Growing up as a child, the thought of being a superhero to some was always one of the most exciting things you could be. The idea of an eye-catching outfit, inhuman superpowers and the role of being someone for others to look up to was always an idea that sounded too good to be true. For today’s society, the young girls who want to be a superhero must face a cruel reality when they start to grow up; women can be superheroes, but they cannot be effective ones. Superman and Batman and Thor- all these men have costumes that cover them almost head to toe with effective protection. Wonder Woman or Black Widow- these women are superheroes in the media, but they fight with little to no clothes on. What good is being a hero when you can’t or won’t be able to make it to the next fight?
The objectification these characters often act, play a major role in the industry. By hypersexualizing women, it brings in profits, it gets more attention. Though, those are nice, women would like to see an accurate portrayal of women that isn’t degrading in a way that offends anyone. Let’s see a role where a woman isn’t wearing a corset or heavy makeup that draw attention to her face. The outcome of this is women’s self esteem being lowered. Often, the female character plays a damsel-in-distress who gets saved by her hero, her prince. This stereotype has slowly gone away, and women are now becoming the hero of their own stories, but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t come at a price.
In the article “The Problem with Female Superheroes” by Cindi May, it mentions how objectified and overly sexualized women are when it comes to the media. There was a study done that made participants watch scenes from movies such as Spider- Man or X-Men that questioned participants on their body esteem, self-objectification questions based around their own personal identity and the participants attitudes towards men and women’s responsibilities at home and in the workplace. When women watched the scenes from Spider-Man, they tended to agree with statements that leaned toward misogyny than other such options. This reflects how society views women and how women view society. The options on this questionnaire were “Men and women should share housework equally” or “Men are better at taking on mental challenges than women”. This is a poor representation of the media because women should see their worth and not base it off the men in media. The representation we lack and desperately need is unfathomable and yet we all know about it, we choose not to address it.
When we put women in movies and television shows, the directors and creators do not show what a “normal” woman looks like. Women do not have small waists and big hips and tight clothing all while fighting criminals. This is unrealistic and though representation is needed, it isn’t the correct way to portray feminism. Why can’t Wonder Woman have a shield? Or simply pants? This could portray that women are not worth more than a sexual vision for the audience and that’s degrading and unnatural. We can only hope that the future has better promises for women because at this point in time, it’s not equal and it’s not progress.
Multiculturalism and Media 