"The women of Bikini Kill let guitarist Billy Karren be in their feminist punk band, but only if he's willing to just "do some shit." Being a feminist dude is like that. We may ask you to "do some shit" for the band, but you don't get to be Kathleen Hannah."--@heatherurehere


Monday, September 17, 2007

Tuesday: Gender in the Comics

We're going to try to make our wee little analysis of gender in comics strips a weekly thing, since we seem to have enough fodder for a weekly post on it. I've tried weekly posts in the past (i.e. bell hooks' Mondays!) that petered out. We'll see how this goes! (As always, click to enlarge the comics.)

First up, Diesel Sweeties keeps the stereotypical dream alive that women really, really dig men who are violent with other men:
Ok, it's really only starting a myth that robots are hawt when they're being violent toward men, but still...

Next up, a blast from the past. For Better or For Worse is reprinting some older strips from the 80's, and this one we'll call: But What About the Menz?!!
Men can't win, you see! Every single decision around door opening for women is a moral minefield that men simply can't traverse without being blown to smithereens. Or, rather, some women like doors opened for them and some don't, and one doesn't always know which. Interestingly, I do think this is how a lot of men feel, so there is a lot more to be said on this point. But the saying will happen later.

And finally, a blast from the past-past, with Mutt and Jeff teaching us a lesson about what men can and can't demand:
Thank goodness women don't want to kiss men, but must have it demanded of them. That way women have power over men by saying no!

1 comment:

saraeanderson said...

On the issue of women being so confusing about door-opening, I see the same thing happen when men complain about women being confusing about dating. It's as though they expect all women to feel the same way about everything, but especially men.