The 5 Most Insulting Defenses of Nerd Racism

yousaveyourselforremainunsaved:

girljanitor:

tomithejellyfish:

thesargebag:

Warning, do not read around anything both extremely valuable and breakable.

I write articles about racisms for Cracked sometimes! This is one of those times!

omfg this is literal gold

“And then what? Up will be down, dogs will marry cats, the Hot Pockets will microwave us!”

LOL

Good lord, do not read the comments.

I really like this, but the text in some of the images is really hard to read. Am I just getting old?

Source: thesargebag

ikenbot: chauvinistsushi: thumbcramps: hi guys! this is a comic i made for a final in my comics in literature class. we had to do a research paper on a topic we’d discussed in class and then accompany it with a comic with a relevant subject. my paper was about hyper-sexualization of women in comic books, but i decided to broaden it out here as well as personalize it and make myself the subject and discuss something i’ve been subjected to in the convention circuit and on the internet as well as thousands of other women, as well as give a cue to thought about how the comic book industry as well as the video game industry and even just media in general (all of which are male dominated) push such ridiculous pressures onto girls and women. also, it feels kind of silly to have to add this since i hope it’s obvious, but i am very aware that there are men that don’t subscribe to this attitude, and am incredibly grateful that these issues are brought to light to people other than the ones that are subjected to it.  anyway haha i have literally been staring at this for 9 hours i don’t even know which direction is up anymore. thanks for reading!!!
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ikenbot: chauvinistsushi: thumbcramps: hi guys! this is a comic i made for a final in my comics in literature class. we had to do a research paper on a topic we’d discussed in class and then accompany it with a comic with a relevant subject. my paper was about hyper-sexualization of women in comic books, but i decided to broaden it out here as well as personalize it and make myself the subject and discuss something i’ve been subjected to in the convention circuit and on the internet as well as thousands of other women, as well as give a cue to thought about how the comic book industry as well as the video game industry and even just media in general (all of which are male dominated) push such ridiculous pressures onto girls and women. also, it feels kind of silly to have to add this since i hope it’s obvious, but i am very aware that there are men that don’t subscribe to this attitude, and am incredibly grateful that these issues are brought to light to people other than the ones that are subjected to it.  anyway haha i have literally been staring at this for 9 hours i don’t even know which direction is up anymore. thanks for reading!!!
Zoom Info
ikenbot: chauvinistsushi: thumbcramps: hi guys! this is a comic i made for a final in my comics in literature class. we had to do a research paper on a topic we’d discussed in class and then accompany it with a comic with a relevant subject. my paper was about hyper-sexualization of women in comic books, but i decided to broaden it out here as well as personalize it and make myself the subject and discuss something i’ve been subjected to in the convention circuit and on the internet as well as thousands of other women, as well as give a cue to thought about how the comic book industry as well as the video game industry and even just media in general (all of which are male dominated) push such ridiculous pressures onto girls and women. also, it feels kind of silly to have to add this since i hope it’s obvious, but i am very aware that there are men that don’t subscribe to this attitude, and am incredibly grateful that these issues are brought to light to people other than the ones that are subjected to it.  anyway haha i have literally been staring at this for 9 hours i don’t even know which direction is up anymore. thanks for reading!!!
Zoom Info

ikenbot:

chauvinistsushi:

thumbcramps:

hi guys! this is a comic i made for a final in my comics in literature class. we had to do a research paper on a topic we’d discussed in class and then accompany it with a comic with a relevant subject. my paper was about hyper-sexualization of women in comic books, but i decided to broaden it out here as well as personalize it and make myself the subject and discuss something i’ve been subjected to in the convention circuit and on the internet as well as thousands of other women, as well as give a cue to thought about how the comic book industry as well as the video game industry and even just media in general (all of which are male dominated) push such ridiculous pressures onto girls and women.

also, it feels kind of silly to have to add this since i hope it’s obvious, but i am very aware that there are men that don’t subscribe to this attitude, and am incredibly grateful that these issues are brought to light to people other than the ones that are subjected to it. 

anyway haha i have literally been staring at this for 9 hours i don’t even know which direction is up anymore. thanks for reading!!!

(via think4yourself)

Source: thumbcramps

Putting the Caped Crusader on the Couch - NYTimes.com

RESPONDING to years of declining readership, DC Comics — the publisher behind Superman, Batman and other superheroes — recently reintroduced itself with 52 new titles, featuring characters and story lines that better reflect today’s diverse sensibilities. But it remains to be seen whether that diversity will include more accurate portrayals of mental illnesses. Although the reintroduction is in full swing, it’s not too late for DC to use its unique and influential position in American pop culture to combat harmful stereotypes.

consider the promotional material for a recent Batman comic featuring “Le Jardin Noir,” France’s own Arkham, which reads, “Someone has freed the lunatics, and unless they can be stopped, they’ll turn Paris into a surreal Hell on Earth!” If “lunatics” were replaced with an epithet for another minority group, would we consider it acceptable?

