06.20.07
Writing Superheroes: Fifth Post (Gender Images)
I find it very interesting that the kids Dyson observed, and many other kids as well, have such determined, and yet almost subconscious, images of gender. What’s actually in a particular show or movie is almost irrelevant. Rogue may be a powerful superhero, but to those kids, especially the boys, she’s just a girl who belongs to a boy. And no matter how much April O’Neill might accomplish, she’ll always be the pretty white girl who always needs saving! How do these images of gender get so forced that they begin to write over existing stories like this? The easy answer would be to say it’s another result of our over-gendering of babies and kids, but is it that simple? I doubt it. I’m sure they get some of it at least more or less directly from adults, which is also sad. The real question is, what do we do about it?