FEMALE SUPERHEROES
Why is it that in every group of superheroes, like the X-Men, the male superheroes in the group outnumber the female superheroes? And why do they have to be called “X-Men”? Why can’t they be called “X-people”? (yes, it doesn’t sound right, but why is it that superheroes are related to masculinity?)
*HARD MISSION*: Make up a Female Superhero!!!
Draw her physical state and give a brief description of your fictional character.
Things to think about…Is she human? What is her costume like, does she have one? What powers does she have? How do we benefit from her powers? (the object could look like a woman or a female animal, but must represent a female-like persona. She would have to symbolize a woman working for the greater good; bold, strong, intelligence, beautiful, but not limited to the common understanding
of beauty, and her power is original, creative, thought-out) Go wild, use Britney Spears, Oprah, Anna Nicole Smith…. Use your imagination, go the distance..
...Camouflage Culture... 
December 4, 2008 at 5:46 am
once again, here is a question that can be answered by thinking about the demographic. girls don’t read x-men, they read archie.
December 9, 2008 at 10:51 pm
To answer the post, I think the male ratio is higher than female because it has to do with gender identities, gender roles, and social identities (I learned a lot of these terms in a psychology class).
For example, when you go to McDonalds, there’s always a boy toy, and a girl toy. Society and parents want future generations to be modeled after how the parents lived, and to put the kids in the right path (dad goes to work to bring the bread home, moms stays a housewife to hold the family together).
http://www.happymeal.com/en_US/index.html
With the superhero perspective, guys generally read comics more than girls. The comics have more male dominance because they want to appeal to a male readership, and show characters they can relate with and become (like Superman).
Girls tend to read Manga more, and you even notice it in the drawings that there’s a sense of femininity (just look at those girly anime eyes). Again, their readership is more female, and tends to have more characteristics that appeal to girls than guys (really nice art, less action more emotion, psychological issues rather than saving the world or hard-core Hollywood brawls).
The gender-packages are also tailored after the “mother knows best” concept because the media in society guide kids to their “gender roles.”
When you see toy commercials, the boys are pushed towards toys like Hot wheels, Power Rangers, Tonka trucks, or action figures. When was the last time you saw a Power ranger commercial with girls in it or even Pink and Yellow rangers being advertised? Of course they sell those, but they don’t make commercials for them because it would be waste of marketing money.
While the toy commercials for girls usually have to do with Barbies or easy-bake ovens to start training their minds to get ready to go into mothering (like cooking, cleaning, or taking care of babies).
The “mother” of society is molding people into their gender roles, and what entails it accordingly to traditions and cultural roots.
January 12, 2009 at 2:19 am
thekingofeurope, it’s nice you think all girls have the same tastes, and read Archie, despite the fact everyone stops reading Archie when they’re ten. Nice for us, because we can laugh at you, but not nice for you, because you embarrass yourself with your monumental sexism and stupidity. I’m a girl, and I LOVE superhero comics. Not only that, TONS of girls do! gaspshock.
I’m guessing you’re a guy, being a king and all, so I advise you to grow a vagina, then you’ll have the right to talk about what girls like.
January 12, 2009 at 2:56 am
I’m choking on my tea at the assertion that girls don’t read X-Men. Of ALL superhero comics, X-Men is the one that has ALWAYS had a large female readership since at least the Claremont days.
I totally have my own roster of superheroes based on me and my friends from high school, and we were mostly girls 😀 Now if only I could draw…
January 12, 2009 at 10:01 pm
There have been a number of superhero groups which were or are gender-balanced or which even had/have more females than males. For instance, ca. 1984/5, the X-Men active roster consisted of four females (Storm (leader), Shadowcat, Rogue, Phoenix II (Rachel Summers)) to three males (Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus). A little later, you had the same ratio with females Storm, Rogue, Psylocke and Dazzler vs. males Wolverine, Colossus, and Longshot. Around that time the spin-off team New Mutants consisted first of three females (Karma, Mirage, Wolfsbane) to two males (Cannonball, Sunspot), gradually expanding to four females (Mirage, Wolfsbane, Magma, Magik) to three males (Cannonball, Sunspot, Cypher) plus one alien from an asexually reproducing techno-organic race (Warlock). Also in the 1980s the Fantastic Four consisted of two men and two women for a while (the Thing’s place being taken by She-Hulk) and Power Pack consisted of two boys and two girls. I’m not that au courant on current teams, but Marvel at any rate has the Runaways who at present consist of four females (Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes, Klara), two males (Chase Stein, Victor Mancha) and one Skrull who keeps switching between male and female (Xavin).
Why are the X-Men called X-Men and not X-People? Tradition. They’ve been called that since their first appearance in 1963 and writers and fans probably are loath to change the name. (Stan Lee actually wanted to call the team simply “The Mutants”, but his publisher at the time thought potential readers might not know that word). But the various spin-off teams established since the 1980s always use gender-neutral names (New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur, X-Force, …). “X-People”, by the way, is the name of the continuation of the X-Men in the alternate future chronicled in the MC-2 titles (that’s the reality of (Amazing) Spider-Girl and related characters).
January 12, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Correction. The second X-Men roster I mentioned had Wolverine, Havok and Longshot as its male contingent, Colossus returned later, turning the X-Men into a gender-balanced team.