I'll tumblr for ya

dicksfordinner:

I have to take a quick break from working on my portfolio so I’ll type this up as I watch some Bob Ross since I’m so vague and terrible at expressing myself I probably didn’t even make a point in my last comment.

I think the issue I have with this “sexualization and idealization” of men versus women in comics is that we’re looking at this from a strictly female perspective. We see women in tight, skimpy outfits with their tits spilling out filling the love interest role. By taking those views of sexuality (of women by women) and trying to place it into the context of men in comics is dishonest and at worst, ignorant of the male perspective. 

For instance, you drew Commander Badass in his underwear taking a typical pose with his chest puffed out, then a very suggestive pose mostly reserved for women. To me, it’s removing what makes the man idealized and almost sexual and outright ignoring what men (the audience and mostly creators of these comics) idolize in favour to say “My opinion on these male issues (as a woman) is the non-sexist opinion.” It would be the same as taking wonder woman and giving her Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body, giving her a manly face, slapping on some tits and saying that the way men are represented in comics are extremely sexist because the idealized form isn’t translated into female ones 1:1. When you actually look at it that way, it seems extremely silly - Aren’t women different from men, not only biologically but also in how we act and what opinions we hold of women and men? 

That’s the issues I have with the whole “women are oversexualized in comics” because the way men and women express those concepts are too different to slap some tits or a dick on one and say “Welp that proves it’s sexist!” That’s why I argue men in comics are sexualized to the same amounts as women - the only difference is that men’s sexuality is linked to power. Is Batman the everyday man? No, he’s incredibly intelligent, rich, and he’s built like Arnold Schwarzenegger in most of his series. Men don’t look at Batman and think “Wow that’s sexually attractive.” They look at him and want to be him. He is sexually desirable by people of the opposite gender because of his looks and status. In my opinion, that is the basis of men viewing and expressing male sexuality. You can’t even have a thin male character such as Spiderman because they still over define the muscles to the point where he’s simply “lean” buff rather than “grotesque huge” buff. To me, it’s the reason why people don’t take characters like Catwoman and turn them giant body building muscle freaks. In the new Glory series that features a very buff female character they still created her with extremely feminine traits - Long, silky hair, large breasts, an hourglass figure. Would anybody read that comic if they had basically drawn a man with tits and called it a woman? That’s why I and a lot of men I know can’t agree with that viewpoint. It also is sissy-shaming on a level by putting men in women’s clothing and laughing at them to prove a point. Men expressing female sexuality (showing off physical attractiveness) is scorned, but women expressing male sexuality is celebrated (being powerful).

There are tonnes of issues with the way people draw and write characters in comics, but to disregard the male perspective for any reason is just as bad as ignoring the female perspective - But I don’t think this is really the way to go about it nowadays. 

(also, glen keane originally drew Flynn as a powerful man with a large frame, but the movie was targeted to women who wanted to see slender, non threatening man. It’s a good example of how men view men as sexually attractive versus how women see men as sexually attractive!)

I think you’re getting into a completely different subject than what I was getting at. That image was responding to people who say “Men in comics are just as sexed up as women are because they all have awesome figures and tight clothing”, completely ignoring the cheesecake poses and bedroom eyes. I’m just saying that there’s a leap between “idealized human” and “hey come sex me now”. As Comics Alliance sort of discussed regarding Greg Land VS Jerome Opena.

No matter how subjectively “sexy” a design or costume you’re working with is, there will always be a body language divide that separates a power fantasy from a sex fantasy.

aaaaaand that pose with Commander was not at all a “reserved for women” thing, it was a pretty standard “hey check out my bod” pose. Unless showing off your body is reserved for women now.