Sexualization Of Women

A beautiful woman is heard screaming from the top of her lungs as she is dangling over the ledge of a building by a maniacal villain. “Help me, Superman!” she yells. Faster than a speeding bullet, the Man of Steel himself rushes to save the pretty damsel in distress. A garish, over the top villain known as the Joker is wreaking havoc on Gotham City. The bat signal lights up the night sky calling for Batman to swoop in and save the good citizens of Gotham. Nothing quite captures the imagination like comic book superheroes: seemingly ordinary people with extraordinary abilities and the desire to keep their streets safe. These comics provide a way to escape reality with classic stories of good versus evil with a “super” twist. The comics industry was born in the early 1930s and has made a resurgence over the past decade with blockbuster films such as Marvel’s The Avengers which grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide and The Dark Knight …show more content…
Subjection to a female character playing the role of the victim reinforces stereotypical gender roles while subjection to hypersexualized superheroines results in lower body esteem and a higher ranking of physical competence. Superheroines saving the world in tight, revealing clothing and high heeled shoes paints unrealistic expectations for women and makes them feel as though they are incompetent because they cannot live up to these standards.
In the words of Oscar Wilde, “life imitates art more that art imitates life,” meaning that society emulates what it perceives from art rather than art being inspired by
Although the portrayal of women in comics is improving, the industry has a long way to go before male and female characters will reach a state of equality, be