What’s more, when contemporary psychiatric terms or disorders have been used in stories, they have been misapplied to explain villainy. As Grant Morrison, a well-known comic author, wrote recently, “The rest of Batman’s rogues’ gallery personified various psychiatric disorders to great effect: Two-Face was schizophrenia.” But Two-Face’s central quality, a split personality, isn’t characteristic of schizophrenia. Similarly, the Joker is often called “psychotic,” despite a lack of hallucinations or other symptoms of a psychotic disorder.

True, some say, “these are just comic books.” But such inaccuracies perpetuate harmful stereotypes. The 2006 National Stigma Study-Replication found that 60 percent of people believed a person with schizophrenia, as described in a vignette, would be likely to be violent toward others — despite the fact that, according to the Surgeon General’s office, “There is very little risk of violence or harm to a stranger from casual contact with an individual who has a mental disorder.” Such stereotypes can in turn lead to discrimination and cause those with mental disorders to avoid treatment for fear of being labeled “lunatics.”

Of course, DC Comics, and comic books in general, are hardly the only source of these stereotypes or the only contributors to discrimination. At the same time, they are widely consumed, whether in the original form or as story lines for movies, TV shows and video games. Modernized mental health depictions in the Batman titles alone would reach millions of people worldwide through its billion-dollar-grossing films and blockbuster video games.

Excuse me, DC?

panasonicyouth:

aforaffort:

twelvebats:

omgitsaraptor:

dick-flips:

chifuyu:

So,

Bruce is supposed to be about 25 years old after the reboot. Right? Right.

Damian was aged up to 12 after the reboot.

12 years + 9 month of pregnancy and you have Bruce Wayne becoming a father at the tender age of 12 or 13.

Congratulations DC. You haven’t thought this through.

teen mom bruce wayne

Making this face so hard right now:

… DC wouldn’t be tasteless enough to have child rape right? This is just really, really, REALLY shitty planning.

Someone please tell me this is incorrect

please

is this the real life

is this just fantasy

because what the fuck are you doing DC

Source: staticraining

I wanted to put a reference to masturbation in one of the scripts for the Sandman. It was immediately cut by the editor [Karen Berger]. She told me, “There’s no masturbation in the DC Universe.” To which my reaction was, “Well that explains a lot about the DC Universe.
Neil Gaiman (via mollymillions)

(via callmekitto)

Source: mollymillions

Dressed to Kill

rosalarian:

Whenever I complain about how females are portrayed in mainstream superhero comics, inevitably half a dozen people pop up to tell me this:

“Men are idealized in comics, too.”

Yes. Yes they are. I am aware of this. While I think the idealism is harmful, that isn’t actually what I have a problem with. (Well, not the main thing.) Because while the men are impossibly muscular and the women are impossibly skinny/boobular, the men aren’t being sexualized out the wazoo.

It’s not the characters’ bodies themselves that are the biggest problem, but how they are dressed and posed. Tits out, ass out, lips pouty, legs spread, hips cocked, eyelids at half mast. Outfits that make Wonder Woman’s star spangled panties look fit for a Mormon picnic. Short skirts, cutouts, stilettos, fishnets, thigh-highs. I’m not describing Playboy here.

You don’t see male heroes wearing these costumes or posing like this. Outside of statistical outliers like Namor, their costumes tend to have full coverage, and when they pose, it’s to inspire fear, not boners.

To prove my point, I spent yesterday morning creating this:

Looks pretty ridiculous. You would never see this as a serious illustration. Comic fans would be in an uproar. Way too much man-ass. And you know he’s not going to be graceful on those heels. And why is he looking back with a come-hither look?

You might be thinking that I drew him extra sexy, just to prove my point. Well, perhaps you’d like to see the source image:

Yeah, I literally drew Man Canary right on top of her. (*snicker*) I drew Black Canary’s skeletal position, then added the idealized male superhero physique over top. See, it really isn’t his muscles that are freaking you out. It’s the fishnets doing their best to contain those man cheeks.

And it’s not just heroines who deal with this:

(Compare to original)

I feel uncomfortable looking at this. And also, perplexed. How is that costume staying on? I know most comic artists don’t have much experience with real-world fashion, but let me tell you, double sided tape does not work all that well in combat situations.

I get that some of these characters are “using their sexuality to blind men so they can attack them,” and I bet that could be an effective attack. But there are so many chicks doing this that even the dumbest, most weak-willed superhero/villain is going to catch on eventually.

And lest you think DC is all alone in this, I present you with this little gem:

(Compare to source)

SO MUCH BULGING MAN PELVIS!!! For everyone!

I actually had a lot of fun with this one. Most of the characters are actually pretty covered up. But between Black Cat’s absurd front zipper and her pose, yeah, it’s ridiculous.

