Hey, have you ever seen this?

[Orrex]

I haven't read many comics since my early teens, but even way back then I was aware of a certain aggressiveness in the way the superpowered female characters were thrown around in the four-color world.

I first encountered this site a few years ago, but I revisit it from time to time to see if such-and-such character is on the list. I don't think that it's been updated in quite a long while, but the point is served.

Anyway, check out http://www.unheardtaunts.com/wir/index.html">Women in Refrigerators.


Pretty sad.

[Cerridwen]

1. I noticed depictions of red heads in movies, when I was a "kid"

I'm not much of a comic book reader nor was I then. The "old" westerns my mom used to watch and a few of the "classics" frequently showed the red-headed women as whores, home-wreckers (the other woman) or as ice-queen brainiacs. There didn't seem to be a lot of options or any dimension to their characters. Even growing up I realized there weren't a lot of red-heads so it was puzzling the disproportionate number of red-heads portrayed. Of course, Lucy came along and I got to see red-heads as goof-balls out to manipulate their spouses for fun and profit. It was sooooo much better. *snort* Got me to thinking about a lot of what's shown of women in the movies, and by extension, in the media at large.

Back to your topic, one of the authors I read, points to a pattern in the representation of women in books and movies based on the current "conventional wisdom" of women's role within the society in question. It's quite an eye-opener. I'm not sure of the answer to the chicken and the egg question, but media and art seem to influence perception which in turn influences media and art. Women in comics is, I guess, yet another indicator.

It is sad. It also appears to be historically consistent.