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Writers and She-Hulk's sexuality
What's up with the writers? I mean, really? I was thinking about writing a post detailing all the ways in which Dan Slott projected his conflicted feelings about sexuality onto She-Hulk. Then I saw this post by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
box_in_the_box, and I realized that we're not done with this phenomena, even though Slott's left the book.
PAD says:
I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to side with the "not a good idea" contingent. I think any normal man who would have sex with She-Hulk is courting disaster. I don't care how stiff your stiffy is: She-Hulk's vaginal muscles alone, if she were to orgasm, would be enough to earn you a trip to the E.R. The price of a tumble with She-Hulk being broken bones pales in comparison to the prospect of a broken boner because, yes kids, it can break, and not all the king's horses, men or Viagra will put Humpty back together again. Lambskin Trojans? Forget that. Tony Stark must have used an amored condom. The Invinicible Iron Man Thing.
Is it possible that She-Hulk can't reach climax? I suppose. That would explain her bed hopping: An ongoing quest to find a man who can send her to Happyland. Me, I wouldn't want to roll those dice. I'm not sure how any guy would consider the bragging rights inherent in bagging the She-Hulk worth risking the rest of his sex life for, should he happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when She-Hulk finally gets her G-spot hit.
So Dan Slott writes stories about the evils of promiscuity, and PAD thinks that She-Hulk is physicially incapable of having sex with a 'normal man' and that her 'bed hopping' is a consequence of her not being able to find a man who can withstand her mighty vaginal muscles. That's 31 flavours of fail right there, folks, particularly considering that Jen and She-Hulk are both sexually active, and both canonically enjoy sex.
Don't get me wrong, I respect both Slott and PAD (most of the time) and enjoy their work (most of the time), but neither seems, for whatever reason to be comfortable with Jen's sexuality. Slott was so caught up in his Madonna(Jen)/whore(She-Hulk) complex that he devoted entire story arcs to showing how She-Hulk's slutting around was destructive, and how it impeded Jen's being able to develop a healthy sexuality of her own.
Let's review, shall we?
- After it's revealed in court that Starfox's powers can induce euphoria, and increase sexual assertiveness, Jen wonders if her own relationship with him was due to his powers. It's established that Starfox didn't use his powers on her, but the suggestion of date-rape and sexual manipulation has been introduced.
- Her marriage to John Jameson is annulled after Jen's feelings are revealed to be the result of a love-zap from Starfox.
- Jen has flings with Clay Quartermain and Tony Stark. Later, when she finds out that as part of the Illuminati, Tony helped to shoot her cousin into space, Jen confronts Tony, and is summarily injected with experimental power-control technology, and is dumped by the roadside in ill-fitting, torn clothing. I don't think it's difficult to see the metaphor there.
- Jen's colleague Mallory Book, calls her as a witness in the Leader's trial. Mallory's defense is that gamma radiation causes dramatic changes in personality, and that while 'under the influence' of gamma radiation, you aren't responsible for your actions. Jen's gamma-dysfunction is identified as She-Hulk's promiscuity. In a ha-ha-sex-is-so-funny scene, the minute hand on the courtroom clock zips around, as a miles long list of her sexual encounters is recited. Next Jen is compelled to reveal how many sexual partners she's had as Jen - it turns out to be iirc three. Two boyfriends, and this 'guy Gary from college'.
- Jen spends most of Slott's run denying she had a relationship with Juggernaut, which took place during Chuck Austin's time on Uncanny X-Men. Slott's run closes with the revelation that Jen was telling the truth! The Jen who slept with Cain was from an alternate dimension. That's right, he created an alternate dimension mystery plotline, solely in order to retcon a relationship he didn't approve of.
In the comments,box_in_the_box says "even Slott made her sexuality the butt of more than one running joke in his series, which lasted long enough that they stopped feeling affectionate and started feeling persucatory in an uncomfortably Puritan way." And I can't help but agree with this completely. This new 'She-Hulk of Steel, Men of Kleenex' idiocy strikes me the same way. Never mind the fact that vaginal penetration isn't a requirement for sexual satisfaction, the continued suggestion that She-Hulk's sexuality, and a as consequence Jen's sexuality, is dysfunctional, abnormal or somehow stunted is ugly.
box_in_the_box, and I realized that we're not done with this phenomena, even though Slott's left the book. PAD says:
I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to side with the "not a good idea" contingent. I think any normal man who would have sex with She-Hulk is courting disaster. I don't care how stiff your stiffy is: She-Hulk's vaginal muscles alone, if she were to orgasm, would be enough to earn you a trip to the E.R. The price of a tumble with She-Hulk being broken bones pales in comparison to the prospect of a broken boner because, yes kids, it can break, and not all the king's horses, men or Viagra will put Humpty back together again. Lambskin Trojans? Forget that. Tony Stark must have used an amored condom. The Invinicible Iron Man Thing.
