| Again, I hate to respond in image macros, but the idea that women don't find men like Batman or Spider Man attractive is bullshit. http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/258/9/6/tumblr_mtg09c... (what do you know, the comic that image mocks was written by a guy...) I'm sorry, but things like the "Hawkeye initiative" are just plain stupid for completely overlooking the differences between male and female sexuality. Look at the romance novel covers above and try to tell me they wouldn't look absolutely ridiculous with the genders swapped. It reminds me of sites like "Escher Girls", a collection of "boobs and butt" poses in art that the bloggers think are "anatomically impossible" and "disturbing", despite being absolutely trivial for men and women to perform alike. http://eschergirls.tumblr.com/ http://pirate-cashoo.tumblr.com/post/26538269244 https://twitter.com/kinucakes/status/552353978378633218 And judging by the number of female comic book character cosplayers, I think it's safe to say that quite a few women "want to be" these characters, sexualized or not, as well. Women have created strong, sexualized, camp characters like Bayonetta explicitly as female power fantasies, but that never stops a certain band of puritanical American feminists from branding them as "offensive" symbols of the patriarchy. http://platinumgames.com/2009/04/17/designing-bayonetta/ http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/bayonetta/1013849p1.html http://platinumgames.com/2014/06/27/character-design-pt-1-ba... |
The problem is when media gets sexualized to the point where children grow up thinking only one way of looking at sexuality is the right way. It creates body image-related traumas that get reinforced in places like schools where kids are often taunted for not having the 'right' type. This should be fought whenever possible.