Writer's Block: It’s Women’s Equality Day!
I'd really appreciate a business environment that doesn't try to shove any halfway intelligent woman up the managerial ladder just so that she can "prove that the company isn't a boy's club"... it's just as sexist to not permit your female coders to WRITE CODE as it is to prohibit your personable female managers from rising up the ladder. I've ( Read more... )
The one thing that equalizes men and women is, ironically, the one thing that feminists seem to rail against the most... unfettered capitalism. Why is that? I firmly believe this; If equality of the sexes is the best way to go, those who implement it will become stronger than those who don't... in the absence of heavy-handed government regulation used to punish those who don't conform to an authoritarian vision.
And I do believe that equality of the sexes, real equality, is the best way to go.
You mentioned jobs. It is utterly true that you are going to favor a candidate who will have lower medical costs and need more time off. However, picture for a moment a job environment without government-thug forms of unionization, in which each employee bargains for his or her own position. I currently have an on-again, off-again part-time job for a Catholic tutoring center. I am permitted to limit my hours, bring my children in when I don't have a sitter (at times I even breastfed my baby under cover while teaching math)... how did I get this position? In turn, I agreed to work without health/life/etc. benefits and at less than half the rate of the usual tutor of my skill.
Outside of the Corporate World, in small businesses, mothers can frequently negotiate excellent working conditions with a give-and-take approach that employers favor. And employers do indeed favor someone with the organizational skills and responsibility of a woman who raises children and is able to get a job without Gender-Based Affirmative Action!
As for DC... well, feminist arguments presume that as many women as men are interested in comic books, and this has not been my experience. I say this as a woman who attends conventions and visits the stores, though I haven't collected a comic line in a while now. All that aside, however, capitalism wins again!
How? Simple. If there are truly that many women who would become comic book readers if only the comic book heroes were more female friendly, then a startup company has a lovely opportunity to fill a void without competition! That's how companies have risen the fastest and remained the strongest, not by crowding out a field full of competitors, but by filling a gap that DC is not addressing.
In other words, if women really want superhero equality that badly, and the government is not supertaxing and over-regulating businesses to make small business entry next to impossible, then the established market will simply have to move over and make room as a matter of natural capitalism.
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(This works better with small businesses, but can also work with corporations--for instance, many of the waitresses I worked with at Bennigan's were mothers. Why? Because it *does* allow for flexible scheduling, short-notice shift switches with other workers, and ability to work as little or as much as one needs to... all without inconveniencing the company one whit, or at least not very much. It was also popular with students for the same reason. There was no individual give-and-take from Corporate, but the job was defined in such a way that the local managers were able to accommodate.)
(Yes, waitressing doesn't pay as well as being a secretary, and certainly not as well as being a lawyer. That said... it can still stand as the far superior option.)
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I agree with what you're saying on DC, and I feel the explosion of webcomics and small-press comics gives good credence to what you're saying. I am, in short, all in favor of the capitalist solution, which butts quite well against the artistic solution of writing from the heart and finding an audience for it.
I still find the concept that all women are alienated because there isn't a 50% ratio of female superheroes asinine. Particularly with the additional insinuation that it is Morally Wrong.
(I don't collect any comics right now, either... but it's because each comic book I've picked up in the last goodness-knows-how-long has told only a tiny fraction of a story, for something that wasn't a tiny fraction of money. And I really favor the goofy Superfriends-type comics I've read from the 70's, the ones filled with unabashedly Good and Bad guys, rather than the grimdark mood with the morally-ambiguous characters they seem to favor now. So I'm not really in their market, anyway; I'm reading web- and newspaper-comics right now. But it's not due to gender parity concerns, I tell you what...!)
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The problem with female superheros when it comes to women is that they're still geared towards men! They still go about with a rack like... well... you get the idea. And they dress like they're going to die of exposure if the temperature falls below 65F!
I appreciate and prefer movies/books/etc. that present strong, well-dressed female characters, and I think a lot of people do, because they seem to do particularly well in the theater and beyond. But there, you see, I'm not calling for a ban or blowing my top like feminists tend to do... I'm supporting what I like with my own money!
But there you go... If feminists succeed in forcing a webcomic with a majority male viewership to present 50% of superheroes as female, they'll do it! And anyone who doesn't like to see women objectified will hate it even more...
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Princess Leia from Episode IV is immediately who jumps to mind with your description... much as she's probably better-known for the gold slave-bikini in VI, I find the white dress far more iconic, and her actions... well... quite heroic. I've liked her a lot for a long time...
So I think I know what you mean. There is something quite nice about that. (Even though... well, I'll admit it, I tend to mostly go after the male characters. Except for Disney princesses, who I tend to like a lot.)
Actually, I'm not sure feminists would go after webcomics. The ones I've listened to seem to be very concerned with the strength and power of the originating agency--why Pixar needs to have a female protagonist, rather than going to or making the movies that have the features you like. Because it's those in the stronger positions in society, who have the power to change it, who have the duty to...
..agh, I don't know. Frankly, it always read like another attempt to tear down the strong as an alternative to strengthening the weak. >_>;
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If you enjoyed Star Wars and have not gone far into the sci-fi television scene, I have a few recommendations of shows that incorporate genuinely strong (and well-dressed) female characters.
Babylon 5 has some female co-leads who are *stronger* in many ways than the male lead.
I've only seen a few episodes of Firefly, but it has got a couple of solid female characters, including the most powerful character in the show.
Not sci-fi or fantasy, but I watch NCIS specifically for my favorite character, who is both female and very strong. (And, even more importantly, just plain fun to watch!)
There are others, I could make you a whole list if you'd like. :) But mainly they're not quite in the mainsteam (with the exception of NCIS).
Babylon 5 in particular, the creator was criticized once for presenting a couple of female characters who were less than heroic. His comment was that women were not a monolithic group, that some were military-tough and others were fainting blossoms, some were clever and some were dull, some were honest and loyal, and others were manipulative... and he never meant to present them as being all the same.
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Basically, it's incredibly good fun with lots of goofiness and touching moments.
(apparently they co-write, he draws, she puts in dialog, and then Mr. Wright colors it)
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