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Submitted: July 6, 2012
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Male Objectification?by *kevinbolk

Digital Art / Mixed Media / Humourous

Been sitting on this one for a while (mostly 'cuz I feel like it's kinda beating a dead horse at this point.) Whenever I tackle the subject of how women are portrayed in comics and related media, the argument is often made that men are just as sexually objectified in comics as women (because they have muscles and stuff). The idea for this cartoon counter-argument is what would always pop in my head.

The point I'm trying to make here is that "idealization" is not the same things as "sexual objectification." I see the former as significantly less harmful than the latter. But what do you think?

Feel free to discuss (as if I would or could stop you), but please try to be polite about it. ^_^

love 4 4

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~EdgedWeapon Feb 25, 2013 Student Artist

~DonnyLurch Jan 13, 2013 Student

I'm glad someone out there is able to make a statement about this! I'm at a crossroads, myself. I like drawing sexy women, among many other things, but I am uncomfortable with the group options open to such art. I don't want to feel as though I'm contributing to mindless objectification by letting my art be included in groups like "THE BOOB CLUB" or "THE BIG LOVE CLUB." As someone who is very concerned about sexism and size acceptance, I find these leering jerk-off dens rather off-putting, and I may withdraw my work from them and deny future requests to have it added; however, I need to get my work out there, and one of the best ways to do that is to share it with any relevant clubs you can find. What am I to do? Am I overthinking the morality of sexy art? It didn't bother me at all as a teen, but now that I know better, I'm afraid I'm going to look like some sexist monster if I keep doing things this way.

~RpgOtaku-Elxia Jan 21, 2013 Student Traditional Artist

stick to your guns man . some of those groups are fine...were not going to think your evil because of it. im a girl ( a lesbian granted ) an i love pin up art and love to draw it . the thing is with comics though its not an occasional thing..you look at almost all of them and all you have to do is palette swap faces an outfits rarely skin color and you have the same girl..that plus the spine breaking poses...see my point? just keep in line the difference between sexy and powerful and jack off material.

~DonnyLurch Jan 22, 2013 Student

Thanks; it's good to get some feedback. It's probably silly of me to worry so much, but I just never thought about it so hard before, y'know?

~RpgOtaku-Elxia Jan 23, 2013 Student Traditional Artist

i get i mean granted im probably younger than you (well i know i am ) but even now i look back at my older drawings and notice im a girl...and still got stuck in the trap of doing that type of stuff. comics makes you used to it you just gotta unlearn it. one of the things i learned to do is to draw the character in realistic style .if it looked creepy as fuck it was an escher pose and i dont use it again.

~Niobesnuppa Jan 6, 2013

The muscular men aren't there to please us women, it's there as wish-fullfillment for the male readers, so obviously it's not quite the same. I hardly think there are a lot of us women who dream of being a mindless sex toy who's forbidden from covering more than 20% of the body with cloth.
Great picture.

~Inquisitor-Hein Dec 30, 2012

Well...there are many anti-male tropes in comics and media. The complete idiot, unable to function without his godess-like wife telling him what to do, the expendable "man in the red jacket" (getting killed for fun), etc, etc, etc... . Also, there are many one-trick-pony characters, reduced to just one aspect, they "hot bikini babe" is just one of many.

There are many negative, one-sided representations (of both genders in the media). And, if we do not want cencorship, everyone should be a legitimate target for an "equal opportonity offender" satirist.

Is that representation of a woman respectless? Certainly, but a respectlessness that should, that MUST be allowed in humor and satire. "Looking pretty" is by far not the worst or most respectless thing you can do to a comic character.

~Niobesnuppa Jan 6, 2013

It's not about just looking pretty, though; that's something both genders want. It's about the majority of women in videos games, comics, movies and music industry being reduced to half-naked sex objects while the male characters are still allowed to wear proper clothing and be non-sexy. Just take a look at the armour types in most RPG games: the male version will be a full-body suit covering all but the head, while the female version will just be a metal bikini with some shoulderpads, which is ridiculously impractical in a medieval setting where you're likely to get stabbed in the gut or cleavage if you don't have proper armour. It's fine to have this kind of thing if it's meant as a parody or joke of some kind, but when this is the norm in serious works with serious stories and the impractical female outfits have no relation to the character's personality, something is clearly not balanced here.

~Skull-the-Kid Nov 20, 2012

Well done, pal. Impossible to not agree.

~Stratigenia Nov 17, 2012

Women are objectified as sex objects. Men are objectified as disposable. Men are the ones expected to run into a burning building and save the women. Men go to war to die to protect the women. Men are the last ones off the burning boat. Men are the hordes of enemies you kill in video games because you need 500 enemies, and having female ones would be sexist. (The new God of War game is removing any violence against women completely. Men still get gratuitously ripped in half). When objectified, women are for pleasure, men are a meat shield.

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