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….

Elisabeth Sladen

Dear Elisabeth Sladen,

You are missed.

As Sarah Jane Smith, you were partnered with the most magnificent man in the universe, and instead of standing in his shadow you stood beside him, an equal. You were not a damsel in distress. You were strong and independent and smart. You taught me the importance of that. You taught me the importance of asking questions and seeking proof and thinking critically about the world.

You were a hero and a role model to a young girl who loved sci-fi in an era when sci-fi and action TV shows tended to push women to the side as unimportant – the love interest of the week.

I wanted to be like Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane couldn’t have been who she was without you, Elisabeth Sladen.

Thank you, Lis.  I am sorry I never got to tell you that in person.

You will not be forgotten.

Elisabeth Sladen’s last scene with Tom Baker

The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors together on the TARDIS (Matt Smith & David Tennant)

To say I’ve been crazy busy lately would be an understatement. I’ve got Script Frenzy going on, and it’s going well. I’m actually close to hitting that 100 page mark (though the script will probably go a bit past that).  Work’s been crazy busy, which is a good thing. See, I work for an attorney who deals primarily in real estate, so when the real estate market died, our business pretty much died with it.  The fact that our business has suddenly gone crazy busy is a good indicator that the economy’s beginning to come back.

This, of course, is a good thing for everyone. But with my days spent scurrying around the office trying to Get Things Done and my nights spent clacking away at the computer on my script, I haven’t been able to fit in my usual blogging schedule.

Which is a bit sad, because some awesome things have happened while I’ve been away from the blog working on my silly script.

First of all, the new Doctor Who premiered. You all know that I am particularly fond of David Tennant, but Matt Smith has taken up the mantle of the Doctor even better than I could have hoped.  He had me hooked at the custard-and-fish-fingers.  If that first episode was a test – a “Can I believe this new kid is the Doctor?” test – he passed it with flying colours. And I’m hoping that his tenure will be another long one, like Baker’s or Tennant’s, because when you get right down to it, well, the Doctor doesn’t really have many regenerations left, if they’re going to stick to the Time Lords Have 13 Lives rule.

For some even better news, Obama has extended healthcare rights to gay partners, allowing visitation rights and forcing hospitals to recognize the rights of same-sex partners as next-of-kin. This should (hopefully) end one of the worst problems facing same-sex partners, something that has kept even those with the proper documentation (healthcare powers-of-attorney, etc.) from being able to be with their loved ones during their most difficult times. There is more that needs to be done, of course. There’s always more that needs to be done, but this is a big, important, and very needed step in the right direction.

So there’s my update! I haven’t forgotten about my blog, and I’m not being lazy (anything but!) – but hopefully I’ll be able to get back to my normal schedule once Script Frenzy is over.

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In American television, there are plenty of shows that have gay people on them, but those shows are all, in some way, about gay people and/or being gay.  When it comes to other shows that are about other things, gay people go unrepresented.

It rather reminds me of when the only way an african-american could get on TV was to be on a TV show that was entirely about african-americans or submit to stereotyping or both.

There are a handful of minor exceptions to this. Ugly Betty was wonderful for it. Modern Family has a prominent gay couple and Glee just featured a wonderful coming-out story. However, in these shows, there is still a great deal of stereotyping involved. In no way are the characters ever dealt with as if they are just everyday people. The romances are never dealt with as everyday romances, and never with similar treatment to how straight romances are dealt with.

I never really realized the differences until I recently began watching a number of BBC productions.  Before, my usual thoughts were something along the lines of:  “Oh, these shows are being so progressive for featuring gay characters!” now…I’m seeing exactly how much they’re putting those gay characters in that stereotypical box.  When watching American TV alongside BBC TV, the difference in treatment is glaring.

Because, you see, on the BBC shows, the gay characters are treated like any other character. They’re normal, ordinary people. The fact that they are gay, involved in a homosexual relationship, etc. is not treated as something out of the ordinary. The romances are written in the same terms as heterosexual romances. The characters are rarely stereotyped or caricatures (the exceptions being purposely exaggerated comedic sketches).

Why do I have to look to another country’s offerings to find television that treats gay people as normal?

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Two of the first sci-fi fandoms I grew up with and embraced with fervor early in life were Star Trek and Dr. Who – primarily because they were the two that I had the easiest access to via network television.  Cable was unavailable in our rural area, and satellites were, at that time, prohibitively expensive.

As I grew up, I moved on to other fandoms and other shows – particularly the ones springing from the mind of Joss Whedon – and while I didn’t forget about those shows I’d grown up with, I wasn’t so excited about them anymore, beyond the usual haze of nostalgia.

The new Star Trek reboot brought the excitement back in a big way.  It was almost like returning to the embrace of an old friend.  Shortly after the movie, I discovered that the entire Star Trek Original Series was available streaming direct from the CBS website, and took the opportunity to watch it all over again – this time in order. I’d never seen it in order – the shows were reruns shown in syndication by the time I watched them as a child.

The magic of the internet has enabled me to reawaken my interest in Dr. Who as well – watching the new BBC production on  Netflix. It took me a bit longer to warm to the new Doctor than it took me to embrace the new Kirk and Spock, but after a few episodes I was firmly hooked.

I’ve rediscovered the fandoms of my childhood and found them new and fresh.  The reboots of each helped this, of course, but it occurred to me that it couldn’t have happened in such a way without the internet. The web gave me both the old and the new versions and ways to compare the two almost side by side through streaming media, websites and communities to renew my participation in, wikis to research, fanfiction to read and write, and of course, the inevitable visits to TV-Tropes.

You know, I kinda like living in the future.

But it left me wondering: Is there some fandom that you’ve had a reunion with thanks to the internet? Something that you’d almost forgotten existed and then suddenly became excited about again upon finding something in some hidden corner of the web?