Male superheroes are never objectified
This is partially a follow up to this post.
I have heard back from two people who have seen Man of Steel, both women. The first said that βsuperman was awesome and fitβ. The second disagreed; her review explained that βit was a bad film, he wasnβt hot enoughβ.
Iβve heard this about every film thatβs come out since my female friends hit puberty.
Yes, it must be annoying to be a woman with male friends who came out of Avengers talking about Scarlett Johanssonβs backside. You might say that this is sexist, reducing her character to an object of lustful desire. It might upset you on a personal level, making you feel that you are also worth nothing to them as a person, that they reduce you to your body alone. You might take to the internet and complain about how this is a problem for women like you.
So far, so good. However, then you say that this is exclusively a problem for women like you.
I came out of Avengers with a group of girls talking about whether Chris Hemsworthβs arms are better than Chris Evansβs, and whether their muscles made them more sexually appealing than the charming Robert Downey Jr. This was a long discussion, and these comments were mentioned whenever the film was brought up. Theyβd been being made since Iron Man came out in 2008, and will continue to be made until Marvel stop producing these films.
When I saw The Amazing Spiderman, not a single male friend commented on Emma Stoneβs appearance, only saying that she made a more charismatic and believable love interest than Kirsten Dunst had. Every single female friend walked out of that cinema talking about how sexy Andrew Garfield was, and how the costume had really shown off his ass.
When having an X-Men film marathon with friends, no men made any comments about Halle Berry, whilst all of the women purred whenever Hugh Jackman stripped.
This happens every single time. Itβs not just super-hero films: this is every film that has a moderately attractive male character. They donβt even have to be intended sexually: they will be taken as such. Often enough, though, they are. I just use super-hero examples because, whilst male objectification is thought to never happen, itβs especially thought to never happen within this genre.
Now, these comments annoy me for the same reasons as my hypothetical female blogger above. Theyβre needless objectification, shallow and degrading, especially when you know you are watching the film with several body-conscious male friends. They annoy me because they are so excessive: once every now and then would be okay, but I donβt need to know your opinion every time flesh is shown. They annoy me as a film lover, who would actually like to appreciate the characters and their portrayal past a skin-deep analysis. They annoy me as a fan of the franchises, who wants them to be appreciated as they are intended.
Mostly, though, they annoy me because I am constantly told on this website that they do not happen.
This picture is an example of a popular argument. It has 55k notes, and text posts making the same point probably have even more.
Regardless of whether this point applies to comic books, as it is intended, I deride the people who try to extrapolate it to related films. Reading my examples above, there seem to be very few cases of pure βpower fantasiesβ. What is also obvious is that, whilst the gorgeous, kissable men do get sexualised and swooned over, so do the βimpossibly muscled hulksβ.
Nothing to do with what βfemalesβ find attractive? The male artist behind this strip clearly has not watched films with many women. To a great number of βfemalesβ, muscular is sexy and lean is less so. Thatβs one of the main reasons that men are driven to suffer in the gym to get muscles in the first place. Most of them donβt actually care about how strong they are. They just live in a culture where men are expected to have six-packs and big arms to be attractive, a culture which is perpetuated by the explicit tastes of a large number of women. To deny that these women exist entirely is baffling.
Women likewise suffer to get the body our culture demands of them, which in their case is an incredibly skinny one. Now, I donβt find that especially attractive. I donβt personally care for flat stomachs or visible hip bones or thigh gaps. I could therefore claim that the presence of super-thin models in every advert isnβt objectification, because βthese thin, bony women are just a female beauty fantasy: they have jack to do with what a male such as myself finds attractiveβ. I could dismiss all female objectification simply because extremely objectified women donβt fit my personal tastes. Thatβs what this image is doing.
Having pointed out that the tastes of various women vary, apparently to the surprise of some, Iβm now going to point out that what we find attractive in women is often different to what we find attractive in men. Thatβs why I find The Hawkeye Initiative silly. As I have found out, often to my own embarrassment, there are certain βsexyβ poses and dance-moves and costumes that look great on a woman, and ridiculous on a man. Imagine a woman walking seductively, for instance. Now imagine a big, muscular man attempting the same walk. Odds are, he looks silly where she looks sexy. Next, imagine him pulling a sexy masculine pose, showing off his physique. As before, he pulls off that pose in a way that his female counterpart canβt, because it is what suits him.
Hawkeye looks silly in a female pose, just as heβd look silly in a blouse, or in make-up. That doesnβt prove any point about whether or not he is objectified in his own clothes and poses, or whether other men are. All it shows is that men are restricted from entering the female gender role. Thatβs something we already knew: and no, itβs not just misogyny.
If it turns out that the female character looks good in both the male and the female poses, thatβs only because of feminism. Feminists have liberated women to start wearing trousers, having traditionally male jobs, etcetera. There was a time when a woman in trousers looked as silly as a man in a dress. There was a time when a woman trying to be sexy in a butch, muscular, masculine way looked as ridiculous as Hawkeye trying to be sexy in a flexible, coquettish, feminine way. If only the latter is now true, thatβs just because feminists have liberated women and not men. Either way, itβs not women losing out here, and so the argument about them being the sole victims of objectification falls flat. If anything, looking acceptable in both styles is a privilege women enjoy over men.
Finally, to hammer home the point about female desire versus power fantasy, here are some front covers of romantic novels. These are written for women, by women. They are what women find attractive. According to the above image, we should see big eyes and rosy cheeks, and there should be no muscles in sight.
As you can see, the strip gets it completely wrong. If, like me, you know some actual real-life women, you probably knew that already.
Nevertheless, male superheroes are never shown in this way.
Even if they arenβt meant to be seen this way, that doesnβt change the fact that they are, and so they are still objectified.
Besides, even if it isnβt about muscles, itβs not like these actors/characters donβt also have good looks, charm, power, wealth, or whatever it is that βfemales like meβ do find attractive (according to the male writer of that strip).
Either way, objectification happens, and we really need to stop pretending that it doesnβt. If youβre a woman and you understand that men donβt notice how much they treat women as objects, and how much this can upset those around them, please donβt turn around and say βI canβt be treating men as objects or upsetting them, Iβd notice it if I did!β. Just like these men, if youβre not the target then the odds are that you wonβt notice there is an issue, at least until it is pointed out to you. This is me, pointing it out to you. Stop speaking over its existence.
