1/19/2024 0 Comments Birds of prey comic storyline![]() ![]() We have to remember that the writer of Birds of Prey is a guy - we’re reading female characters written by men for men. It takes away the actual power of the women and turns their ‘sexual liberation’ into just another way for dudes to get off.” “This is not about these women wanting things it’s about men wanting to see them do things, and that takes something that really should be empowering - the idea that women can own their sexuality - and transforms it into yet another male fantasy. As Laura Hudson points out in her article, ” The Big Sexy Problem with Superheroines and Their ‘Liberated Sexuality,'” there’s a common argument that these women are doing what they want to do, and using their bodies and sexualities in ways they want to get power and agency. I see what the writer, Duane Swierczynski, is trying to do with quirky, strong-headed female characters, but I also see the problem of promoting “female sexual empowerment, yay!” without thinking it all the way through. Want you more than you could possibly imagine,” and “I love you. And Poison Ivy’s main information-sapping tactic is a creepy plant seduction technique where she interrogates all of the informants (who happen to be all men) with phrases like, “I need you, can’t you see that?” and “I want you. Ev faints into men’s arms and feigns feminine delicacy to distract guards. What else? Ev is constantly trying to set up Dinah with cute science researcher Trevor, who can’t possibly be so accomplished or knowledgeable at age 22 or however old he looks in this comic - and his first words to Dinah are “Huh? Wow,” at her sexiness before he addresses her as a person. In one weird and out-of-place plot point, Dinah gets grossly mouth-kissed by a rando bad guy during a fight. The Japanese member of the group, Tatsu Yamashiro (codename Katana), has a dead husband she believes lives on in her sword, and she constantly talks to “him” and asks him for advice. The main plot in the first two issues is about a male reporter (props for him being a person of color, DC), who inner-monologues about how “gorgeous” Ev is, and even goes about asking her for her number even though he’s married. ![]() I ended up reading all five of the currently-released Birds of Prey comics, and one of the things I noticed is that while there’s often at least one female character in every panel, many of the main story lines and character development-related plots feature male characters as their central points. I can see all of the boobs and some of the bootys: The Tit & Ass Shot But while Batwoman has been regularly passing the Bechdel test, has strong female side or minor characters, contains story arcs that revolve around people of color and individuals who aren’t necessarily male and features illustrations of women who aren’t contorted into the horrible tits-and-ass shot, Birds of Prey consistently lacks these things. All of the basic foundational stuff is there - Birds of Prey stars female characters who are hard-hitting and “independent,” and so does Batwoman, at least in concept. The problem? What the latest Batwoman comics have been doing right, Birds of Prey has been doing wrong. I definitely think that having characters that are casually revealed to be lesbians is a great idea, unless this whole lifestyle haircut / gentle hand-holding panel ends up turning into a “she’s my BFF and/or my sister-cousin!” cop-out storyline to get people to buy the next issue ( which comes out on February 15). Now, while I’m pretty excited about another possible main-character lesbian lady in the DC universe, I do have some problems with the Birds of Prey reboot. The Autostraddle Encyclopedia of Lesbian Cinema.LGBTQ Television Guide: What To Watch Now.
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