Heroes in Heels, Really?

Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Black Widow, Starfire and Rouge – these are all female superheroes I wanted to be when I was a kid. I was eight years-old the first time I saw female superheroes: Starfire and Raven from the original Cartoon network show Teen Titans. At first glance, I originally chose Starfire as my favorite because she was bubbly and had red hair, like me. However, when I would go to school and the topic of Teen Titians would come up, the other kids would make fun of Starfire and how she was ‘the stupid one’; her youthful joy was confused for ditzy ignorance. So instead I tried to claim Raven as my favorite, but my classmates would complain about how she was a loner and a freak. There was no right answer to give or way to win favor, unless I chose one of the male superheroes (who had no flaws in their eyes). So instead I told everyone that my favorite was Robin and left it at that. That was the first time that society taught me that men make better heroes than women.

When I started getting into X-Men comics and movies in the 7th grade, I told everyone that my favorite was Rouge, a young mutant girl with the ability to draw on any other mutant’s power with just a touch. As stubborn as I was at twelve years-old, I stuck with it and never wavered from my answer. However, my best friend gave in to peer pressure and, despite the fact that she loved the heroine Shadowcat, told everyone that her favorite mutant was Wolverine. She was praised as a ‘cool girl’ for choosing the strong male superhero, while I was teased for choosing the ‘weird girl’ superhero. So, when I got into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in high school, I knew the drill. Every time my friends and I would go see the latest Marvel movie and discuss our favorite Avenger, I would say "either Captain America or Black Widow". While I happen to think that both characters are awesome, Black Window did not even have her own movie (at the time) so, in the eyes of my friends and the world, she was not as cool. The film industry’s portrayal of women in superhero films often comes with a negative connotation which creates issues with gender stereotypes, body image, and over sexualizing in ways that lessen the impact of their female characters.

The majority of superhero films belittle women as nothing better than a love interest or a damsels-in-distress. They romanticize these features about them in order to reinforce the appeal of gender role stereotypes. Everyone has seen the secondary character that is the Superhero’s love interest: Mary Jane, Lois Lane, Gwen Stacey and Pepper Potts are just a few. These women, while intelligent in their own right, become over-emotional, sobbing messes in the face of danger and are included in the plot for nothing more than to be saved, or die, in order to affect the male lead. A comparison can be made of Ophelia from Hamlet to the female love interests of Superhero movies, “when she falls in love… she has no inner direction… her value is determined utterly by their approval… [she] is torn apart by her efforts to please” (Pipher 281). Females in superhero stories have long symbolized the damsel-in-distress victim, who is often torn apart to create an 'All is Lost' moment for her male hero. In The Amazing Spider-man 2 Gwen Stacey is mainly used as a distraction for Peter Parker throughout the story. Their relationship often interferes with his Spider-man alter ego, thus creating a choice between saving the day and saving the woman he loves. So, naturally, at the end of the story she is killed off as a way to break him down and add depth to his character by giving him more of a tragic back-story to fuel his need to save the world.

The romanticized victim storyline is used for many women in superhero films to only further project an image of weakness and over sexualization to their audiences. This exemplifies the ideals of past gender roles that women are lesser than men and a distraction. In a study conducted at University of Missouri, “results show that exposure to the sexualized-victim images of women in superhero films decreased egalitarian gender role beliefs” (Pennell). Meaning that this form of representation of women actually decreases viewer’s belief that men and women can be equal.

Love interests of male superheroes are never given any further depth beyond their role of the victim and maybe a few good one liners; representing the typical film stereotype that women are not of great importance to the storyline unless it affects a male character. “What she lacks in strength and cunning she makes up for in kindness and curves” (May). What May means by this is that many of these female characters do not have the strength or cunning to save themselves as their Heroes do, yet it is made to seem plausible because they are nice and sexy. This is because of the stigma that a woman who is kind and attractive is too nice and too pretty to be smart or strong enough to take care of herself. Yet this stigma is not only applied to the damsels-in-distress, but the female superheroes as well.

Superhero films containing heroines often over sexualize them as a way to demean their power and re-enforce body image issues because of their obsession with the male gaze. When looking at a 2008 issue of the comic, Captain Marvel, Sage Gentry makes an excellent point about how in Captain Marvel’s cover photo “She is presented to be an over sexualized shell of herself” (Gentry). Carol Danvers (aka. Captain Marvel) is a strong, feminist, respected air force pilot; yet, when she is over sexualized much of her strength and respect is lost. However, when the MCU strived to not over sexualize the character during Captain Marvel's 2018 adaption, many complained that she was 'too butch', 'too boring' and 'too preachy'. This was Marvel’s first female-led superhero film and instead of focusing on the positive impact it had on young girls, many critics chose to write about how feminism was now 'ruining superhero movies'.

Male writers will often force female characters into different stereotypes due to a lack of understanding. They don't do this maliciously, but rather because they have never been taught to look at women any other way. The stereotypes for women in film are well known by now: the ‘John Watson’ who is only there to ask why or how; the ‘sexy dream-girl’, who always looks attractive even after an explosion; the 'girl-next-door' who is every boys fantasy; the 'final girl' who is a bitter shrew, and many other roles. “She is featureless beyond a few snappy catchphrases and factory standard martial arts proficiency. She isn’t flawed, funny or notable…” (Kahn). A heroine always has to be the perfect princess, never too strong or too weak, never too smart or too dumb, but a nice “featureless” middle ground that is never as developed in character as the male hero. An example of this is Diana Prince in the 2017 adaption of Wonder Woman. While she is the star of the movie, and very strong and powerful in her own right, she is portrayed as ditsy and confused throughout the whole movie. This is because nobody around her believes her when she tells them that the god Aries is the cause of World War I and her male counterparts continually discuss how this is a crazy idea of hers behind her back. While she is inevitably proven to be right in the end, it is a good showcase of how female heroes are always doubted.

