Mod Post - New Theme Week - Women of Colour/Color

[icon_uk]

This was a close second in our recent request for Theme weeks, and it's a both a good, and timely one.

Our Theme Week for February is:

Women of Color!

(I'll allow "Color" for our Americans members, but it still feels so wrong to type it, there SHOULD be a "u" in there darn it!)

February is Black History Month, and the USA has just it's first Vice Presdent of the USA who is female, of African American descent and of Asian American descent sworn in, so, yeah, this seems like an apt choice.

But we're not limiting this to those who are Black or African American, we're opening it up to all female characters and creators, of colour.

We now have a wider field of such characters than ever before, even if perhaps they are not given the profile and promotion they deserve.

A world where Kamala Khan is a high profile heroine in multiple media, Yara Flor has just debuted in Wonder Woman Future State, Shuri is a major player in the MCU, Janele Monica Rambeau is getting a lot of focus in WandaVision. 

NK Jemisin has created Green Lantern  Sojourner, "Jo" Mullein.

Eve Ewing is writing RiRi "Ironheart" Williams

So please, make posts of your favourite characters! 

We'd particularly like to see some first posts from our newer members. There's no need to be shy! :)

Comments

[scorntx]

Er... um, psst. Just a heads-up there: Brian Bendis created Riri Williams.

[icon_uk]

Ah, good point.

I was basing my comment on the fact that Eve Ewing seems to be given some degree of creator credit for the redesign and launch of her solo title, but yes, not as much as I first thought.

https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/eve-ewing-reintroduces-riri-williams-in-ironheart-1

[deh_tommy]

Stupid question, but just so I get things right: what exactly counts as a person of colour and what counts as white? I used to think that just referred to the literal colour of one’s skin, but apparently that’s moreso based on ancestry?

[icon_uk]

Can you give us an example of what you'd see as a debatable case?

[deh_tommy]

That’s mostly down to my confusion over ethnic labels. Like, white/caucasian people are said to be of “European” descent and black people of “African” descent. Europe and Africa are huge continents consisting of many different countries and cultures, though, so that doesn’t my really narrow things down. If anything, people in some countries would take offence to being called black or white. What’s considered a person of colour in one country might be common or the majority in another. This website in general is a big melting pot of people. What races/ethnicities are considered to be of colour nowadays?

I always thought of myself as white, but apparently a hundred or two years ago or so the Irish were considered their own race worthy of discrimination. There was some kerfuffle over Overwatch not having any black female playable characters, but if I recall correctly Pharah’s mother is Egyptian and her father is First Nations, so wouldn’t that make her a literal African-American? I’ve read about cases of white looking non-albino children born to black parents (and vice versa), so what does one consider them?

I’ve a lot to learn on the subject, so I apologise for my ignorance.

[icon_uk]

You never have to apologise for asking questions, it's a healthy thing to do.

Like, white/caucasian people are said to be of “European” descent and black people of “African” descent.

That's a reference to geography rather than ethnicity, and also broadly incorrect given how people of multiple ethnicities have moved around the globe.

The Irish absolutely have been discriminated against, but not because of the colour of their skin.

In this particular instance, since we are mostly living in regions where white/Caucasian is deemed to be "the norm", and where the society is structured so as to give those who are likewise white/Caucasian a societal advantage, we are looking at those who are NOT Caucasian and where the colour of their skin was relevant to how they were treated.

[leahandillyana]

It's important to highlight that it's not really about skin color. Asians (outside of various ethnic groups from Greater India and Indonesia), North Africans and many Oceanians and Native Americans have pale skin. I personally interpret POC as equivalent to non-European.

[donnblake]

Being substantially of non-European descent seems like a pretty good place to start, although I'd be very reluctant to be the one who had to define 'substantially.'

[leahandillyana]

There are several white-passing characters that were retroactively established as having mixed ancestry (Kyle Rayner, Selina Kyle, Helena Boticelli), have somewhat ambiguous ethnicality (al-Ghul family) or are drawn as white-passing or not depending on the artist (various Latine characters, most notoriously Roberto da Costa). I use white-passing here very vaguely, under the notion that all white characters are white passing (though there was a trend in the 90s to give white female characters tan so intense they were indistinguishable from light skinned Black female characters). The situation is even more complicated when you take into account the multitude of ambigously-European manga characters.

[starwolf_oakley]

Sometimes it seems to vary character by character.

I knew Jubilee was supposed to be Asian-American right away.

I didn't realize Linda Park was supposed to be Asian-American (specifically Korean) for YEARS.