That's a Wrap my Heroes!

                                         

          Hello dear readers! It is time for us to end our insightful research and discussion of the Female Superhero Body Image. You and I have learned that even though we might not realize it, or even though some of us might not even be comic fans, we may be influenced to some level by superheroes' body image. Have you wondered why women are more openly insecure of their body-esteem? We know the social media has shaped us to believe that women should look in a particular way, however, another source of entertainment has also put its influence on us: the comic books and movies! They have been a source that has influenced us since our childhood, we just might not have realized the way we idealize our favorite superheroes and their body image. This blog post has brought you and me a new, less common, point of view on body image. I hope my research gives you information on the impact superheroes' bodies have on our self and body-esteem, and convinces you to love and embrace yourself and your body! Thank you so much for reading along! Bye everyone!!!


https://www.google.com/search?q=female+superhero&biw=1366&bih=643&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG0-y0hbrJAhUC8mMKHRCnDlEQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=female+superhero+comics&imgrc=AfKM3X8makqZQM%3A

Goodbye My Friends

By their very nature, superhero body images are not supposed to mean anything to society. However, it is harder than you think to internalize these childhood heroes as these flawless physical beings. Over the years, the unrealistic body images for men in comics have become more and more outrageous. Increased muscle size have become significantly rampant in these comic book characters. Looking at the new Spiderman figurines, they have all physically developed and are stacked with muscles from head to toe making them look like bodybuilders. Nowadays heroes like Superman, Batman, and Captain America have become the definitive example of unrealistic body images in comic books. They have become the "gold standard" for over the top ripped muscles. 

Body image is something we all struggle with, we all talk about it at one point or another, and we all wish we could look better. The media has passed the point where we as a society are now willing to criticize our own bodies but not willing to allow our friends to do the same to ours. Superhero body images in comics have intensified over the years and my question to you all is whether the idealization of superheroes over the years have caused a detrimental effect to our society. Thank you for taking your time to view my blog posts. Stay blessed my friends.

Hello & Goodbye for the Last Time

Original GIF Here

Hello for the last time. I hope all my readers have enjoyed my somewhat repetitive blog posts these last 12 weeks. Ha! I’m just kidding, but in all seriousness I really hope the message I left for you guys, my readers, actually had some impact on you. I know nowadays body image issues is a topic anyone can talk about it, but I hope my comic book twist helped shed a new light on this topic. After weeks and weeks of research on this topic, I was able to discover new views and different perspectives to a topic I thought everyone had the same view on. Who knew people thought superheroes with unrealistic bodies encouraged body positivity instead of discouraging it. Before I started this blog post, I had absolutely no idea people believed body image IN superhero comics were an issue. But thanks to all of my extensive research for this topic, I have discovered more about superheroes and more about the issue of body image. There’s not much left for me to say at this point because I'm sure this blog has already said it all. Thank you for reading. Fly high.

         -JG

Remix to Body Image

Hello again everyone! In today’s post we are going to mix it up and show you what it would be like if male superheroes were viewed in the way female superheroes were viewed and vice-versa. Throughout this semester the four of us have been focusing on different aspects of superheroes’ body image, so now we will try to open up your mind by presenting you with a gender swap in the way superhero body image is viewed by society. You know by now that female superheroes tend to be overly sexualized, while male superheroes are viewed as steroid, masculine guys. Well, let’s try to imagine the opposite for a moment:

First we have the lovely Kevin Phan posing as the one and only Wonder Woman!

Next we have our very talented blogger Geri Bozhinova showing off her muscles as Batman

Here the fab Michelle Orantes shows off her flexibility as she poses as the Amazing Spider-Man

Finally, the tiny Jessica Galura shows us how big she really is as she poses as the Hulk

Reliability

Hello! Let's take a second and look back at the previous blog posts about the female superhero and their body image- in most of them I included sources, such as articles from the web, scholarly articles, scholarly research and others to help me support my arguments regarding the influence of the physiques of superheroines over society. Today we will look at the reliability of sources. For this purpose, I am evaluating three new sources:

1) "The body unbound: Empowered, heroism and body image" by Ruth J. Beerman: A scholarly article.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21504857.2012.703959

In this article Ruth J. Beerman talks about the transformation of "disempowered" female characters who over time fight to become empowered, which leads to the emergence of a new female "vulnerable, human superheroine". She also mentions that the femininity and sexuality of that new character are key components to that character's empowerment along with the vulnerability.
This article is a reliable source that can support our group's blog topic of superhero body image and its influences on society (especially when it comes to my personal focus on the female side of this issue) because it is scholarly, and the author has done research that includes other sources like "Adam Warren's graphic novels Empowered", as stated in the article's abstract.

