Appalling Official Comic Book Art Statue

[qos]

Via ravenlaughing

Because a woman's place is doing the laundry in pearls, barefoot, with her thong showing and her butt up and out like a mandril in heat.

See also Devil Doll's post on the subject: http://devildoll.livejournal.com/750924.html


Not only is the statue itself ludicrous and offensive, but the moderator of the board where it was announced has been deleting the comments of anyone who criticises it.

Comments

[blessed-harlot.livejournal.com]

*sigh* In disgust, I just showed this to a 18-year old female friend. She didn't see what the big deal was. I'm feeling nauseous now.

[spring-heel-jim.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but how surprised are we really ? comic books have always been the preserve of geeks and nerds who don't actually have a girlfriend but who fantasise about them instead.

The girls in comic books are always either the stay at home supportive girlfriend type, or the vixen superhero-ess in the tight lycra outfit...

[caersidi.livejournal.com]

I'm really not surprised about them making a collectable that is so sexist - I do feel though that they should not have deleted negative comments about it.

[qos.livejournal.com]

For me, it's the combined impact of several elements, especially the washing the costume in that bent-over pose. I'm not up on current Spiderman lore in the comic book, but my understanding is that MJ is a successful professional woman, not a Daisy Mae clone.

I don't mind sexy statues, but the impact of this one is so degrading that it really angers me. And the suppression of criticism on the forum also makes me angry. If they're going to put out merchandise like this, the least they could do is be ready to defend it, not pretend that everyone thinks its wonderful.

When I have more time, I'm going to post a couple of additional images from my own library: my own sexy, scantily-dressed pirate woman statue, and a bent over image that I find attractive, and then deconstruct my own preferences a bit. Why do two of these images feel okay to me while this one offends me?

[rachel-y.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...It gets an "eh" reaction from me--I can see why some find it offensive, but it doesn't engender a strong reaction personally. What this really made me think is "Geez, these pop-art statuettes are expensive. Why not spend $7 on a magazine or $30 on a web site subscription...you'd get a lot more porn for a lot less money."

[amqu.livejournal.com]

I'm with rachel_y. I'm getting no emotional response either way from this. I'll be very interested to read your expanded thoughts about it.

[pityshesawhore.livejournal.com]

God, that's awful. I know that the women in superhero strips are either doted girlfriends or world-saving vixens, but that just takes it too far.

I think I might make a post about this...

xxx

[qos.livejournal.com]

I'd enjoy reading such a post!

Upset, but not surprised

[ayelillee.livejournal.com]

Hello, you don't know me. I came across your blog surfing a friend's blog, and I couldn't resist going to see what all the hub-bub was about. I can totally understand women being offended,but at the same time I am not surprised at the figure. This type of image is everywhere. Not just the image of women having a "place", but the whole sexy body image as well. I'm not sure if seeing Mary Jane washing spiderman's suit bothers me as much as her being portrayed with that figure. Well, not to go on and on, but it doesn't surprise me at all. Another image to upset the older generations by hinting women have a "place" and at the same time able to destroy the self esteem of young women because they are unable to obtain the so-called perfect figure. There is just so many directions this topic could go....where to start it and where to end it is the bigger question for me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Re: Upset, but not surprised

[qos.livejournal.com]

Thanks for dropping by!

I still need to write the follow-up post that I promised, but I haven't yet had the space to work everything out in my own mind.