Cindi May's Article: The Problem With Female Superheroes

In the article The Problem with Female Superheroes, journalist Cindi May discusses the findings from a research conducted by Hillary Pennell and Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz. This study demonstrated the negative effects of the hypersexualisation of female characters on women. The effects included reinforcing traditional views on gender roles, increasing negative views of

Topics which relate to the subjects in the article can be found in chapter 5 of textbook Social Psychology, Second Canadian Edition (Kassin, Fein, Markus & Burke, 2013). This chapter contains information on ambivalent sexism and effects on media on gender. These topics help to gain an advanced understanding on the effects of hypersexualizing or of objectifying the female body

This form of sexism can be defined as perspectives about women that promote unfavorable emotions and patronizing beliefs that can seem gallant and considerate (Kassin et al., 2013, page 148). Furthermore, ambivalent sexism can be split into two cooperating parts known as benevolent and hostile sexism. Examples of each case can be found in the article. Due to the fact benevolent sexism acts reasoning behind the belief that women require to be guarded from danger simply by seeming incapable of keeping themselves safe or of defending themselves. As illustrated in the article, female characters were generally seen as weaker and defenseless in comparison to male characters. This concept was demonstrated when participants (who were all women) viewed a clip from a superhero movie where the female character was endangered, but rapidly saved by a male superhero. Moreover, another aspect which can be taken from the scene was portrayal of the female character’s appearance. Undoubtedly, more emphasis was put on her physical attributes rather than on her competencies. Consequently, this reinforced conservative gender roles beliefs which promoted ideas that women cannot partake in tasks traditionally completed by men and further established the idea that women require the presence of men to ensure their safety and

This was evident in the findings of the research when it was demonstrated that even when a female superhero was considered empowering, this could nonetheless have a negative impact on how the participants’ viewed their bodies and make them prone to placing more value on their self-image. This proposed that even when talent and strength between the sexes are similar, if the importance of the female character relied on her appearance, women will also place an unnecessary amount of value on their own appearance. In this case, the fact that these female superheroes where as strong as male superheroes could be perceived as a method used to confront men’s power because they tried to be equal, yet, because the female characters were nevertheless being hyper-sexualized, it did not counteract in a positive way. Instead, more unfavorable and resentful emotions toward women were developed simply because now female superheroes not only had unrealistic physiques, but their level of competency was also impossible for real women to attain. Therefore, this demonstrated indications towards hostile