(no subject)

[dreamer_easy]

irritant01 just asked me how many feminist superheroes there were, and I realised I haven't the foggiest. Can anybody name some genuine, self-identified feminist superheroes?

Comments

[katiger.livejournal.com]

Does Buffy count?

[pedanther]

There's got to be at least one incarnation of Wonder Woman who explicitly self-identified as a feminist.

[alryssa.livejournal.com]

My instant reaction is to say, "define feminist superhero." Because I have a feeling what I might consider a feminist superhero may not necessarily be someone else's consideration of feminist superhero.

I think of Oracle as a feminist superhero, for one.

[pjack.livejournal.com]

Buffy counts as a superhero, yes. But I'm not sure she counts as a "self-identified" feminist. Joss certainly counts as one, but he's not exactly a superhero. :)

[pjack.livejournal.com]

Oh! Winged Victory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winged_Victory_%28comics%29) (from Kurt Busiek's Astro City)certainly fits that definition.

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

I second that.



(Which is a nice way of saying "how dare you say what I was going to say ten minutes before I said it?"...)

[frock.livejournal.com]

I've never read it, but Tamora Pierce's Angela Del Toro/White Tiger springs to mind.

[bluetyson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Birds of Prey in general.


Or, would you tell Big Barda she wasn't? :)

[jblum.livejournal.com]

Does Hothead Paisan count?

[michaellee.livejournal.com]

Ms. Marvel -- very much part of the original character design

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

It all depends on what you mean by feminist. Winged Victory is one of the very few examples of clearly identified radical feminist. But what about, for example, female supremacists? Ardent goddess worshippers, whose goddess appears to be female empowering?

And there there is the issue of consistency. What about She-hulk, who isn't explicitly identified as a feminist, but is very independent minded, and is a notable lawyer who has defended domestic abuse cases pro bono, and taken civil rights cases? But often played for cheesecake and cheap laughs when written badly?

Is Batgirl a feminist character, considering there was once a Batgirl advertisment advocating equal pay for women in the 60s? Or not because of all the cheesecake stuff since?

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[tysolna]

It's got to be Wonder Woman. In any incarnation, really, but mostly in the second-to-last one. Case in point:

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

Power Girl is a self-identified feminist. I don't really know enough to judge if she *is* a feminist superhero, or a male seventies writer's idea of a feminist superhero, though.

[gdwessel.livejournal.com]

I would definitely say the Ultimate version of Invisible Woman counts.

Oh! And Kay Challis (Crazy Jane) from Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol...well, depending on which personality is in control at the time anyway.

[lonely-otter.livejournal.com]

The Valkyrie, from the 1970s Hulk story "They Shoot Hulks, Don't They?", with a special guest appearance by Tom Wolfe.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure she's "A self-identified femineist", But Jenny Sparks from The Authority is one tough, strongminded, bisexual character.

[purplepooka.livejournal.com]

I think "self-identifying" is the hard part. A mainstream female superhero can behave like a feminist quite easily, but if she were to actually say that was what she was doing, there'd have to be a storyline about her Taking It Too Far and needing to be Rescued By Teh Menz.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

It's funny because it's true.

[hnpcc]

Martha Washington? I've only read "Martha Washington Saves the World" but I'm reasonably sure she identified as feminist. If she didn't she certainly acted like it (from memory, it was a long time ago, but I certainly remember her as being completely kick-arse.)

I'm not entirely sure she qualifies as a superhero though. Hm.

(Typical, I spend most of the day trying to remember her name and now I can't remember if she actually had superpowers. Figures.)

[unicorncandy.livejournal.com]

Hi, Kate - found you a while back through the Tardis macro community and have been lurking a bit. Comics and feminism are subjects close to my heart, so I thought I might finally post.

Have you heard of Action Girl (http://www.houseoffun.com/action/)? It came out of the indie/grrl scene of the 90s, and the artist's philosophy is adamantly feminist.

For fun, I like JetCat. (http://jaystephens.com/oddville/) She was an elementary school child, for crying out loud!

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

*catchin' up on emails*

I hadn't heard of either of these - thanks for the links! I really like "Action Girl's Guide to Living". It's full of teh sensible.