Idealized women, fine, but whose ideal?

Okay, so my first rant XD

Before I start I wanna say that I do understand this issue (at least from my own pov). I'm a bi girl, I like women, but I also like myself. I try to balance both my attraction to women and yet being a girl myself when I read comics and see how they are portrayed. :]

This is just something that's been bugging me a lot... esp being a gamer/comic girl, b/c it's something I encounter a lot :o And that of course is how women are portrayed visually in those mediums. :\ And what I rly hate is hearing the defence from ppl that it's expected that in a fantasy realm to have "perfect" women.

Fine, I do understand that XD I mean there are no fat Superhero men after all. They're all fit and in shape. However, it's what "perfect" means that bothers me. :| Whose idea of perfection? Whenever this is brought up the arguments I always hear are the same, nobody would buy a game or read a comic if the female character was a ugly, chubby librarian and that it's just having an ideal figure.

But, wouldn't an ideal figure for a superhero be that of somebody who is athletic, eats well and keeps in shape? It IS that way for the men AFTER ALL. And this makes SENSE since they have to get up every morning (or night, if you're Batman I guess XD) and fight crime. :o

For some reason, ppl always act like it's a choice between the porn star look we get in comics, or some ugly fat person. Why? There's no middle ground? Is the ONLY way we're attractive is if we weigh 100lbs and have 34DD breasts? >:O Like, other than that it's ugly?

Srsly!

Here's what I mean:

This is a picture of the Huntress from before with her old costume. And this is a different picture. (To be fair, this is not from a comic book, but it's a good example of the type of women that appear in comic books and it's drawn by an accomplished comic book artist)

Ignoring the fact that the costume just got a heck of a lot less practical for a Batmanesque hero with no powers, are you telling me that the first picture is unattractive? :O

I have no problems with the first one! I think she looks very beautiful, very strong, and (except for the fact that she let's her hair flow loosely, which is impractical for fights) fairly realistic. She's clearly in good shape, her breasts are close to her body, which is what would happen if she was in fighting shape and had been working out, and seems to be wearing a bra. :)

Now the second one is the types of portrayals that rly irk me and make me go "ugh" when reading a comic. :( Besides the caked on make up (and who would wear make up when you're hunting criminals at NIGHT), there's the fact that her ginormous boobies have no support. :O I've NEVER understood the comic book artist's obsession with drawing breasts under clothing without a bra or nething on. I'm FAIRLY certain Batman wears a jock and underwear. He doesn't just leave things dangling about.

And clearly this Huntress hasn't been eating OR working out. Tho there's much worse out there. There's at least some semblance of muscle. A lot of women heroes are drawn with no lines at all, giving them a very soft, fleshy, look. This is deliberate (as told to me by the artists in Wizard's "How to Draw: Heroic Anatomy"). :|

This just adds to the pornstar look. Big breasts, soft body, no muscle. :(

But apparently, THAT is the idealized woman. And NOT Huntress in picture one. Cuz she's ugly.. or something... >.>;;;

So again, WHO is idealizing us? :O Clearly not ourselves, cuz if I had to choose, I'd want to look like Huntress 1. I'd be pretty happy to have *that* body XD

So the argument that this is OUR fault is specious. I've heard it before, even from other women, that hey this is what we want to look like. Okay, so I'm not EVERY woman, but I'm fairly sure that the majority of us want to look good, and attractive, but NOT in the big boobed, wasp thin waist, "soft" way. :O

I HATE when guys seem to think what they want is how we wish to look. Sometimes I think that they're under the impression that all of us wish we were platinum blonde 34DDDDDDD pornstars and that we're all just jealous we're not. Nuh-uh! >:O

As I said, idealized me would look like Huntress in picture 1. So it's not like I'm totally against everything prettier than me. :| But it's not just a choice between picture 2 and dumpy looking girl with acne and glasses. >:|

If you wanna argue about how men are idealized too, be fair. Men in comics are well built, like ppl who work out. They're fit. But they wear jocks and underwear. There is NO emphasis on how big their packages are, or how tight their butts are. Srsly, they wear tights but somehow the detail on their butts isn't quite as pronounced as on the women. >.<;; So clearly it's not about SEX with the men. It's about radiating strength.

For women it's about radiating gravity from those planets they call breasts. XD

Fair is fair. If comics are about idealizing people to the level of attractive, athletic, crime fighting human beings, then draw the characters, both male and female, with that in mind.

If comics are however, about porn, then we better be emphasizing the same things for both genders. >:O And I'm sure most guys who read comics would be turned off if they had little Superman staring them in the face every other panel. XDDD

And if people (male or female) dun find toned girls with B or C-cups and a svelte figure attractive enuf and NEED anorexic girls with balloons on their chest, then they have way more problems than complaining about "feminazis" ruining their enjoyment of comics. >:O I shudder to think that the attractive girl they see at the mall isn't "good" enuf for them, and all they can think about is what's in porn mags. :(

I'm sure we can all agree that we want comics and the characters in them to be attractive and pleasing to look at. :) But there's a middle ground between realism and fantasy. Women can be attractive to men, AND be something that we can read and not go "ugh" at. :)