X-men: Schism spoilers (kinda) + rant
Sooooo in the preview for X-men: Schism #3, written by Paul Jenkins (lol who?), we get this lovely nugget as Scott shares his mental monologue admiring the members of his team:
"Kitty and Storm: powerful mutants, possessing the best qualities of their sex."
ROFLMAO.
It's an otherwise cool preview. I like that attention was drawn to the fact that while lots of X-men who previously lacked control of their powers (ex. Rogue) have now got it, Cyclops, the leader, still has to rely on his visor for control. Cyke's daring decisions since M-day have rocked the X-teams, brought them together, divided them, won a lot of battles. And yet he's still battling insecurities. This is called good character development and promises an interesting plot (Cyke and Wolvie going separate ways, and the other X-men presumably having to pick sides).
For that reason, I don't want to skewer the entire issue over this one sexist comment.
And yet.
I was ranting about this line on Twitter the minute I saw it, and when I went to CBR, I saw others doing the same thing, though largely in the typical tongue-in-cheek style of CBR posters. The few who got a little more incensed about it just caused others to get defensive. I don't know who identifies as what gender on CBR, but there were a lot of people who popped in to at least say "lol yeah that line is odd," so I'm inclined to think it really is just a bad line in an otherwise good issue. As one poster pointed out, if Jenkins had written "the best qualities of their race," everyone would have been line "............ um WHAAAT?"
And think how perfect it would have been if he'd just written "the best qualities X-men should have" instead of "the best qualities of their sex." (Never mind what a stupid word "possessing" is when used this way. I gotta say, even though I praised the preview otherwise, I don't think the writing is actually very good. It's rather purpley, to be honest.)
And for those posters who don't get why we have a problem with this line in general: There was no NEED to point out that Ororo and Kitty are women. We can tell. The artists do their UTMOST to remind us in every panel they're in. Pointing out their "sex" is like saying, "This person is a really great leader (by the way, she has a vagina)," "This person makes excellent pancakes (by the way, she has a vagina)," "This person fixed a problem with my computer when no one else could (by the way, she has a vagina)." Irrelevant information much?
It's these kind of irrelevancies that perpetuate sexist stereotypes. They remind the reader that no matter what personal merits a woman may have, her most important asset is that she's a woman, and different from all you li'l fan boys.
Ultimately, the point is the information that Kitty and Ororo are girls is irrelevant, unnecessary, useless. Typically, when you throw around irrelevant, unnecessary, useless information in a story, it's called bad writing. Congrats, Mr. Jenkins.
That being said - maybe being associated with the "omg! female!" sex is at least better than the review Warren got. While the others are good leaders, compassionate, strong, powerful, altruistic, Warren is... a rock star. HAHAHAHAHA
"Kitty and Storm: powerful mutants, possessing the best qualities of their sex."
ROFLMAO.
It's an otherwise cool preview. I like that attention was drawn to the fact that while lots of X-men who previously lacked control of their powers (ex. Rogue) have now got it, Cyclops, the leader, still has to rely on his visor for control. Cyke's daring decisions since M-day have rocked the X-teams, brought them together, divided them, won a lot of battles. And yet he's still battling insecurities. This is called good character development and promises an interesting plot (Cyke and Wolvie going separate ways, and the other X-men presumably having to pick sides).
For that reason, I don't want to skewer the entire issue over this one sexist comment.
And yet.
I was ranting about this line on Twitter the minute I saw it, and when I went to CBR, I saw others doing the same thing, though largely in the typical tongue-in-cheek style of CBR posters. The few who got a little more incensed about it just caused others to get defensive. I don't know who identifies as what gender on CBR, but there were a lot of people who popped in to at least say "lol yeah that line is odd," so I'm inclined to think it really is just a bad line in an otherwise good issue. As one poster pointed out, if Jenkins had written "the best qualities of their race," everyone would have been line "............ um WHAAAT?"
And think how perfect it would have been if he'd just written "the best qualities X-men should have" instead of "the best qualities of their sex." (Never mind what a stupid word "possessing" is when used this way. I gotta say, even though I praised the preview otherwise, I don't think the writing is actually very good. It's rather purpley, to be honest.)
And for those posters who don't get why we have a problem with this line in general: There was no NEED to point out that Ororo and Kitty are women. We can tell. The artists do their UTMOST to remind us in every panel they're in. Pointing out their "sex" is like saying, "This person is a really great leader (by the way, she has a vagina)," "This person makes excellent pancakes (by the way, she has a vagina)," "This person fixed a problem with my computer when no one else could (by the way, she has a vagina)." Irrelevant information much?
It's these kind of irrelevancies that perpetuate sexist stereotypes. They remind the reader that no matter what personal merits a woman may have, her most important asset is that she's a woman, and different from all you li'l fan boys.
Ultimately, the point is the information that Kitty and Ororo are girls is irrelevant, unnecessary, useless. Typically, when you throw around irrelevant, unnecessary, useless information in a story, it's called bad writing. Congrats, Mr. Jenkins.
That being said - maybe being associated with the "omg! female!" sex is at least better than the review Warren got. While the others are good leaders, compassionate, strong, powerful, altruistic, Warren is... a rock star. HAHAHAHAHA