2) "The Objectification of Women in Comic Books" by JEHANZEB: A magazine article.
http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/non-fiction/articles/the-objectification-of-women-in-graphic-novels/

The author of this article focuses on the fact that females, whether it be the victims or heroines, were portrayed as rather subordinate in comic books, whereas males were more dominant. The article is divided into sections with subtitles, such as "The Damsel in Distress", "Women as Sex Objects", "Exploitation And Sexism", and so on, which helps the reader view different aspects and perspectives that cover the female body image and superheroine sexuality topic. All such perspectives are united within this topic, and show that females in comics can be either “powerful super-heroines like DC’s Wonder Woman or Marvel’s She-Hulk may easily overcome the most overwhelming threats and obstacles, but they are invariably depicted as alluring objects of desire, wearing the scantiest of costumes"  or "subordinate figures in the background".
This article is a magazine article, which can mean that strong personal opinion could be expressed, making its reliability questionable. However, the author "Jehanzeb is a film student who writes about Islam, Feminism, Politics, and Media. This piece was originally published on his blog" and this article in particular uses its length to explore universal issues like sexism and feminism, which could potentially have personal bias.

3) "Comic Book Women With Realistic Bodies Are The Heroines We Need" by Cavan Sieczkowski: A web source.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/26/comic-book-women-realistic-bodies_n_6761320.html

This article's main focus is on the unrealistic, unproportioned and supremely sexualized bodies of female superheroes. It is short source and most of its content are images of the existing superheroines compared with images of what more realistically proportioned superheroines should look like. The article comes from HUFF POST and expresses personal opinion with not enough scientific research and facts to back its point up. However, the author uses resources, such as Bulimia.com, " a website dedicated to providing information and support systems to those struggling with eating disorders, decided to transform covers of comic books depicting popular female -- and male -- characters". Even though the article's purpose is well-minded in the sense that it strives to portray a healthier body image of a female heroine that will therefore influence its readers in a more positive way and evoke a positive sense of self and body, the source is not necessarily reliable.

Let's Play a Guessing Game

This week I will be evaluating different sources regarding the body image of superheroes. Your job? Guess which kinds of sources I’ll be evaluating. It’s simple, I will evaluate and summarize three sources and all you have to do is guess whether it’s a scholarly source or a web source.

            Source #1: Medical Daily: “Holy Psychology, Batman! Fan’s Body Image Improved by Superheroes”

            This source regards the superhero fandom and their views on body image. In “Holy Psychology, Batman! Fan’s Body Image Improved by Superheroes”, Makini Brice explains that fans of superheroes feel stronger and more physically fit compared to others that are not a part of that fandom. The title of this source is very relevant to the meaning of the source. It is clear to see in the title the body image of superheroes in not negatively discussed like most sources regarding this topic. It is also a very current source and relevant to a very important problem in today’s society. This source however is not very dense and fairly short lengthwise. The author does not show signs of religious or political bias; however, it seems the author is in favor of superheroes. Although, the author does introduce counterarguments about how superheroes make some insecure about their bodies and uses specific quotes. The author’s name is located where the title is making it easy to know who wrote this source; although, I have not heard about this author prior to this post. This source was also published in a medical source document.

Reliable source: Yes

            Source #2: Project Muse: “The Hawkeye Initiative: Pinning Down Transformative Feminisms in Comic-Book Culture through Superhero Crossplay Fan Art”

            This source also regards superheroes and their body image along with several issues of feminism. This source was published in a larger source for librarians and publishers. The author’s name is again located with the title of the source; however, the publishing date is not as easy to find. It is a very extensive source with several illustrations to reinforce the arguments being made. There are also various quotes used to in each paragraph that are cited with the correct annotation and works cited; although it seems the author seems to be interpreting and summarizing the work of others to form the author’s argument.  The author refers to various footnotes.

Reliable source: Yes

            Source #3: ESPN Go: “The Body Issue: Super Heroes Edition”

            Following the topic of this blog, this source is also aimed toward superhero and body image. This source is a little different from the pervious source because of the fact this source’s focus is on image. Although all three sources regard the image of superheroes, this specific one actually uses images instead of words to inform their reader. This source is complied of different illustrations from different artist of different superheroes with a small quote from each artist. This means there is no real author of this source and the date of the source is no located in the source.  This source only contains about 10 images with 10 quotes making it a not a very extensive source. The author of the source does not have any political or religious bias; however, they are associated with a very well known source of media. There does seem to be a bias in favor of superheroes with a muscular physique. The title does however relate directly to the topic and what this source is trying to argue.

Reliable source: No

Answers:

Source #1- Web

Source #2- Scholarly

Source #3- Web

Unmasking Superhero Identities

Valdez, Jonathan Areola. Unmasking Identities: Superhero Representations of Asian Americans in Graphic Narratives. n.p.: San Diego State University, 2013.

Web resource:This web source is credible because there is an author. The author has a masters in Liberal Arts and Sciences from San Diego State University. Having graduated in 2013, Valdez knows more modern dilemmas and is more informed on different perspectives. The document was created to focus on the misrepresentations of Asian Americans in superhero comics. In his document Valdez also more generally sheds light on the issues of race, class, and gender. He claims that Marvel writers use a tactic called the Trojan Stereotype to depict their malicious ideas of the Asian American body. 


