Wonder Woman is (obviously) a badass. She is an Amazonian warrior princess who hunts, fights, and helped found the Justic League, vying for gender equality along the way. And she does it all in a bustier, booty shorts and thigh-high boots.
I’m eternally grateful for William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter for writing and drawing this feminist figure and bringing her to life. But, in a classic male artist move, Marston and Peter made sure this superheroine fought bad guys in the sexiest way possible. And, although there’s nothing wrong with kicking ass and looking super hot at the same , sometimes ― particularly when you’re trying to save the world ― it’s just not practical to wear a tiara and a pushup bra.
Comic artist Renae De Liz shed light on the strange ubiquity of sexualized women in comics in an epic Twitter rant sure to evoke a “yaaaas!” or two. De Liz, who was nominated for an Eisner Award for her work on “The Legend of Wonder Woman,” broke down, in seven parts, the insidious ways female superheroes are turned into sexual objects, often when rendered from a dude’s imagination.
De Liz’s tweets provide useful ways to make one’s female comic characters a bit more realistic in their builds and getups. If you’re about to engage in some heavily athletic world-saving, for example, you might opt for a sports bra over a half-unbuttoned corset. Just sayin’.
On that note, enjoy De Liz’s handy guide to smashing the patriarchy with your comic superheroines.
And for all the comic bros about to lose it right now, De Liz calmly specifies she’s not here to take away your sexy comic babes.
Keep doing you, bro! But open your mind to other ways of creating characters ― just in case.
Next time you’re making a superhero with a backside like Beyoncé, you may want to take a moment and think about why.
Would you give Batman the sexy twist? Would you??
Thank you, Renae, for opening our eyes to the often unseen gender disparity at work in the world of comic representation. With tips like these, we can imagine a future in which Wonder Woman is free to wear sweatpants and #nomakeup and get the damn job done.
H/T Renae De Liz, Heroic Girls