"Why are all the live-action superheroines porn stars?" - A SFW rant

[invisiblemoose]

Comments

[luminousmotion]

Well I agree with what I think your getting at, there's also the fact that a porn movie is vastly cheaper to make. So there's little risk and lots of reward.

[arctowardthesun]

I'm glad you, as a man, have no problem with porn versions of superheroines. That's a really brave stance to take and all.

[invisiblemoose]

The only reason I added that was to make it clear I wasn't slut-shaming in any way, shape or form.

[mythrai]

+1

[crooked_halo]

It basically comes down to the attitude held by many that women are a part of comics to add to the sexual fantasy aspect. There is still a very large segment of the comic industry that believes that women don't read comics and aren't interested in live action comic book properties AND they believe that men won't want to watch a story where a woman is the main character, or where there's more than just the token female character.

I seem to remember that Joss Whedon's Wonder Woman script was killed because he wanted to do a WWII era take on it and DC believed that no one would want to watch a period movie. I'm sure that how horribly the Captain America movie proved them... oh, wait.

It also comes down to licensing and toys. Even if the live action movies are aimed more at adults, there is still the goal to sell toys and since little girls aren't interested in superheroes (*eyeroll*) then there's no money to be made in, say, toys to go with a Wonder Woman movie.

[sandoz_iscariot]

All this. "Sexy Superheroines" is a common straight dude porn archetype right up there with Naughty Nurses. Pornography of Wonder Woman tied up in her own lasso is nothing new. Female superheroes are highly sexualized and fetishized in their official comics (with some artists like Greg Land literally tracing from porn) and it's well known that some comics professionals will take commissions of female characters nude and/or in sexual situations. Whenever I check my tracked tags on tumblr for posts about my favorite characters like Jean Grey, Kitty Pryde, etc., it's pretty much inevitable that porn will show up. Why are female superheroes getting representation in the porn industry? Because to that particular audience of straight/horny/nerdy dudes, they're already sex objects.

[crooked_halo]

Exactly! It really frustrates me because then people turn around and go "well, why do you read comics if you don't like how women are portrayed?"

I read comics because I like to read about strong women and I like a lot of the characters, and I get angry about how women are portrayed in comics because little girls need superheroines to look up to, damnit.

And I refuse to just roll over and accept that comics is a 'boys' club' and will always be a boys' club.

[pebblerocker]

I'm unlikely to bother going to a movie about a female superhero if one gets made, because I have no faith that Hollywood can make the "real" movie version of the character detectably different from the porn movie version in any way.

[riotlounge]

But why is it that DC and Marvel being beaten out by the porn industry when it comes to representation of their own characters?

Because women are profitable in porn, they are not profitable or easy to sell as movie heroines.

[mythrai]

"But why is it that the only way these amazing and beloved characters can appear in a movie is if they’re fucking someone for the sexual gratification of the viewer?"

because women as objects = easy sell. women as agents = stuff and nonsense. but i understand that it's hard to get that. as a man.

[torukun1]

"But I understand that it's hard to get that. As a man."

*high-five*