Representation of Women in Comic Books

This assignment examines the representation of women in comic books, highlighting both historical and contemporary depictions. It analyzes how female characters have been portrayed in genres like superheroes, romance, horror, and more, addressing issues such as objectification, gender stereotypes, and the impact of female creators in the industry. The paper also considers recent efforts to de-sexualize female characters and provides examples from popular comic book universes like Marvel and DC.

Running head: COMMUNICATION
Woman Representation in Comic Books
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1COMMUNICATION
Comic books always had the difficulty in maintaining the characterization of women.
Women portrayal in comic books has always been a topic of controversy, since its inception.
Both Marvel and DC comics are trying to promote women characters, with an attempt of de-
sexualizing them. Marvel tried to showcase some super talents but the attempts are mostly
unsuccessful. Critics have argued that women roles as supporting or lead characters are more
subjected to the gender stereotypes; often they are objectified in a sexualized manner. Apart
from super girls, women were primarily depicted in secondary characters, for example; career
girls, sexy teenagers or romantic heroines.
Previously, the female comic creators have always been a minority in the comic
industry. They have made notable impact in the beginning. However, female comic writers
don’t achieve much recognition as that of the male comic artists. Women comic creators have
been working in every genre, beginning from superheroes to romance, horror to crime, war to
westerns and more. Some famous women comic writers are; Becky Cloonan, Gail Simone,
Kate Leth and others. Therefore, differences still exists in this modern society and women are
portrayed in stereotypical manner. At times, some of the characters’ sex appeal is used to
launch the comic series (Bongco).
While male superheroes are portrayed as some serious figure, women’s sexuality is
being used enormously. A few months ago, the movie ‘Wonder Woman’ adapted from the
famous DC Comics character, released and received mixed reviews. Many argued that the
representation of the female character was too mainstream. Some said the character is much
of a feminist icon, others felt it was just another movie with a female superhero. However,
the sexualization of female characters in comic world is a major concern. Even Marvel
comics depict women in a blatant manner, treating them unequally as compared to their male
counterparts. Therefore, comics make women seem week, less aggressive, less dangerous and
not on an equal track with the male characters (Wolf).

2COMMUNICATION
References
Bongco, Mila. Reading comics: Language, culture, and the concept of the superhero in comic
books. Routledge, 2014.
Wolf, Naomi. The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. Random
House, 2013.