Monday, January 2, 2012

Superheroines

I find it interesting that the word "superhero" is in the dictionary, but "superheroine" is nowhere to be found. Even though it's not considered a word, I'm going to talk about superheroines here. I started to think about superheroines yesterday when I went to see the new Mission Impossible movie. One of the main agents is a woman, and she is just as strong as the male agents, maybe stronger. Even though she is just as tough, throughout the movie she is dressed in tight-fitting little outfits. Near the end of the movie she attends a party in a skin-tight dress with her breasts hanging out. Her mission, should she choose to accept it, was to seduce a man who had information on how to abort a nuclear launch. So the female agent had to let a nasty man grope her to complete her mission. I can't remember any movies where Tom Cruise had to seduce anyone in order to save the world.

We have come a long way since women were only cast as "damsels in distress", but it's unfortunate that leading ladies are still sexualized in the media. Even Wonder Woman wore a tight leotard. Catwoman had a body suit. I can't think of any superheroines that wear regular clothes. Why can't these female lead characters just look normal? They're saving the world from danger, and they still have to look like sex objects. Sometime during this decade, I'd like to see a superheroine wear a regular outfit while she saves the world.

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