When did the sexualization of women in comic books take hold? Why was it people seemed more interested in the body instead of the story? Why not the sexualization of men?
3d 8h ago by lemmy.world/u/Patnou in askhistorians
My follow up post was going to be about men. But you guys beat me to it.
Not a historian. But from the start men have also been sexualized and overtly misogynistic in comics as well. It appeals to the target audiences fantasies of body image and power, you may not have noticed because you have been desensitized to it.
For example; all of the male heros are buff, tall, handsome, charismatic, seemingly trustworthy, always happy, always gets the girl, loves hardwork, act modest, and generally don't wear a lot of clothing. The male villains are usually short, big egos, nerdy/geeky, even if they're buff their ugly or disfigured.
You really think men in comics weren't sexualized? And it was always about the body and the power to change things.
I think there's a core difference, which is intent, sexy v sexualised
Men are often sexy, but rarely sexualised
Superman's underwear is on the outside and his suit is nearly always painted on.
BatNipples.
Thor's entire marvel design history is essentially 'boring office worker turns into half naked muscle bound man,' which brings me to He-man which is the same thing and also skeletor for some reason has more muscles than mister olympia and just has this tiny little loin cloth on top of his robes for no reason except to tease the reader.
Hell the x-men. I actually forgot until I looked up some references but they're the origin of the whole 'painted on uniform' trend to a large extent. No one can look at wolverine's design and say that isn't ridiculously sexualized.
There is a difference, of course, that being comic book artists were primarily selling to plausibly straight teenage boys so there are more women and thus more sexualized women; but at least a few comic heroes were clearly targeting the gay demographic and hypersexualizing men.
Sexy sure, but sexualised is the "sexy lamp" problem, where if you swapped the character for a sexy lamp, you wouldn't notice.
There's also the needless poses that no person would use, like casually in a standing split with arched back
Male characters have much much much much much much much much much much much less examples of that than female characters
https://www.tumblr.com/thehawkeyeinitiative
Sexualization of women in media predates comic books, by a lot.
Why not the sexualization of men?
Comic books are mostly made by men for a male audience, so it's to be expected that male comic book characters don't get sexualized as much as female characters.
Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne aren't sexualized? I guess those are athletic cups in their costumes then.
Bat nipples
I would post some comics to help answer your questions, but that is not allowed.
There's no rules against it
Why would that not be allowed? If it proves your point by showing (counter) examples, I don't see a problem. It should not be just pictures, but instead you should also explain and elaborate why you show them.
I think it became ridiculous with Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld
This just makes me wonder how you even would sexualise men ?
I'm a lesbian, so I have no inherent understanding of what makes a man attractive, and society doesn't really spell it out... Men are supposedly attractive "per se" just by being men, which doesn't make any sense to me 😅
The Hawkeye Initiative
Nah there are ugly dudes and attractive dudes
Oh I absolutely believe you that there are, it's just close to impossible for me to tell an average guy from a supposedly attractive one. Unless someone is obviously conventionally ugly, there is no qualifiable difference to me ; they're all just guys.
As a cis man, I find the same. I know that people say Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe are good looking as is Jason Mamoa...but I wouldn't be able to tell you who is better looking or why. I can sort it out better with women, but its still just personal attraction and not overall beauty. Like I have no clue what makes people see one actress more attractive than another, they are all just generically good symmetry to me.