Is it possible that She-Hulk can't reach climax? I suppose. That would explain her bed hopping: An ongoing quest to find a man who can send her to Happyland. Me, I wouldn't want to roll those dice. I'm not sure how any guy would consider the bragging rights inherent in bagging the She-Hulk worth risking the rest of his sex life for, should he happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when She-Hulk finally gets her G-spot hit.
So Dan Slott writes stories about the evils of promiscuity, and PAD thinks that She-Hulk is physicially incapable of having sex with a 'normal man' and that her 'bed hopping' is a consequence of her not being able to find a man who can withstand her mighty vaginal muscles. That's 31 flavours of fail right there, folks, particularly considering that Jen and She-Hulk are both sexually active, and both canonically enjoy sex.
Don't get me wrong, I respect both Slott and PAD (most of the time) and enjoy their work (most of the time), but neither seems, for whatever reason to be comfortable with Jen's sexuality. Slott was so caught up in his Madonna(Jen)/whore(She-Hulk) complex that he devoted entire story arcs to showing how She-Hulk's slutting around was destructive, and how it impeded Jen's being able to develop a healthy sexuality of her own.
Let's review, shall we?
- After it's revealed in court that Starfox's powers can induce euphoria, and increase sexual assertiveness, Jen wonders if her own relationship with him was due to his powers. It's established that Starfox didn't use his powers on her, but the suggestion of date-rape and sexual manipulation has been introduced.
- Her marriage to John Jameson is annulled after Jen's feelings are revealed to be the result of a love-zap from Starfox.
- Jen has flings with Clay Quartermain and Tony Stark. Later, when she finds out that as part of the Illuminati, Tony helped to shoot her cousin into space, Jen confronts Tony, and is summarily injected with experimental power-control technology, and is dumped by the roadside in ill-fitting, torn clothing. I don't think it's difficult to see the metaphor there.
- Jen's colleague Mallory Book, calls her as a witness in the Leader's trial. Mallory's defense is that gamma radiation causes dramatic changes in personality, and that while 'under the influence' of gamma radiation, you aren't responsible for your actions. Jen's gamma-dysfunction is identified as She-Hulk's promiscuity. In a ha-ha-sex-is-so-funny scene, the minute hand on the courtroom clock zips around, as a miles long list of her sexual encounters is recited. Next Jen is compelled to reveal how many sexual partners she's had as Jen - it turns out to be iirc three. Two boyfriends, and this 'guy Gary from college'.
- Jen spends most of Slott's run denying she had a relationship with Juggernaut, which took place during Chuck Austin's time on Uncanny X-Men. Slott's run closes with the revelation that Jen was telling the truth! The Jen who slept with Cain was from an alternate dimension. That's right, he created an alternate dimension mystery plotline, solely in order to retcon a relationship he didn't approve of.
In the comments,
box_in_the_box says "even Slott made her sexuality the butt of more than one running joke in his series, which lasted long enough that they stopped feeling affectionate and started feeling persucatory in an uncomfortably Puritan way." And I can't help but agree with this completely. This new 'She-Hulk of Steel, Men of Kleenex' idiocy strikes me the same way. Never mind the fact that vaginal penetration isn't a requirement for sexual satisfaction, the continued suggestion that She-Hulk's sexuality, and a as consequence Jen's sexuality, is dysfunctional, abnormal or somehow stunted is ugly.
no subject
::is dead of annoyance:: i've honestly always thought that marvel writers just can't write female characters well... i don't know why but they come off as whiny and annoying or sexual whores... sometimes both which... omg... can't read... it's sad really, the only woman i've consistently liked is sue storm...
it sucks for new readers who would want to get into she-hulk now only seeing this side of her, and only seeing that side of jen : (
no subject
I would say that her characterization in Slott's run, leaving aside the sexuality issues, is quite good. He gets how freaking amazing she is, and how committed she is to justice. So yay for that.
Which books have you been reading long-term? The X-books have a lot of fantastic, fully realized female characters.
it's sad really, the only woman i've consistently liked is sue storm...
Oh man, I can think of some seriously unlikeable Sue eras. Like every time she indulged in baseless jealousy of other women (Jen, Crystal), and her occasional lapses into meddling harridan territory. D: But yeah, over all Sue is pretty awesome.
no subject
no subject
This is just really annoying and disappointing. What's wrong with actually having a CONFIDENT female superhero? Can't we have at least one, aside from Wonder Woman, now that Gail Simone is writing her? Because I don't exactly see Tony Stark whining about how many women he's slept with.
no subject
Apparently no.;) It doesn't exactly surprise me that comic writers, by and large, aren't progressive when it comes to female sexuality, but of course I wish it were otherwise. She-Hulk is probably one of the better off heroines. Despite the creepy, anti-sex vibe that sneaks into her stories, at least she hasn't devolved to say, Emma Frost, Caricature of Aggressive Female Sexuality, levels.
Like most people, I was really disappointed with the WW relaunch - so far what Gail's done with her relationship with Nemesis is encouraging.