Kxhara's Latest Contest

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I was about to write a journal about my time at Comic-Con over the last five days...

This is much more important. 

I would like to draw your attention to a wonderful and what will surely be a controversial contest that was posted to dA a few hours ago.  This journal is meant to draw as much attention and dA love as possible to this contest.    

:iconparanormasiun: wrote an article at Escher Girls eschergirls.tumblr.com/post/27… which inspired :iconrobynrose: to post this contest fav.me/d57qco9

Comic Con is an interesting place for the eternal “How a female should look” question to be so boldly reignited, being an environment friendly to cosplayers of all human, animal and other happily cavorting in so many different sizes and shapes.

This post a few hours ago got me thinking about the subject of the female form in pop culture that Jezebel took me to task for a few months ago, jezebel.com/cheesecake/ a… rebuking my contention that some modern female models have found a means of self empowerment in the iconic representation of their bodies.  I had to assure everybody that I hadn’t suffered a stroke and was well aware that we still live in a sexist culture at every level of measure.

So: an "overwheight" female superhero? Just another flavor of superhero – or a contradiction in terms?  A superhero is an idealized human possessing superpowers of some sort.  Is it possible in for "heavier" to be a part of anyone’s ideal human body?  Well, yes.   Indeed, how much muscles is too much muscles?  

What exactly is the idealized human form?  Who would the average man rather see staring back at him in the mirror: Arnold Schwarzenegger or Jon Hamm?   Jason Statham or Jack Black? Which would most females prefer for a boyfriend?  How many ridiculous articles are written about this subject in any given month? Anyone care to make a list of links to the most ridiculous?

You see, the idealized superhero (male) anatomy is one evoking Power far more than attractiveness.  The female superhero anatomy is much trickier in that certainly power and lethality must be in evidence but also intense attractiveness to please the teen fanboy consumer.

So what’s the female reader to do?   Accept that even in comic book butt-kicking, looks comes first, it still being a man’s world, and simply fantasize having Pam Anderson boobs along with a magic lasso?  (And thus perpetuating “only hot chicks matter” as the “ideal” of our society?) Or as is the case lately, write their own fantastic super hero fiction and amass an audience of likeminded individuals just as hungry for something closer to reality.

Or fight back with the creation of a heavy female superheros for this contest?  Brava! 

My only caveat to all of this would be the term “fat.”  Very few extremely obese people are genuinely healthy and therefore limited in their access to many human happinesses.  While discrimination is unacceptable, I would warn against “championing” a condition causing type 2 diabetes.  I’d prefer our female superhero to be more of the muscular thickness of The Hulk or The Thing.  But, then again, the discrimination against non-Barbie females in almost all comic books and media in general is so completely overwhelming that maybe it’s time to fight fire with fire.  I can’t wait to see what our dA artists come up with!


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LZeringue's avatar
You have already gotten a lot of crap over this, but I want to make sure you know what this sounds like from the point of view o some of us, re: the fat characters:

"I want you to show me your idea of what female superhero bodies should look like. Um, as long as you make them look like what I think they should look like."

That's pretty much what you're doing.