On Sexism of Female Costumes and Poses
There’s been a lot of discussion on costumes and armor of female characters lately, mostly relating to comics. It’s a problem that has always been rampant in science fiction/action movies, comic books, video games, and pretty much anything that is marketed primarily toward a male audience. There seems to be a lot of confusion over what is a sexist costume and what is not, and a lot of getting down on just presenting characters as sexy as being sexist.
The thing is, as a feminist, I have no problem with a female (or male) character being presented as sexy. Hell, I’m bi, I like looking at the sexy ladies as much as any man does. I do love a badass fighting female who charges in with a sword and takes no prisoners.
I am so well protected by my tiny little scraps of metal!
However, when it comes to armor or costumes, form should follow function. The purpose of a suit of armor is to protect the wearer in a combat situation where the person wearing it is going to be on the front lines, in the melee. In such a situation, a chainmail bikini, for instance, which protects the fighter’s breasts and maybe, just maybe, about a third of her butt while leaving her vital and most vulnerable areas exposed for a mortal blow is just, well, impractical.
I mean, would you go into a swordfight with your belly uncovered just waiting for disembowelment? Honestly, a slice to the butt? Not the biggest thing to worry about when someone’s trying to kill you, really.
Hell, no, if I ever get caught in a fight I hope I’ve got my vitals covered, thanks. I could care less about my boobs except for the fact that they’re in the same general area of my heart and that’s a pretty important thing to protect… and say I want to be agile, to fight with speed instead of brute force – well, I want my leathers flexible, but I still want the same things covered.
Functional armor can still be sexy as hell, without leaving the fighter dangerously exposed or turning her into a ridiculous objectification.
If the woman doesn’t fight on the front lines, but is instead a caster or support class character? She’s much less likely to be in such danger from melee attacks and can pretty much wear whatever (as little or as much of it) as she wants without making the feminist in me sit up and go “grr.” This would be the reason why I had no problem with Morrigan, for instance, in Dragon Age. She was no fighter, so if she wanted to go about with a strategically draped scarf over her torso and not much else, well, that’s fine by me. The fighting characters that got up close in that game were very well armored, male or female, in armor that suited the function for which it was intended, be it full-on protection from heavy blows or a balance of protection and ease of movement.
Another problem tends to have to do with the way women are posed, in comics in particular. I mean, how many of you out there, male or female, have ever posed for a photograph with your butts facing the camera, your head turned to glance coquettishly over your shoulder? Or maybe with your back arched, boobs raised to point at the ceiling? Now, how many of you out there have posed that way while in the middle of a fight?
This is what happens when the men pose like the ladies... (Picture by Kevin Bolk)
While turning around and showing your ass to the bad guy may be a valid distraction technique, it really doesn’t make sense in many contexts outside the bedroom. To stand with your butt poked so far out and pointed directly at whoever’s looking at you while climbing ladders, talking with your best girlfriend and walking down the street, dropping out of helicopters, fighting your archnemesis, or generally being a hero . . . well, it’s ridiculous. I mean, could you see Tony Stark doing it? * Superman? These women look like they’re posing and ready for action, but the action they’re ready for doesn’t involve taking down criminals. Going down on, maybe.
Again, it’s a matter of form following function, or in this case the form being made ridiculous based on the context of what the character is doing. Because unless I were shooting bullets from my boobs and a torpedo from my ass, I really would have no reason to go out of my way to point (and absurdly push out, or arch my back, or do any of those usually sex-related contortions) those body parts toward anyone. Especially if I’m fighting them.
It might make sense to pose like that in the bedroom to tease a lover, or for a pinup picture. In which case, if the artists want to draw these characters there, doing that, maybe these poses would make at least a little bit of sense.
* Maybe Tony Stark was a bad choice of example here….**
** Ironman avows that the whole mooning incident was entirely falsified.***
*** Captain America says it absolutely was not and he really wishes he could find some brain bleach because, damn….
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