If the platitude ‘books are better than movies’ is anything to go by, comic books should have been at the prime of a cultural boom and creative renaissance. Unfortunately, in the fantasy realm of comics, this is a far-fetched idea. Warfare and saving the world still remains a male prerogative, leaving big-bottomed superheroines to choose between striking a seductive pose and wielding a jagged sword, all for the male gaze.
Knackered by these unnatural depictions, 21-year-old Shreya Arora decided to redraw these hyper-sexualised female heroines on comic book covers and replace them with men posing as women to highlight the absurdity, “I’ve been reading comic books for a while, but I didn’t notice how deeply sexist some of the portrayals were until I came across a cover of Spiderwoman drawn with impossible body proportions, her butt sticking up into the air,” says Shreya, who is a student at National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad.
Her path-breaking series titled ‘Sexism in Comics’ blatantly cuts through these scathing stereotypes while making a strong commentary on the deep-seated sexism in the billion-dollar Marvel and DC comic industry. While initially Shreya contemplated on the two major arguments the objectification of women, and second, sexual liberation the realisation that a man would never be portrayed in that way, struck her right between the eyes. Therefore, through these depictions Shreya wanted to point out the fact that, “Our model of sexual liberation is hypocritical and the world expects women to either not have a sexuality, or have one at the convenience of men,” she explains.
Arguably, the male gaze dictates many of these standards and the two have become impossible to separate. “Sexism extends way beyond sexualisation, and the identity of women in Indian comics (and media in general) is much more strongly tied to the men in their lives,” she says.
A page from the graphic novel Priya’s Shakti
These books, however, are largely targeted at children and teenagers and their interaction with these books can greatly influence their idea of women. On the other hand, most of us might callously indulge in the catchphrases, ‘Man up’ or ‘Stop acting like a girl’, without understanding its connotations. This is precisely the reason author Aparna Jain chose to title her latest book, Like A Girl: Real stories for tough kids, “I think the idea was to showcase women who are strong and amazing and are doing amazing things and it is equally so for every gender as it is for girls,” she clears.
Even though Like A Girl is a children’s novel, Aparna says it’s no fairytale, “The world is not black and white and children should not be made to believe that they have to be perfect or things are perfect. So it’s very important to keep it real and it’s very important to expose children at an early age,” she says.
The author also feels that these stories could become early gateway points for parents to initiate such conversation with their kids, “I think firstly parents need to start talking to their children about these concepts in a much more open, debate kind of a fashion. Parents need to get involved and they also need to open their minds. So stories are a great way to talk to kids and gather their opinions,” she says.
In the same breath, India’s first feminist superhero novel Priya’s Shakti, which was published in 2014, chooses a rape victim from a village in India as its protagonist. “Priya is not your typical ‘superhero’ and her strength is her power of persuasion and the power of an idea. An idea is much more powerful than Superman’s strength or Wonder-woman’s magic lasso” says Ram Devineni, co-creator of the novel. The idea of the book shaped up after the Nirbahaya rape incident in 2012. “It was clear to me from the massive protests that happened all over India after the horrible rape on the bus is that we want things to change in our country,” says Ram.
After thoroughly researching a lot of American comic book female superheroes, especially Wonder Woman, Ram immediately realised that they were portrayed as hypersexual with popular female superheroes being drawn to fulfil teenage boys’ sexual fantasies, which is precisely what the author decided against for his book. .
