Two epic things.

I know that everybody and their dog has already linked to this fantastic post by Laura Hudson over at Comics Alliance, but since it simply cannot be linked enough, here you go:

Since pointing out my issues with Starfire yesterday, I have received numerous e-mails -- from men -- accusing me of slut-shaming. Since there are a lot of people who don't understand the sexual dynamics that are in play here both creatively and culturally, I'd like to dissect this a little bit and explain why these scenes don't support sexually liberated women; they undermine them, and why after nearly 20 years of reading superhero books, these may finally have been the comics that broke me.

[...] This is not about these women wanting things; it's about men wanting to see them do things, and that takes something that really should be empowering -- the idea that women can own their sexuality -- and transforms it into yet another male fantasy. It takes away the actual power of the women and turns their "sexual liberation" into just another way for dudes to get off. And that is at least ten times as gross as regular cheesecake, minimum.

[RIDICULOUS IMAGE OF MOSTLY-NAKED STARFIRE CONTORTING HER BODY IN A BIZARRE WAY INSERTED RIGHT HERE - seriously just see it for yourself at the link.]

Why is she contorting her body in that weird way? Who is she posing for, because it doesn't even seem to be Roy Harper? The answer, dear reader, is that she is posing for you. News flash: Starfire isn't being promiscuous because this comic wants to support progressive notions of gender roles. Starfire is being promiscuous so that you can look at pictures like this:

[MORE NSFW IMAGES OF STARFIRE INSERTED HERE - images that were, yes, actually printed in the comic.]

If you really want to support Starfire's "liberated sexuality" like she's somehow a person with real agency, what people should really be campaigning for is more half-clothed dudes in suggestive poses to get drawn around her, since I'm sure that's what she'd like to see. But people don't really want that, do they? Because it's not about what Starfire wants. It's about what straight male readers want. And they want to see Starfire with her clothes falling off. And hey, hey -- there's nothing wrong with that specifically, but let's be honest about what's happening and who we're serving (or not serving) and at whose expense. And let's be honest about the fact that this treatment happens almost exclusively to women, which is a huge part of what makes it so problematic.

Memo to mansplainers: Stop using the word "slut-shaming" if you don't even know what it means.



Next, in more happy news: Fate/Zero is going to begin streaming on all Nico-Nico websites on October 1st with subtitles available in Korean, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. FUCK YEAH!