The Heroine in the Comic Movies

http://download.springer.com.libproxy.csun.edu/static/pdf/699/art%253A10.1007%252Fs11199-015-0455-3.pdf?originUrl=http%3A%2F%2Flink.springer.com%2Farticle%2F10.1007%2Fs11199-015-0455-3&token2=exp=1444363342~acl=%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2F699%2Fart%25253A10.1007%25252Fs11199-015-0455-3.pdf%3ForiginUrl%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Flink.springer.com%252Farticle%252F10.1007%252Fs11199-015-0455-3*~hmac=36736adce72171651a569c390635c354d32a98d6118571d488c92bb24564f0c6

     Hey guys!! You want to read more of me rambling about the female side of superheroes, and the way heroines and female victims are super sexualized in a ridiculously unrealistic way? Yes? Okay! Well, the link above is for the article I found this week from our school's library database. This article summarizes all the points we have been covering so far that relate specifically to the females in comics and, well, comic movies too.  

     The article "The Empowering (Super) Heroine? The Effects of Sexualized Female Characters in Superhero Films on Women" (^^link is right there) by Hillary Pennell and Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz introduces its readers a study whose sample were female undergraduates in the Midwestern region of the US in order to " examine the potential positive and negative influences of the gendered depictions of women in superhero films", as the authors state. The article moves on to explaining the way researchers used psychology, "cognitive and objectification theory frameworks", to find out and understand the potential influence unrealistic sexualized superheroines' bodies have on the female audience. And here is one of the conclusions the article serves us: " Exposure to the sexualized-heroine images resulted in lower body esteem". It then concludes that this might contribute to our understandings and belief about gender roles and body image expectations.

     Now, of course, I agree with this article since it summarizes most of my ideas (about females in comics and the portrayal of their body image) within the previous posts, AND it even gives a scientific psychological research behind it!! That is amazing because it makes me sound more reliable! Besides, it give more concrete explanation of the way women and men build their belief about gender roles from a young age as they read comics and watch comic movies. Maybe if we are more aware of the way sexualized heroines affect our subconscious, belief, and body esteem, then we might be more likely to resist taking super heroines bodies into an account when it comes to thinking of what our body image should look like.