Sexualizing these superheroines not only demeans their strength and power, but also re-enforces body issue ideals in female viewers. Studies have shown that because “sexualized superheroines have unattainable body dimensions and engage in unrealistic physical feats… female viewers are left feeling dissatisfied with their own physical appearance and prowess” (May). A good example are the women of the X-Men films. Storm, Psylocke, and Mystique all have amazing powers, strength and confidence, but they are stuck in skin tight body suits or even completely naked – which is not realistic for fighting in without having a wardrobe malfunction. While these films take an improved direction of showing females in a stronger light, they often confuse over sexualizing with empowering. Skin tight body suits or full-on nudity while fighting could be empowering for some women, but is it really “undermining rather than improving women’s perceptions of their own bodies” when girls exit theaters saying ‘I wish I looked like her’ (Kahn)? It is hard for girls today to truly relate to these heroines because many of them are almost flawless. “What girls need… is ugliness… ‘ugliness’ is bodies beyond Barbie… a heart full of envy, hope, cruelty, anger, and fatigue” (Kahn). The “ugly” side of these superheroines must be seen. In order for girls to understand that it is ok to not be perfect, their role models have to be allowed to be flawed just like the girls they represent.

The rise of superheroine movies gives girls in the stages of adolescence to adulthood the opportunity to see a better media view of women in powerful hero roles. “It is quite common for Superheroes to be presented with the option of whether to fight or not to fight… these moral dilemmas… give children the opportunity to observe how their favorite role model problem solves” (Kraska). Young girls and women seeing heroines solve problems in strong, confident and smart ways is a crucial step towards improving girl’s self-image from a young age. “Research indicates that adolescence is the stage in which social comparisons are most common”, so, if girls are given powerful and relatable heroines to look up to, they will have a stronger belief while growing up that women are equal to men (Kraska).

If this trend of capable and confident superheroine movies continues and improves, it will hopefully give young girls more confidence in their transference from adolescence to adulthood. Results show that “exposure to this new generation of female heroines will result in more egalitarian gender beliefs, higher body esteem, and greater prioritization of physical competence over appearance” (May). This means that young girls would not only grow up understanding that women are equal to men, but they will also be more confident in their bodies and value their physical strength and body health. This could lead to a decrease in eating disorders and body dysmorphic ideals among young women which is so prevalent today. Young women are too often “confident in the morning and overwhelmed with anxiety by nightfall” but having a strong empowering female to look up to could help decrease their insecurities (Pipher 281).

The film industry is starting to turn around the negative connotation of gender stereotypes, body image issues and over sexualizing by their move to stop victimizing and belittling female characters and superheroines. However, they still have a long way to go before women in this genre of film are on an equal level of character to male heroes. The romanticized damsel-in-distress stereotype needs to be replaced with an accurate representation of a female love interest. Intelligent women cannot suddenly be turned into sobbing messes in the face of danger and should instead be making an effort to escape villains as their hero comes to save them. No longer can heroines be demeaned by over simplifying and over sexualizing their characters. Instead, female heroes should be given more depth beyond beauty and power and room to make mistakes. This will make all women in superhero films more relatable, empowering, and interesting to viewers. That way when little girls go to school and talk about their favorite heroes, they won’t have to lie and name a hero over a heroine in order to fit in.

Works Cited

Gentry, Sage. “The Women of Marvel and Geek Subculture.” Sequart Organization, 2 July 2015, www.sequart.org/magazine/58745/the-women-of-marvel-and-geek-subculture/.

Jenkins, Patty, director. Wonder Woman. Warner Brothers, 2017.

Kahn, Juliet. “Smart, Nice and Sassy: 'Good Girl' Role Models Make Boring Heros.” Comics Alliance , 7 May 2015, www.comicsalliance.com/female-heroes-good-girl-role-models/.

Kraska, Jake. “The Psychology of Comic Books: Why We Worship Superheroes.” Lateral , 3 Aug. 2015, www.lateralmag.com/articles/issue-1/i-need-a-hero-why-were-wired-to-worship-superheroes.

May, Cindi. “The Problem with Female Superheroes.” Scientific American, 23 June 2015, www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-problem-with-female-superheroes/.

Pennell, Hillary, and Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz. "The Empowering (Super) Heroine? The Effects of Sexualized Female Characters in Superhero Films on Women." Sex Roles, vol. 72, no. 5-6, Mar. 2015, pp. 211-220. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11199-015-0455-3.

Pipher, Mary. Saplings in the Storm. Dreams and Inward Journeys, edited by Marjorie and Jon Ford, Pearson Education, 2012, pp. 278-287.

Singer, Bryan, director. X-Men: Apocalypse. 20th Century Fox, 2016.

Singer, Bryan, director. X-Men. 20th Century Fox, 2000.

Teen Titans. Created by Glen Murakami, season 1-5, Cartoon Network, 19 July 2003.

Webb, Marc, director. The Amazing Spiderman 2. Sony Pictures, 2014.