|
|
Post by Deleted on May 31, 2014 16:00:58 GMT -5
So here's a corollary question: Even if you yourself were unprejudiced about reading books with girl protagonists, did you know of peers who were so prejudiced? And a corollary corollary question: How did the idea get started that "men read only for power fantasies?" I haven't ever had a friend that read comics. Except a few kids in school I knew, but I didn't hang out with them outside of school, and our in class comic discussions didn't get very far. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 31, 2014 16:03:32 GMT -5
Is a "girl book" described as a book with a female lead? What about Vampirella? Female lead, but her tits and ass covers are honed towards male buyers. That goes for many other bad girl types, especially from the 90s. Dawn comes to mind too...and these days, any of those Grimm Fairy tale books.... That's a valid point. Since I was originally talking about my own early experiences, I was thinking only of the "girl books" aimed at girl readers, whether they were WONDER WOMAN or NANCY DREW. I didn't see a lot of books like VAMPIRELLA early on, and I didn't follow that particular title in The Day. At the same time, there's long been the assumption that even some female-centric features that weren't as overtly sexy as VAMPI were primarily purchased by horny male buyers. Gerald Jones asserted that the 1940s WONDER WOMAN had more male than female readers, basing his verdict on his (or someone's) study of the ads featured in the WW books. He assumed that the main reason males would've read WONDER WOMAN would be the same one for which they would read VAMPIRELLA later. And the agreed opinion of the "jungle-girl" features was that males bought most of those, too. However, I will note that a few recent studies have claimed that there were a lot more female comics-readers in the Golden Age than has been supposed. If this was true, what impact would that have on the above characterization? A lot of those female readers probably did read super hero comics, but I doubt they ever came close to matching the male readership, even in titles like Wonder Woman. There was a bit of variety back then, wasn't there? Cartoon comics, humor comics, so on. Male or female, when the character is mostly fighting crime I think it's going to skew toward a male audience. An action movie with a female lead is still an action movie. And sure, there's female action movie fans, but I think it obviously skews toward men. |
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on May 31, 2014 17:59:53 GMT -5
Here's some secondhand data on girls reading comics.
My mother was born in 1941 and she had three sisters, all born between 1939 and 1946. (No boys in the family.) When I started reading comics, my mom would talk about reading comics in the 1040s and early 1950s and sometimes my sisters would talk about it as well.
My mom loved Blackhawk, Superman, Wonder Woman, and I remember they all talked about how awful the horror and crime comics were. (My mom described one story that years later I came across in EC's SuspenseStories.) But they all read them, and they made fun of the youngest sister because she was forbidden to read them because of the nightmares but she read them anyway.
My mom's oldest sister liked Pogo and she had the MAD paperbacks that reprinted the best material from the oldest MAD comic books.
From what I remember, all the kids in the neighborhood (this was in New Castle, Indiana, which I've heard is the town where Raintree County takes place) would just trade the comic books, with all the kids - boys and girls - reading just about all the comics.
I remember they mentioned Archie, but I don't remember that any of my aunts ever talked about love/romance comics. That doesn't mean they didn't read them, it could just mean they didn't like them as much.
My mom loved Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, and she got in trouble for climbing trees and telephone poles and pretending to be a jungle girl. But she doesn't remember Sheena from the comics. She was emulating Irish McCalla from the Sheena TV show.
|
|
ironchimp
Full Member
Simian Overlord
Posts: 456 
|
Post by ironchimp on May 31, 2014 18:53:49 GMT -5
As a kid i never read female characters outside of sue storm and then it was by accident rather than design. boys read comics with men as star, women read comics with women as star. However as an adult i'll basically only read a superhero comic with a female star. Seeing men grappling in a lycro jumpsuit isnt really my thing. If it's a slice of life comic i prefer a woman (or an anthropomorphic something or other) to a man too.
|
|
ironchimp
Full Member
Simian Overlord
Posts: 456
|
Post by ironchimp on May 31, 2014 18:54:04 GMT -5
such an important post i felt the need to make it twice
|
|
|
|
Post by comicscube on Jul 8, 2014 3:20:18 GMT -5
I don't really have problems reading "girl books," but I certainly know people who do -- these tend to be people who grew up in male-oriented places (like all-boys schools and such), where they would be relentlessly teased if they were caught reading or watching. Keep in mind, I'm friends with a lot of these people, as single-gender schools are the norm here (I count myself as fortunate not to have gone to one).
Lately I've realized I read a lot of female protagonists. Buffy may be my favorite non-comedic show of all time. Wonder Woman is definitely in my favorite heroes list. I couldn't wait for Black Canary/Zatanna: Bloodspell. I got Ivy off a sale because the idea of a coming-of-age story for a girl intrigued me (I realize that sounds sexist. Sorry.). But I also realized I don't really read/watch to "relate" to characters. I more treat them like they were friends, see if characters would be fun to hang out with, and as a general rule, I don't really want people to be like me. That'd be boring. And girls are fun. Girls are interesting. I love hanging out with them and talking to them, and I only realized recently, I love reading about them.
|
|
|
|
Post by travishedgecoke on Jul 8, 2014 21:08:27 GMT -5
I unabashedly read a lot of woman and/or girl-marketed comics. I love Patsy Walker whenever it wasn't trying to be a serious soap book, Night Nurse was great, A, A' and Fake, Banana Fish, StephBats, Betty & Veronica are all great comics. I like the Supergirl movie better than almost any other DC-based movie (to be fair, I like Casper and Wendy better than a lot of DC-based movies)
Whether that has anything to do with my love of superhero romance novels like Marjorie Liu or Julie Kenner write, I'm undecided.
|
|
