Do Comics Contribute?

A series of articles on the BBC the other day got me to wondering about the role comic books play in the sexualization of young women, as well as how young men perceive them.

Accordingly, one article explained how the early sexualization of women is both mentally and physically harmful and another article pointedly proved this, noting that 51% of women polled between the ages of 14 and 34 would have plastic surgery to alter their looks. Even without this second article making the point, I think most all of us can agree that this is in fact a problem.

Now, obviously an artist myself, I'm not saying that the media or entertainment industries are solely to blame for this, but I've been saying for years now that it's very obvious that we do have some responsibility to the audience and society in general as to how we depict women, sex, sexuality, violence, minorities - the whole nine. You can argue it however you like, but this is 2007 and we can see the effects these things have had on youth and our society in general, no matter how we choose to deny it.

When I was growing up, it was all about sex and pornography. With the advent of VCRs came the proliferation of pornographic movies and we were the first generation of kids who had easy access to them; we were the first generation to grow up with easily-accessible hardcore pornography. The resultant explosion in teenage pregnancies were the direct result of that - you can argue the point, but the evidence proves it! The "Y"-Generation (the ones coming into adulthood now, more or less - over the last few years, anyway - the 20-somethings) were really the first to grow up with blatantly violent and explicit music lyrics, music videos, and so on (specifically "gangsta" rap and the "gangsta" culture), and the resultant explosion in violence and crime is the direct result of that. You can argue otherwise, but the evidence proves it. The generation growing up on reality TV today will result in an explosion of sad, pathetic, young people who will turn to pornography, "Jackass"-type stunts, and pretty much any other personal and public debasement in order to become famous - celebrity is all.

And I got to wondering just how much comics play into all of this. Let's face it, there is a dearth of flat-chested superheroines and there are even fewer overweight ones. But just how much do girls read comics and which ones do they read? I don't mean to sound misogynistic in saying this, but I would think more females are interested in the indie comics which center on interpersonal relationships and do not feature superheroes and their adventures. Of course, I'm 32 and while this was true in my day and age, times have changed drastically. More and more females are interested in all sorts of things that were once the preeminent domain of boys - video games, sports, and so on.

So do comics - specifically superhero comics - contribute to this damage? Do enough young women even read them for it to matter? Even if they don't, do enough young men get the wrong idea about women from them? I certainly have a "thing" for beautiful women - and not in the "Duh, who doesn't?" sense, because they come with their own set of headaches (most of them have no self-esteem and a tendency to be emotionally difficult and demanding) - but I don't know if growing up on comic books is what caused that and I can't say it didn't... I'd certainly be willing to concede that they might have contributed to/reinforced the preference.

And I'm not condemning myself for my preference or opening myself up to attack; I tend to prefer very attractive women and that's not really every man's preference; many guys are intimidated by them, distrust them, think them stupid, or prefer to use them for certain needs while fulfilling emotional ones with other, generally less attractive, women who tend to be less difficult - and I think at least some women can appreciate what I am trying to say here (I hope).

What does everyone else think?