In the Hawkeye Initiative, a group of fans are working to break the sexist comic book stereotypes of hypersexualized females by putting male characters in the same poses. Photo by Courtesy Hawkeye Initiative
It's no secret that women in superhero comics are distinctly stylized—I imagine to help hone in on their target demographic of young, straight males. But have you ever taken a good look at them? With their broken backs, distorted bodies and impractically sexy clothes, they cross the line from stylization to distracting. Though by no means a new phenomenon, the disparity between comic-book males and females has started to garner a lot of attention from bloggers.
Escher Girls, for one, illustrates how women are distorted beyond reality. Repair Her Armor redesigns skimpy armor to something more suitable for protection. Personally, I love these attempts at empowerment, but some argue feminists are being too critical of the artists and that these comic-book women are strong female characters in their own right. One fed-up Tumblr user, gingerhaze, posted "How to fix every Strong Female Character pose in superhero comics: Replace the character with Hawkeye doing the same thing." And Tumblr answered her call.
Soon, someone posted a redraw of a Hawkeye and Black Widow cover with their poses swapped. Now Hawkeye was the one falling upside, back arched and legs spread. The movement grew, and fans dubbed it The Hawkeye Initiative. The website is now filled with redraws featuring Hawkeye and his bow and arrows in the same "sensual" poses women are typically drawn in. The movement has even expanded to include most of the male Avengers, though Hawkeye remains the star. Iron Man and Thor strip down, the Cap' has had his spine lengthened and several organs removed, and Hulk shows off his derriere—all while Black Widow gets a well-deserved break from all the impossible back arching.
Putting a male in the same poses (and sometimes the same outfit) highlights the absurdity that we are practically conditioned to accept. As soon as you see Clint in the traditional boobs-and-butt pose, you wonder why someone would stand like that. Same goes for the elongated legs and the shriveled waists we're likely to ignore on Wonder Woman or Black Widow. Swapping the gendered poses is a fun and funny way to point out the flaws and the tropes in comic women and call attention to their unnecessary sexiness.
That's not to say that there's anything wrong with having sexy characters. Part of the joy of comics is that they are the height of fantasy—men flying through the sky or turning into big, green rage monsters. Everyone is sexier and stronger than in real life. They stand, pose, move and fight in a more exciting manner than reality can offer. They can and should be more dynamic.
But why are the women still hyper-sexualized during a fight, but the men get this time to be taken seriously? There's no reason for arched backs and jutted hips when you're punching the bad guys. Natasha will be just as sexy (if not sexier) braced for a blow as she would be with her chest leading by a foot.
Even more, this apparent baseline of sex appeal ruins the effect when you have a character that really and truly is supposed to be sexy, such as Tarot or Emma Frost. She has to be so far over the top that not even the most casual observer would buy it, or she doesn't stand out as truly a bombshell. Ultimately, all the women become one-dimensional and blur together because their sex appeal becomes their dominant features.
If you're designing a character or wonder how empowering a female is in your comics, run her through the Hawkeye test and see if you'd still take her seriously.
Support our reporting -- Follow the MFP.
