Morning becomes eclectic

[stubbleupdate]

In the past fortnight, as anybody who's been keeping an eye on any sort of comics media will know, there's been a lot of discussion about female sexuality in comics, notably with regards to Starfire in Red Hood and the Outlaws, Catwoman (why is none of that stuff under the Catwoman tags?) and now Voodoo.

I posted a few weeks ago about Ultra by the Luna Brothers, showcasing how the series' covers were tonnes of fun, but there were some problematic bits inside.

This is Ultra aka Pearl Penalosa. She's just been out on a date with a guy who she met in a restaurants a few days ago. For those who missed the previous post, Pearl is a flying brick and professional superheroine, with an agent and a set of endorsement deals.



Uh-oh.


Now... I've made a previous post about sex with superheroes (and it carries all of the warnings for violence, gore, racism and skeeviness that I can put up). Ignoring the level of physical strength (surely Pearl could have crushed his bones, rather than just given him "one very big hickey") the bruising thing feels creepy. It's still tough for me to put my finger on, it's just... I think that it's the power imbalance, that sets one partner up above the other one, to create a vulnerable one. And yes, I do appreciate that how I feel is not how everybody should feel.





And then this guy turns out to be a dick at the end of the comic.

I'm still conflicted on this. On the one hand, there's a somewhat mature look at relationships. Pearl is well adjusted, not beating herself up about sleeping with a guy on her first date and seems grounded. It's just the rest of the world that's... off (more of which later)

Comments

[proteus_lives]

1. Nice steal from a Julia Roberts movie.

2. If one person can lift a bus on their head, there will be an imbalance. That's natural and it would be in the undertones.

[ardat_lili]

I mean, in my marriage one of us is literally twice the size of the other. There's always power imbalances in relationships--money, strength, race, ability--and the key is for everyone to show up and be vulnerable in their own way.

Which is to say, I agree. It's natural and it happens. I think part of the interesting thing with "Ultra" is that it turns out the power imbalance goes both ways, with the aftermath of this scene.

[whitesycamore]

Same here. My guy *literally* weighs twice as much as me - mostly due to an immense amount of muscle mass. I'm quite sure he's probably twice as strong as I am, if not more.

[icon_uk]

Makes mental note not to piss off whitesycamore to the extent she might sic her significant other on me...

[whitesycamore]

He used to be a hooker!

In the Rugby sense.

[bariman]

So glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that!