League of Extraordinary [Women]

One of my fellow geek/Whovian/blogger friends Jamila (Girl Gone Geek) had the opportunity to be a part of a "Women in Comics" panel recently to discuss the role and depiction of women in comics and other media.

The panel brought up a lot of issues that I have thought about when it comes to how women are visualized in comic books, video games, art and other forms of media. They are either over-sexualized or seen as the 'damsel in distress." The issue of a lack of female characters of color was brought up as well, revealing that there are few examples of black and Hispanic heroines in comics and media for young girls of color to look up to. All of the heroines of color I can name off the top of my head are Storm (X-Men), Vixen (Justice League/DC), Martha Jones (Dr. Who), Zoe Washburne (Firefly), Sheva Alomar (Resident Evil 5), Michonne (Walking Dead) and Fire (DC). The problem is that the majority of heroes that young girls are exposed to (primarily in comics) are white males figures like Superman and Batman, while female heroes like Wonder Woman and Batgirl aren't marketed as much. It's worse for heroines of color because they are placed in a smaller category whom are forgotten or looked over. Other topics that were discussed were the trend of "fake nerd girls," discrimination of women in the comic/animated world and how being a female geek is something that shouldn't be proven, but respected. What I mainly got out of the panel is that it is important to be yourself, be the change you want to see, and seek out others who you can express your "geekiness" with. Being a geek myself, I related with everything the panelists said and I'm happy that the discussion is being brought more to the forefront.

Women in Comics Panelists

Geeks United!

Finally, I want to share a video for a trailer I saw long ago for a documentary about the image of Wonder Woman and the role of super heroines in the media. It addresses the same issues discussed at the panel. The documentary will be premiering on the PBS channel on April 15th.



-Video Vix[o]n