Lebel, Sabine. "'Tone Down the Boobs, Please!': Reading the Special Effect Body in Superhero Movies." CineAction, 77 (2009): 56-67.

Journal Article: Lebel's claim is that superheroes in today's society have overcome their small bodies in comic book beginnings and have become a preeminent part of North American pop culture. She backs up her claims by alluding to the continual re-embodiment of superheroes through generations of comic books and films. Lebel is a credible author because she provides evidence to support her claim that superhero body image plays a detrimental role in America's pop culture.


Dour, Halina J, and Sally A Theran. "The Interaction Between the Superhero Ideal and Maladaptive Perfectionism as Predictors of Unhealthy Eating Attitudes and Body Esteem." Body Image, 8.1 (2011): 93-96.

Scholarly Article: Halina Dour is a psychologist conducting research in her lab at UCLA. She claims that unhealthy eating habits and poor body self esteem is a result of the endorsement of the superhero body image and perfectionism. In her scholarly article she provides all of her sources in her paper. Conducting her research, Dour has discovered that the advocacy of superhero body image was significantly associated with unhealthy eating habits for our children. This article was sponsored by Elsevier Limited. 

3 New sources!

Hello readers, welcome to yet another discussion of Superhero body image I will be  discussing e new sources to justify my point how superheroes are viewed now a days and it's really effecting our society. 

Gender Stereotypes!

Media has  a great influence on our society, superhero movies have become a big hit now a days making a lot of money and portraying male roles and female roles to society and we seem to accept them.  The Avengers  earned about $1.5 billion on just ticket sales so we see how comma superheroes have become. We have to look at what they are giving us, stereotypes of genders and we just seem to accept it parents and children go alone with them. in reality, we don't have to let social media shape who we are, we don't put much attention to what they portrait nothing extremely sinful but males always being portrait as the leading role with weapon play and ideal body type and for females they look up to men with all these qualities giving women a false belief on what men should look like. Males are also portrayed as strong, assertive, fast, powerful leaders and women always as talkative , emotional and overexcited like her purpose is not at all important when it should be and that the image we are setting our kids to grow up in. Although the author does not use an opposing argument they give us a lot of facts and relevant and sufficient evidence supporting their argument which makes this article a reliable source. Their thesis, they say they will show us how much superhero programs have influenced gender type roles. 

Coyne, Sarah M., Jennifer R. Linder, Eric E. Rasmussen, David A. Nelson, and Kevin M. Collier. "Access to Restricted Resources." CSUN Library. N.p., 8 May 2014. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.

Would you become a superhero if you could? 
Many Children have the image of becoming a superhero, usually someone they look up to. Yet little do they know have hard it would be for them. Back when superman came out it was unrealistic for children to become superheroes, since superman came from another planet and was abilities that no human can posses while now Batman is just a normal person who decides to become a superhero except to become him will not at all be easy he is rich and build your body to perfection which is almost the impossible thing to do but to me thats not the point we should all be happy with the way we look yet media does not allow us to be. So, we all have the potential of becoming the ultimate superhero just with todays society not just anybody can achieve such thing you have to have a ripped perfect body for a male and of course females are now allowed to take a leading role but are hypersexualized.  This source I believe is reliable they give us a question that they answer with enough relevant evidence to the topic about whether you wanna be a superhero or not and if its achievable. 
Kenney, Caitlin. "I Wanna Be a Superhero." NPR. NPR, 17 July 2008. Web. 11 Nov. 2015.

What would you do to have the perfect body image?

Males feel the pressure for having the perfect body, every male now a days is portrait as perfect their is a lot for them to deal with and some can't achieve it just by intense work outs so they seek another form of help hazardous to their health, steroids. Superstars  that play the roles of the superheroes feel the need to achieve such perfection but very hard to achieve. They have lots more pressure they are the role models and that sometimes can get overwhelming. They have to deal with perfect figures and if they can't achieve such things they might even lose the part and they can't afford that that their form of income. we judge them without realizing all the stress they have to deal with is much more than the viewer but still very bad that we want to look like superhero portrait in cartoon when we are human and that sometimes or will always be unachievable.

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Think carefully!

Now that I have given you some insight on the way superheroes are portrait let's have a little fun can you guess who these superheroes are, in this Quiz that me and the co-founders on this blog have created for you have fun enjoy!

Quiz Me

Hey guys! If you want to further understand the purpose of our blog and take a little fun quiz, visit the link I have posted below. This quiz was created in collaboration with our co-founders Jessica, Geri, and Michelle. Thank you everyone!

http://herobodyimage.blogspot.com/2015/11/guess-who.html

"Guess Who"

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicargalura/guess-who-superhero-edition-1yf3v

How well do you know your superheroes?

Check out this cool quiz here to see if you can identify comic book superheroes based of a single body part!