When [Gail] Simone released her list [of over 90 comics that featured female superheroes who suffered a loss of super powers, brutal violation or an untimely, gruesome death] in 1999 there was an instant backlash from some comic book fans who thought it was unfair that they were singling out female characters. This criticism happens whenever we point out tropes specifically about women. In this case, comic book fans criticized the Women in Refrigerators by saying that male heroes get killed and tortured too so what’s the big deal? The people who run the Women in Refrigerators website responded to this by creating another trope (how much do I love fans!) called Dead Men Defrosting. Comic fan John Bartol explains, “In cases where males heroes have been altered or appear to die they usually come back even better than before, either power-wise or in terms of character development/relevancy to the reader."
This video is quite enlightening. For more information check out these related links:
- Tropes vs. Women: #2 Women in Refrigerators - the original blog post at Feminist Frequency
- Women in Refrigerators - the official Women in Refrigerators (WiR) website, including Gail Simone's original letter, an ever-expanding list of comic book characters, and responses from other comic book fans
- Dead Men Defrosting by John Bartol
- The Cold Shoulder: Saving Superheroines from Comic-book Violence by Shannon Cochran at Bitch Media
- Women in Refrigerators: Alexandra DeWitt - an article critiquing the original WiR comic for which the trope was named
- A Woman's Place is Not in the Refrigerator by Marie Brennan at Science Fiction and Fantasy Novelists
Referring to the video, the Batgirl example was a less than ideal choice. Batgirl was shot in the spine and became a disabled heroine (Oracle) who stood as a representation for enthusiast of heroines/heroes who are disabled and those who are able-bodied, giving them some visibility as a people. Being disabled does not equate to being shoved in a refrigerator and thinking it does qualifies as ableism.
ReplyDeleteI'll also note that Batgirl was "re-abilified" (that is, she was made into an able-bodied person again).
Other than that factor, great point here.
Thanks for your comment, Keith! I got into a discussion about this with a friend on facebook, and we definitely talked about how Oracle was such a positive role model for both the able-bodied and the disabled. My friend, Brigid, mentioned that there had been debate about whether she should be "re-abilified" (great word!). But if you check out the list of relevant comics on the official WiR site, you'll see that there are plenty of other comics full of women injured, violated, or killed for the sake of a good hero story-arc.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, though, Batgirl/Oracle was a bad example. =)