“Girls need heroes. Not just sparkly princesses and trembling vampire devotees, but powerful and likeable heroes. I got my confidence back when I got into comics, though slice of life stories and adventuresses like Selina Kyle and Barbara Gordon. This was two years ago. Comics got me through a breakup, my parents’ divorce, job loss and more. I found within these fictional worlds characters that were more than costumes. I got the confidence to start drawing and found a whole world of other female artists online to learn from and share with. Comics became my whole life. They mean so much to me now, and to so many others. So when the new Doctor Quinzel showed up, grinding her short shorts into a guy who tells her to shut up before somehow penetrating her through two layers of clothing, I felt defeated. I shouldn’t care, I thought, about some character in a comic book. So what if she’s some dumb male fantasy with a bad dye job? But… she’s not. She’s more than that. She was the crazed counterpart to my favourite villain with a deliciously twisted sense of humour. It’s when I think about that, when I really get down to it, that I can’t accept the “read something else” response. It wouldn’t fly to have a protagonist changed into a blatant homophobe or to put forth an extreme racial stereotype, so why are we told to sit down and stop making a fuss when these characters we care about are warped for a sexist male gaze?”
- Art Can Make a Difference: Responding to the “Just Don’t Read It” Defense | Comics Bulletin
- Art Can Make a Difference: Responding to the “Just Don’t Read It” Defense | Comics Bulletin