The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Though feminists made highly visible gains early in the 60s and 70s, the movement foundered somewhere in the 80s and 90s, leading to a “Backlash” culture described in detail by Susan Faludi. Feminism has a fraught relationship with media representations of women, especially comic book heroines, who can represent the best and worst of a given society’s ideas about women. But fixing or changing media representations isn’t always a panacea to sexism, and social gains don’t always change media representations – in a big way, art and society are nearly as sexist as they were in the ’50s.
I began with an image of Marilyn Monroe because she unites ideas about American history, pop culture, and the archetypal woman in the 50s. She also makes a great starting point for feminism of the last 50 years, since she embodies the tension between using one’s glamour for personal advancement and becoming a slave to beauty. From her, I move to a similar starter image in comic book history; Wonder Woman, despite her cosmic power, found a way to get trapped by a man and lost her power; meanwhile, another woman steals him as Wonder Woman strikes a pinup pose. This image obviously implies that Wonder Woman needs to keep a better handle on romance, maybe with less world-saving, but it’s also an image out of time; it’s more likely to infuriate or amuse my audience than convey its original message, which helps evoke the tone of feminist consciousness and frustration with sexism that will serve my point later.
My second image is of a group of women at a feminist rally in the 60s – there are many women, most smiling, holding up banners, providing a point of identification for those familiar with feminist history and a sense of togetherness and solidarity. The comic book cover, featuring a Wonder Woman for a new generation, builds on this sense, but the ridiculous grooviness and now-laughable optimism of the art contributes to a sense of silliness that I hope will translate into futility down the line.
My next pair of images is the famous photograph of the “freedom trash can,” also known as the origin of the bra-burning myth of the second wave. No women actually burned bras; they simply threw them, along with girdles, pantyhose, and makeup, into a trashcan outside the 1968 Miss America pageant. But my audience probably doesn’t know that, so this image will evoke the beginnings of feminist craziness endemic to the late second wave. The comic book cover I paired it with represents the media’s almost immediate return to sexism after their short-lived dalliance with feminism; unlike the previous “new Wonder Woman,” this Wonder Woman is back in the sexualized bondage for which she was so famous in the 50s, being stalked by “The Beauty Hater.” As feminism began its anti-beauty crusade, they lost favor with the media, who preferred glitzier, more marketable damsels in distress to feminist heroes who didn’t convince many boys to buy comics. This pairing of images stimulates dissatisfaction with both 70s feminism and the 70s media industry – one is too idealistic, one frankly exploitative, and the movement isn’t quite getting anywhere anymore.
My next image is of Madonna, the poster girl of the 1980s, ripping lacy lingerie out of her low-slung skirt and mugging at the camera in a tight crop-top that reads “healthy.” This symbolic paradox was as specific to the 80s as bra-burning was to the late 60s and 70s; in the “post-feminist” 80s, embracing one’s sexuality was supposed to be a feminist thing to do. Unfortunately, many women, Madonna not least among them, occasionally crossed the line from healthy self-expression into pandering to the male gaze; it was easy to “accept” your body when this body was the trim, blonde media ideal. This photograph is anything but “healthy,” like the next shot, a play on the iconic Breakfast Club poster. Unlike The Breakfast Club, the Teen Titans had only one female member, and having her take Claire’s supine position instead of Allison’s equal footing with Brian implies that she’s there to be eye candy. The men are hunched or turned slightly away from the camera, but Wonder Woman’s body is on full display for the viewer, implying that that’s all she’s there to do. While this image would pass unnoticed as pastiche if it stood alone, its placement in my presentation creates a sense of feminist degradation – whatever we were doing in the 70s, we’re not doing it any more, and that’s not necessarily progress.
My final pair of images are larger and set next to each other rather than in a round; the Time cover, which shows a historical feminist progression similar to mine, ends with Ally McBeal and the question “is feminism dead?” My next image, one of Power Girl instead of Wonder Woman, is supposed to imply the answer “yes.” Though Power Girl shouts “it’s Ok! POWER GIRL is here!” her breasts are the visual center of the cover, as they often are. Power Girl is like all the worst parts of Wonder Woman shoved into a modern blonde package – even within the world of comic book heroines, PG’s breasts are huge and obscenely foregrounded, and the dippy look on her face doesn’t do much to reassure me that she’s bringing something else to the table. Her name, Power Girl, is supposed to evoke empowerment, but this image only makes me depressed and darkly amused because I realize that comic books haven’t come far at all – they’ve hardly moved. We exchanged one pinup for another, and nothing really changed. I chose to use Power Girl instead of a modern Wonder Woman cover to suggest the generational transition that took place in feminism, from the second to the third waves, which was supposed to accomplish so much. As many third wave feminists are realizing, that generational shift has mostly depoliticized the movement, in large part because of our obsession with the media.
My title is split into two clauses, the first appearing before the images and the second appearing after them. By doing this, I hope to underline that even though surface shifts are gestured at, very little about women’s treatment in the media has truly changed. I want to inspire my audience to have less faith in the media’s ability to change hearts and minds. To most of my audience, this depressing sense of unchangeability and lack of progress should serve to make them less focused on correcting the real world by correcting the media – Power Girl clearly isn’t a real improvement on Wonder Woman. Positive media representations of women won’t stop sexism on their own. Only actual women, like those in the photographs from the 60s and 70s, can do that.
photo credits
1950s Wonder Woman panel http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/shapeimage_4.jpg
Freedom trashcan, http://mediamythalert.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/those-bra-burning-times-and-just-when-were-they
the New Wonder Woman cover, http://www.comicnoize.com/2010/06/30/those-who-forget-the-past/
Virginia Slims ad, https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiRBG02yIPKIAN9OU83GP92_9y2-E4w52ltEzTEnE0dhZaXT0iKPzhDW0NuSVUXTVC4ginyfWTV2uV6ga_GEq4yyuvXiIXNZ6_oEI4r19h2cSoPBdN-YzEe3zzPbOiuj9RwWMKbn3aogvr/s400/Virginia+Slims+Wonder+Woman.jpg
1970s Wonder Woman cover, http://hoodedutilitarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/191.gif
Madonna, "Healthy," http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20090144,00.html
1980s Wonder Woman cover, http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=34&Itemid=51&limitstart=32
Time Is Feminism Dead cover, http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HOQez15_Jepf6Bq7EdoDZw
Power Girl cover, http://adamhughes.deviantart.com/art/Power-Girl-Cover-112944382
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