soc_puppet: Words "Humorless Feminist" in pink (Humorless Feminist)
[personal profile] soc_puppet
[CONTENT NOTE: Discussion of all sorts of -isms and marginalizations]

Immediately after my previous post, I started wondering to myself: What sort of unique problems might a superhero of color face? After coming up with a few, I started asking myself about other marginalized groups: LGBTQIA folks, women, PWD, and people in lower income brackets were the ones that came to my mind, though that's far from a comprehensive list, I'm sure. After a little bit more thought, I started wondering what answers other people might be able to come up with, what insights they - YOU, really - could share: How many things am I missing due to my own privilege and having been raised in a kyriarchy?

In the hopes of inviting respectful discussion and observation, I decided to open a post on the subject. I hope this will generate more thought on the topic, on how intersecting identities, secret or not, will affect their life experiences in and out of costume, and ultimately that it will inspire more people to incorporate these issues directly into superhero-related media. In that light, I'd like to invite you to link this around, since the more exposure it gets, the more discussion and thinking it's likely to generate.

Note that while being respectful is required, being polite is not; I won't be here all the time, but I'll do my best to shut down any trolls as I become aware of them (knock on wood). Meta issues are welcome, but please preface them with the word "meta" in brackets and all caps like so: [META]. Thanks in advance for your cooperation, less than three!

I'll get us started here:

All superheroes of marginalized identities:
* Increased risk of violence and apathy from pretty much all quarters
* Increased risk of death
* Increased suspicion from potential rescues
* Decreased likelihood of being taken seriously
* Job-related issues compounded
* [META] Increased risk of cancellation

Superheroes of color:
* Increased risk of police violence/apathy, possibly compounded by perceived ethnicity
* Increased risk of being misidentified as a villain

Superheroes with disabilities:
* Lack of accessibility to resources and teams (let's face it, how many superhero meeting spots would be ADA approved?)
* Lack of accessibility to people they want to rescue
* Increased blame when resources/accessibility/spoons are unavailable
* Increased risk of dismissal of actual abilities

LGBTQIA superheroes:
* Possible third "secret identity"
* Increased risk of identity erasure by media
* Increased risk of violence/identity erasure from presumed allies
* Potential romance problems compounded (someone write me the one about the superhero-friendly gay bar/mixer)

Female superheroes:
* Increased risk of violence from presumed allies
* Increased risk of sexual violence from pretty much all quarters
* Increased risk of dismissal of actual abilities
* [META] Increased risk of ridiculous costumes
* [META] Increased risk of being fridged

Superheroes from a lower income bracket:
* Decreased access to resources
* Job-related issues heavily compounded
* Possible decreased availability to actually fight crime


How about you? Is there anything you'd like to add or discuss in more depth? If so, the comments are wide open to anonymous and OpenID alike.


Edit: Sorry about disappearing like that; ADHD ate me in the worst way. By which I mean it decided that I should spend two weeks reading every good-sounding fic for $PAIRING in $FANDOM that I could get my grubby little fangirl paws on and ignore pretty much everything else, including posts that I had ostensibly set up to generate discussion, sigh. I can't say it won't happen again, but at least it was only two weeks this time?

Anyway, I plan to actually start replying to comments sometime later today, possibly with a side of updating this post to add stuff, so uh, be ready for that, I guess.

Date: 2012-01-29 10:05 am (UTC)
mommy: Wanda Maximoff; Scarlet Witch (Default)
From: [personal profile] mommy
These are the ones that came to mind in the wee hours of the morning, pulled from having been in comics fandoms for a while:

[META] Unused Character syndrome. Marginalized characters are often just not used, even when they already exist in a given setting.

[META] Decreased odds of having a high profile writer bring attention to the character. Well-known writers can and have brought characters out of obscurity, but it's less likely when the character is marginalized to begin with.

[META] Increased risk of bad writing. All characters run this risk, but non-marginalized characters are more likely to be handed to "better" writers than marginalized ones. This one is especially true for characters of color.

Superheroes of color
[META] The racial equivalent to Strong Female Character syndrome.

Superheroes with Disabilities
* Magic Disability Fix taking the character out of this category.
[META] Disability not written accurately.

Female superheroes
[META] Strong Female Character syndrome.

Superheroes from a lower income bracket:
* Increased risk of being perceived as a villain.
[META] Increased odds of being portrayed as incompetent.

Date: 2012-01-29 03:20 pm (UTC)
dogmatix: (Default)
From: [personal profile] dogmatix
Hmm. Just a thought for the lower income bracket (+character of colour)

* Increased anger. Say you grow up in a neighborhood/area where a lot of the people aren't going anywhere socio-economically, you know some of your neigbours are drug addicts/gang members/prostitutes/other unhealthy occupations. And anything like initiative or earnest study is... not necessarily encouraged. You know some people who are trying to move up in the world, good people, hard-working people, quirky people who are just hanging on; but they're not the ones setting policy, so to speak.

Anger issues stem from feelings of frustration about seeing people you care about waste their lives and try to take other people down with them.

Anger issues also stem from other superheroes/people from outside the area tar everyone there (possibly including you, both in and out of costume) with the same 'lazy no-good druggies and whores' brush, (even though you're not and even after you have proved it).

Anger issues stems from being unable to save the people you care about even though you have all these supposed 'superpowers'.

It's going to be a sore spot, and you'd be conflicted about it, because for some of your neigbours it's accurate, but you hate that it is, and even so you know and care about some of the people it applies to.

Date: 2012-01-29 03:27 pm (UTC)
redsixwing: A red knotwork emblem. (Default)
From: [personal profile] redsixwing
Fat superheroes:
[META] increased risk of being portrayed as less competent or bumbling
- Increased risk of being perceived as a villain
- Increased risk of being treated as a second-string hero if any others are in the area

All marginalized superheroes:
[META] Increased risk of being reduced to A Lesson to a straight cis TAB rich white guy rather than a self-motivated character

Date: 2012-01-29 05:43 pm (UTC)
yeloson: (Default)
From: [personal profile] yeloson
And, of course, all of the above plays out in messed up ways within a superhero team. I could see a lot of folks having to make the choice the same way activists do:

1. Do I work in a team that marginalizes me but has a solid base of support/access to resources/social status or;

2. Do I build a team of folks who have less privilege to inflict on each other, and suffer the odds we get labeled extremists/mistreated as a whole?

One of the comics I feel at least touched on both POC and class issues was Power Man & Iron Fist.

Mind you, the series has problematic imagery for sure, but at least it acknowledges 1) relationships strain when money is short, 2) black men are targeted by police, and 3) the ways in which not being an established group results in lacking key protections/safeties that makes it a severe cost on your life.

Date: 2012-02-01 04:56 pm (UTC)
dogmatix: (Default)
From: [personal profile] dogmatix
Female Superheroes - dealing with Real Things that Happen To Women, for instance, actually being on your period (as opposed to having put-downs/jokes thrown your way about PMS-ing) when the supervillain attacks, and having to deal with bleeding and cramping and hormones while kicking the shit out of said supervilain.

(also, what's your thoughts on all the responses so far? Inquiring minds want to know. :D )

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