Harley Quinn’s new design has got a lot of people upset. I talk a lot about comic character costumes in general, and I’ve talked about Harley specifically.
enstasia asked: Wanted you to know that I was linking your Tumblr posts in a Facebook argument with a rather ass-backwards friend of mine about the Harley Quinn redesign. He said it was fine, simply a matter of “that’s how it goes in comics,” but if we left everything to status quo (from a man who considers himself “progressive”), then how would we make any good progress, you know?
Anyway, wanted you to know. So thanks, Megan! :)
“That’s how it goes in comics”? Nothing gets accomplished by accepting the status quo. Just because something has always been a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the right way. I think he needs to look up the definition of progressive.
moophles asked: Help, I want to punch someone but my fist won’t go through the internet. I know that I should totally not let people get to me, but he was making an argument about Harley Quins new design (which is extremely slutty)
He is also not an artist, which fuels my comic artist rage.
I admire you for your stance on this whole issue with female comic characters and I wanted to ask you about what you think of her new design. What do you make of it?
I think asking someone’s opinion who is a very bright and wonderful artist will heal my injured brain.
Thank you for all of the stuff you’ve already drawn and written about this, it’s wonderful :)
<3
Are you friends with enstasia? Lots of people arguing with friends on the internet about Harley.
This is sexist, and I’ll tell you why. It’s not because it’s slutty, because there’s nothing wrong with being slutty. (Though critiquing characters is a much different thing than critiquing actual people.)
This isn’t a woman expressing her own sexuality. This is a male-created image expressing female sexuality without female input. And that’s what most women object to in the portrayal of women in comics. There’s a difference between being sexy and being a sex object, the difference being sexy comes from within, and being sexualized comes from outside you. Again, comic characters don’t exactly have a “within” since they’re fictional, which is why getting more female creators in comics is important. Females creating sexy females for females (and males) to read. Females having a say in what female sexuality is, rather than almost always having men speak for us.
The main thing I find wrong with Harley’s new look is that it doesn’t make sense. There are no harlequin elements to her design anymore. So why is she wearing this costume? The only explanation is that she is now meant to titillate. I can’t think of any other reason for this character to wear that costume. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make a lick of sense.
You don’t have to be an artist to be upset (or not) about these things. Just ‘cause you can’t cook doesn’t mean you don’t know what tastes good. Just because you’re not a farmer doesn’t mean you don’t know when an apple is rotten. And this is a pretty rotten apple.
I wouldn’t waste too much effort on this guy, though. If you start wanting to punch people, it’s hard to be rational and cool-headed at that point, and you have to be rational and cool-headed in order to argue effectively. Don’t be mad, be passionate about your side. We tend to get mad when being rational doesn’t work, but getting mad works even less effectively. It’s kind of like trying to use a sword at first, finding it doesn’t work, then deciding to use a spork. In some cases, we just don’t have the tools to defeat something. Learning which fights to walk away from was one of the best lessons I ever learned.
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Bonus fun: check out superhappy’s idea for this character.
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Posted on
June/11/2011
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costumes,
essay,
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