There were so many more images I could have parodied, but I got tired of spending so much time rendering man ass.

Dudes, I want you to imagine a world where most of the portrayals of your gender in comics look like the above. Are you going to think “Well, I really like the stories so I’ll just suck it up and read this anyway”? Or are you going to be alienated from reading most comics? Be honest. Are you willing to stare at that much thrusting crotch just to find out if Spiderman is gonna win?

Lots of people in the comics business look at their demographic breakdown and think women don’t like superheroes. The creator of DC Women Kicking Ass made a very apt point when she said, “Let me put it this way, if you keep keeping putting food on a kid’s plate and they don’t eat you do you assume they don’t like to eat or they don’t like the food? Right.”

Women like comics. And not just flowery manga and autobio stuff. We like superheroes.

I don’t have a problem with cheesecake, and I don’t have a problem with lady-flesh. (I make a fair amount of money drawing lesbian porn.) But there’s a time and a place for it. Unless you are specifically going out of your way to create porn comics, stop putting porn in comics. Stop using Playboy for anatomy references! (I wish I was kidding about that.)

Now, there will still be many of you who are unconvinced, who think us ladies are making a big deal out of nothing, that this is trivial. Many of you will bring up examples of female superheroes who are covered up, non-sexualized, and non-idealized. I’m not denying that those characters exist, and that there are several. But there are still far too many female characters more concerned with showing- off ass, rather than kicking it.

Someone linked this in a discussion about the latest version of gender-swapped comic poses and costumes, and I hadn’t seen this one before so I had to reblog.

killsmedead: coelasquid: Dreamsofawesome WONDER WOMAN’S NEW COSTUME LOOKS DUMB! Ugh, now she doesn’t have pants like how it used to be? What is wrong with you, DC? WE WANT DC TO LISTEN TO US! Ugh, they acknowledged but they’re not doing it right WE WANT WOMEN FRONT AND CENTER ON COMICS! Ugh you’re not drawing them right I don’t think anything DC does at this point will satisfy anyone. I agree DC has mishandled some things but I also think that we’re reaching a point of just complaining about any and every little thing. The point of contention still is, as it always was, that people are getting tired of seeing all of the female leads drawn with body language and uniforms that make them appear less heroic, powerful, legitimate, and all-around able to be taken seriously than their male counterparts. Just to add some commentary from Sociological Images: Many sociologists see gender as something that we perform, something that we do.  This set of drawings […] illustrate our cultural complicity in this, and also our ability to get some perspective on it.  Coelasquid (at least, I think this is the artist) draws a series of male superheroes in the pose given to Wonder Woman in David Finch‘s Justice League Cover.  It reveals the degree to which these feminine poses are something we put on, not something we necessarily are.
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killsmedead:

coelasquid:

Dreamsofawesome

WONDER WOMAN’S NEW COSTUME LOOKS DUMB!

Ugh, now she doesn’t have pants like how it used to be? What is wrong with you, DC?

WE WANT DC TO LISTEN TO US!

Ugh, they acknowledged but they’re not doing it right

WE WANT WOMEN FRONT AND CENTER ON COMICS!

Ugh you’re not drawing them right

I don’t think anything DC does at this point will satisfy anyone. I agree DC has mishandled some things but I also think that we’re reaching a point of just complaining about any and every little thing.

The point of contention still is, as it always was, that people are getting tired of seeing all of the female leads drawn with body language and uniforms that make them appear less heroic, powerful, legitimate, and all-around able to be taken seriously than their male counterparts.

Just to add some commentary from Sociological Images:

Many sociologists see gender as something that we perform, something that we do.  This set of drawings […] illustrate our cultural complicity in this, and also our ability to get some perspective on it.  Coelasquid (at least, I think this is the artist) draws a series of male superheroes in the pose given to Wonder Woman in David Finch‘s Justice League Cover.  It reveals the degree to which these feminine poses are something we put on, not something we necessarily are.

Source: coelasquid

My racism sense is tingling.

notracistbut:

Honestly, my reaction to the new spiderman thing wasn’t, “He’s black and latino?!?”. It was, “They killed off Peter Parker?!?!”. But then I remembered that I don’t even really care about comic books.

Edit: Comment Spotlight!

craftycupcakecatlady:

OH MY GOD WHAT ARE WHITE PEOPLE GOING TO DO WITHOUT SPIDERMAN

HE WAS ALL WE HAD

the comment is win.

McFarlane said that there was one moment he regrets never putting into one of his stories where Spider-Man would have saved a white man from being mugged by a black man, only to have the victim sprinkle racist comments into his appreciation. Spidey would have gotten up close to his face and asked, “How do you know I’m white under this mask?
Fans Cry Foul (and Spew Racism) After Major Spider-Man and Superman Announcements

Source: movies.com