Sexist Superhero Shirts Create Outrage Among Feminists
News in today’s society can be rather fluid in content. Devastating stories about dangerous viruses plaguing the planet, heartwarming stories of self-sacrifice, and celebrity gossip scroll across the headlines. There is also the news that makes you look twice and wonder how it is news at all. In this case, T-shirts have found their way into the hands of the various medias, sexist superhero shirts, to be exact.
A blogger named P.J. Curtis found a shirt in her local Walmart that absolutely threw her for a loop. The text seemed innocent enough, but upon close inspection its double meaning sent fury through her veins. The superhero themed shirt read, “Training to be Batman’s Wife” and had a picture of the bat symbol within the text. For many, the cute saying shows that the girl, or boy, wearing the shirt is confident in their ability to rise to the top and become successful in all areas. To P.J. Curtis, the shirt says quite the opposite.
“The idea that you should settle for being married to or sleeping with someone awesome instead of being the awesome person is insulting. This just happens to be aimed at a young girl. I resent the idea that she should “train” to be so Batman’s wife.”
When the shirt’s saying is viewed from the perspective of P.J. Curtis, it does seem to lean towards being a sexist superhero shirt. Janelle Asselin, with ComicsAlliance.com seems to agree.
“Not only is this tee saying that women can’t train to be superheroes, just to be wives, it’s also made for teen girls. This isn’t a shirt for an adult woman. This is what these companies want to teach girls between the ages of 13 and 20. There are so many alternative options to this tee that it’s crazy they would come up with this particular option. How about ‘training to be Batgirl’? Or ‘training to be a superhero’? Or ‘training to defeat Batman’?”
Would there be complaints about “training to defeat Batman” due to its lean towards the wearer, most likely a girl, being evil?
Other shirts have also stirred a bit of controversy within the DC fan base, such as one that says “Score! Superman Does It Again” and shows Superman kissing Wonder Woman passionately.
There are also baby pajamas that seem to lead to boys being heroes and girls being their love interests only.
Funny T-shirts and superheroes seem to go hand in hand in the race for popular wear. During creation, these Superhero shirts were most likely not intended to be sexist in the least bit of the sense, but instead something fun and cool to wear. However, feminism seems to have stepped in and created a mountain out of a mole hill, per se. Would the shirts even be a big deal if P.J. hadn’t blogged about them?
DC Comics took some time to respond to the issue via a statement.
“DC Comics is home to many of the greatest male and female Super Heroes in the world. All our fans are incredibly important to us, and we understand that the messages on certain t-shirts are offensive. We agree. Our company is committed to empowering boys and girls, men and women, through our characters and stories. Accordingly, we are taking a look at our licensing and product design process to ensure that all our consumer products reflect our core values and philosophy.”
What are your thoughts, are they really sexist? Should it even be up for debate with so much going on in the world right now?
[Photo Courtesy: EdgeCast]
