziness. Try to say it to me, I dare you.

~Ozzie

enattendantlesoleil:

saying “that’s how things are” is incredibly useless when talking about social issues because yes, we are aware that that’s how things are, and we don’t like it, that’s the whole point

congratulations on providing no useful input to the conversation

^ ALL OF THIS

Significant also to all the arguments we had that were met with “well, female characters just are like this, therefore they’re always supposed to be so” kind of response.

~Ozzie

Starfire, solar-powered skin and why (sexual) context may or may not matter

So the arguments suggesting that skimpy female warrior outfits make sense in the context of a character have been around almost as long as the outfits themselves… Not surprisingly, usually the reasoning behind the costume seems to get invented after the costume is already established.

Today I decided to take a look at one of characters famous for supposedly having a ‘reason’ to be half-naked on not one, but at least two levels – Starfire.

image

The costume(s):

First let’s look at her costume out of context… The original one looks pretty awful, right? Impractically skimpy and, depending on the artist, the torso part ranges from somehow plausible (with a help of double-sided tape, at least), to outright damn impossible.
Still, reflective of what superheroes looked like back in the 80s. It’s not like her male colleagues didn’t have their share of silly-by-today’s-standards costumes.

Needless to say, a character that’s been around since 1980 had a few at least minor costume changes and redesigns throughout years, including the (much beloved) child-friendly version from the 2003 cartoon.

Then… the New 52 ’s turn came.

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Uh… Ah… Um… Bingo?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite sure the old version would also score some major bingo points, but this is just beyond any possible level of defying physics and common sense. BABD has nothing but utter respect for the cosplayers that somehow make this costume actually work (especially the nipple-pieces).

Oh, and the way she was written upon her first appearance after the DC reboot (the infamous Red Hood & the Outlaws #1) does not help the case. AT ALL.

Which brings us to…

The “context”

As mentioned earlier, Star supposedly has good reasons to dress the way she does. There may be more, but the two most frequently brought up are:

  1. Her alien powers are fueled by exposure to sunlight
  2. Big part of her character is having an agency over her sexuality

We poked the first one a few times already, so let’s get it out of the way quick: SAME FOR SUPERMANAnd if I’m not mistaken, unlike Supes, Starfire is not 100% invincible on top of her strength.
I challenge anyone to find us canon evidence that Kryptonians somehow don’t have to be half-naked to absorb sunlight through skin, but Tamaraneans do. Bonus points if you prove that it’s so totally not because the major character from Krypton is a man, while the major character from Tamaran is a woman.

The second one is a ride, as I have a very basic familiarity with the old Titans comics, let alone post-reboot ones, but fortunately I’m not the first person to talk about the subject of Kory’s depiction, so I had some broader frame of reference. I’ll link the sources in the last section of this post.

Let’s start with the basics: skimpy clothes and sexual liberation are not mutually inclusive. In case anyone forgot, it’s all an arbitrary standard that the Western culture made us assume to be “natural”.
Sadly, yes, I did feel the need to spell this out, as apparently some parties consider it a slight against all women’s sexuality if Star so much as covers her skin with spandex bodypaint.

That said, even if we agree that the revealing costume is expression of Kory being in charge of how sexual she is, the post-reboot comics failed spectacularly at conveying it in a sensible way the old comics did.
The batshit redesign, the art that contorts her spine and shoves her boobs and butt in every scene possible, the writing that turned her basically into a living sex doll (an idea so bad that it got subsequently retconned); all of those things were carefully crafted NOT to put some interesting spin on the established character, but to suit the tastes of DC’s supposed target audience: unimaginative, perpetually horny straight boys.

There’s nothing wrong about Starfire being sexy and openly sexual.
But how does one turn a character like this:

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Into someone who joylessly asks people she barely likes for a hookup out of boredom?:

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And again, why would any of the above mean she, a superpowered alien warrior princess, should fight crime and villainy in “clothes” that are the superhero equivalent of Scarlet Blade armor? How is her sex life the “context” for her superhero looks?
With the old costume at least it can be argued she’s showing off her body, which she’s very comfortable with (canon in comics), with the new one… she only gets cold in her shoulders and feet? And alien fashion defies physics? IDK

Shortpacked! (itswalky) sums up the problem with New 52 depiction of this character (and DC’s bizarre confidence in it) perfectly in this comic strip (rebloggable version here).

Now, to clear you minds, I recommend you guys to check out theliberationofmanfire, a blog dedicated to showing us what Starfire and other comic superheroines would be like if they were redone as equally scantily-clad and sexualized male characters (and yes, that tumblr does precede thehawkeyeinitiative).

Further on the matter:

~Ozzie

PS: Funny that Starfire’s official bio seems to not have been updated with anything since the start of New 52 in 2011.
Probably because of neglect, but I like to think that official Teen Titans site just prefers to ignore post-reboot Starfire’s design and personality.

edit: Updated link to Linkara’s review, due to Blip being dead and the last link, due to Chez Apocalypse site remaining in the limbo.

fandomsandfeminism:

conscious-bounded:

Anyone explain to me why feminists are against women sexually objectified? I mean men are too… Also is it that bad to be sexually objectified? Don’t a lot of women gain confidence by feeling sexy and wanted?

There is a difference between feeling sexy and being turned into a sexual object. 

The fact that so many people need this explained to them is concerning. 

Bolding mine.

~Ozzie

‘Sex’ doesn’t sell. Erosion of female self esteem does. The feeling of superiority over women does. Turning women into ‘things’ to be studied, scrutinized & judged and then calling it ‘sex’ does.

Sex doesn’t sell. Objectification does

Sadiqa Thornton (via female-only)

Amen.

~Ozzie

Ultimately, most things that are offensive are also lazy and unoriginal; because you can’t reach that point of view by looking at the world honestly…You reach that point of view by taking short cuts and by just sort of repeating what someone else told you.

Joseph Fink
Writer from Welcome To Night Vale discussing writing on Citizen Radio 865  (via podquotes)

From now on, this is our universal answer to the supposed “creativity” of skin-revealing armor.

~Ozzie

adjectiveverb:

marshmallowknight:

bunrobot:

marshmallowknight:

“weaponized femininity” more like “how to cater to the male gaze and Western beauty ideals while acting like it’s Totally Subversive”

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bASICALLy

[Comic source: Kate Beaton]

Apparently, according to all the people who were upset that we dared to call out Hideo Kojima and implied that his use of Quiet in promotional materials was objectification and pandering, you can also act like it’s totally subversive by writing a long back story for the character.

It doesn’t have to be, or really their own back story, or one that the majority of players will even experience – just so long as there’s something there to claim that you “totally humanized and made worthwhile” the character who’s boobs appear in every promo post.

Then it becomes a deep commentary of the “reality of women in these situations”… there being so many women who run around in bikinis on battlefields in reality.

– wincenworks