You say they are both into superheroes, but the way you phrased it sounded like your son got to choose one he actually liked, versus your daughter having you choose for her. I might be misunderstanding you, but it sounds “ironic”.
I chose for both. My choices were just much, much more limited for one than the other because I didn’t want either of them to look like something out of some sicko sex fantasy.
Which would make a more appropriate Halloween costume for a child: Spider-Man or Emma Frost?
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I don’t find Frost very compelling as a character. And I find neither her nor Spidey to be aesthetically appealing. I don’t believe in characters being good or bad in themselves, rather for me it would depend upon what drew the child’s interest. Many consider Superman an archetype of superhero morality, yet, how many children have been hurt or died trying to identify with his indestructibility? For me it’s about the underlying motivation, instead of the superficial aspects of the costumes. I think there aren’t any easy answers.
I like a lot of what you’ve had to say in the past, but never have I seen such a steaming pile of horseshit in response to such a simple question.
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Fair enough! I am an individualist, and I tend to encourage individualism in others. So I am not comfortable telling others who they should or shouldn’t like. Whatever is “appropriate” for a given person is always a special case, unique to their understanding and circumstances. This is how I afford people the respect and consideration they are each due, rather than using generalities to push things onto people who I don’t know.
Just the same, I would want to know why they might choose X (the variable, not the Professor) and discuss it.
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Bull pucky.
Plus, the Adam West Batman is not “flexible [or strong] enough to do all the martial arts & acrobatics a batman needs”
This reaction still cracks me up. I think it’s what communication boffins refer to as “a disconnect”. Taking Brainspore’s concern to deeper - but probably even more uncomfortable levels:
This then comes down to personal identification with regards to healthy versus unhealthy sexual fantasy. Identification with characters from fiction is already extremely subjective, even without a sexual element to it. What I think determines whether something erotic is empowering or disempowering would require consideration of the ethics behind it (already a minefield of interpretation) and whose sexual fantasy it is.
Being a parent myself, I don’t want my children drawn into sexual fantasies of other, older parties who might prey upon them. But I do want to respect their own sexual fantasies. This tends to be something of an “elephant in the room” with regards to parenting - any display of eroticism is usually dismissed as “unhealthy” out of hand. I would even go so far as to say that, in the US, the average parent actually has less cognitive dissonance when thinking about their children as involved in the sexual fantasies of others, than they do even coping with the realization that their kids might have sexual fantasies of their own. That is a rather stark statement, but my experiences with people back it up. People do repress their children’s sexual fantasies, and a reactionary killing of the messenger (me) doesn’t change this.
So, to revisit my original answer to Brainspore’s question, and to take the rhetorical bait - I would not dismiss the viability of dressing as Emma Frost simply upon the basis of the perceived sexuality of the character. My criticism would be that I find Frost uninteresting. And appropriate for what child specifically? Again, this depends upon to what degree they understand the motivations behind the character. This would be the case even in evaluating characters which were not overtly sexual in their behaviors, or appearance. If a kid wants to be a certain character for stupid reasons, they probably shouldn’t. But if a kid, even mine, want to enact healthy sexual fantasy, or even put their own critical spin on an otherwise unhealthy sexual fantasy, then I would support it.
Sure, you can invent lots of reasons why the odd superheroine might have lingerie for a costume and flaunt her sexuality. Reasons that by coincidence they pretty nearly all just happen to have.
And yeah, how strange for @Brainspore to bring children into this discussion. First all this talk about what might appeal to women, now boys and girls, probably minorities next! These are superhero comics, you need only to look at the push on New 52 to see they aren’t about people like that.
…Wait, is that sort of thing supposed to show that there isn’t a real issue here?
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I used to be a powerlifter (until I trashed a disc). My trainer was a world record holder for the “big 3” lifts in steroid tested meets during the last five years. Neither he, anyone else I knew who competed or me ever looked like Mr. Universe. I was a bit overweight when we started, dropped about 20 lbs, but never got skinny at all (or “ripped” looking) even when I was post-40 years old and deadlifting 390 lbs. I’ve seen people that can do probably twice that and they just look like a fucking wall, not someone who would pose in a speedo.
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He’s an alien. He has no nipples or belly button. I’m not even convinced he has genitalia that we would recognize.
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Even if he had, there would be issues…
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A classic.
So, let me get this straight. You’re trying to convince me that all comics should adhere to a code of moral conduct, so that they might be suitable for family audiences, and that economic pressure will serve to bring the reprobates in line.
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Why does the motorcycle have lace? W-T-F?
On a petticoat, that sort of thing is known as a “dust ruffle”, so obviously it serves a similar purpose here. You can get very dirty riding a motorcycle, if you don’t have the proper equipment…
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I’ve read this entire thread and will never get this time in my life back. I want a refund!
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No, not even close, because you said limiting all comics. I’m looking at the opposite: things being so limited now that @Brainspore could hardly find any well-known superheroes that might be suitable for his girl. And I’m saying that when a whole genre of fantasy rejects caring about women, or homosexuals, or minorities, or anyone other than an aging core of straight white dudes, it needlessly stifles itself.
The economics are mainly relevant in showing that stifling. Though I could add that it would be one thing if you could say this is all ars gratia artis, about conveying meaning and creating beauty and indifferent to crass greed for money; but we all know the bulk of superhero comics passed that bridge long ago. There have been great artists in them, but most function as an industry.
I mean, superhero comics are practically known for all the worst written-into-a-corner tropes and one cheap sales gimmick after another. It’s just that somehow only the farsighted appreciate how including diversity and not sexually objectifying all women might also help, and with much more merit than killing off the hero an eleventh time.
Note, too, it’s largely people who care about superhero comics that are criticizing the long series of heroines men have written with the idea that “personal domination” means dressing up for Maxim. They’re the ones who are looking for them to have a future and to have integrity. Excusing its failure to provide for any but the narrowest demographic is earning it neither.
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Yeah, Ragen Chastain is crying all over her Three National Dance Championships. No wait, she’s training for an Ironman.
Prince Fielder? MLB player since 2002, 5-time All Star? Guess he is really being “held back.”
Not seeing how the gal who got her own TV show is being “held back” either.
Anyway, not everybody who runs marathons or does triathlons or cycles or swims or whatever is trying to come in first - running in particular is for many people a self-competition, trying to beat your own best.
If you really need to think that big bodies hold people back, go ahead, but fat people are “real-life” athletes regardless of your preferences.
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Veering just a teensy bit toward the “no homo” there, dude.
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