Although there doesn’t seem to be a news hook, The Times of India examines “Women in Refrigerators” syndrome, and looks at the treatment of female characters in superhero comics:
… So, are superheroines used to work off male fantasies? Ad-man Prahlad Kakkar says, “Superheroines serve the male fantasy of busty women flying around saving the day but finally settling into the arms of the ‘Geek’ God.”
Or maybe it’s because the writers are mostly male. Comic book writer, Gerry Conway, responsible for the death of Gwen Stacey (Spiderman) and rape of Cinder (Cinder and Ashe) says, “Male creators of comics act out subconscious adolescent male hostility toward women in their art.”
Samarjit Choudhry, VP, Gotham Comics (India) disagrees, “Superheroines are killed as often as the superheroes. Superman was killed and Batman was once turned into a feeble, old man of sixty.”
It’s a strange, somewhat choppy, article that reads like a summary of a longer story. Interesting, to be sure. But strange.
