Seriously though, I have been pondering the Mrs Claus thing for few years now. Slutty Santa is a crappy Christmas costume. I want a big long belted coat dress, with a hood and faux fur trim. I want to do the gift giving and the spreading joy and love… the fat jolly beardy guy shouldn’t be allowed to have all the fun.

I also think either or both of “a horrible segment” (read: Very Prominent Segment) and “a recent phenomenon afflicting the whole industry” are certainly worthy of people being pissed off. Either way the motivation to feel shit is pretty obvious.

I know it’s not ComicsVine who’ve added that pinup image (which I gather isn’t representative of the comics at all) as their site is a wiki. However, that is what their readers and participants have decided would be the most relevant image. Which speaks volumes, I think. But let’s not get into deconstructing ComicsVine- I think it’s just a way to illustrate a wider point about sexism.

Russ- you know we’re *all* aware at BR Towers of comics that are good- we are a pop culture blog staffed entirely by geeks. We read. But honestly? It gets annoying digging for stuff that doesn’t objectify you all the time. It gets tiring wearing bullshit-filter glasses in Forbidden Planet to triage products all the time. It gets annoying entering treehouses consistently via the indie back door. (And as I know you personally, I think you find it annoying too, though maybe in a different way.) It is at the very least mildly irksome to search for some Disney comics with a little old lady in and find a young blonde siren has been uploaded instead because no wiki wants to depict her that way.

If that makes us occasionally snide or exasperated, beg pardon, but you know, it does get tiring.

[There are lots of articles that take positive stances about individual comics and parts of the industry on here, though, if you look at the comics category (and the links posts, and a couple of the Found Feminisms I think too).]

Hear hear, Sarah.

How the memories come flooding back, thanks for that.

Though for the record, the comics industry reference wasn’t slightly snide, it was epic quantities of pissed off. I’m a long time comics fan, as well as having studied them for my masters, I’m in no way shape or form “confused” about the bullshit depictions of women in the vast majority of mainstream comics, and the entrenched sexism in the industry.

I found this image in a standard google search for Mrs Santa Claus, it seemed both relevant and a sad comment on how women continue to be presented.
I stand by my original statement. With santa bells on.

(also, I didn’t appreciate the slightly snide comment about the comic book industry. I think you’re confusing a horrible segment of the comic book industry that has always existed with a recent phenomenon afflicting the whole industry – but I also think this is probably not the time or place to have this debate, especially since it’s been had so often and so well elsewhere)