Hot Pants and Spandex Suits: Gender Representation in American Superhero Comic Books

by Esther De Dauw

The superheroes from DC and Marvel comics are some of the most iconic characters in popular culture today. But how do these figures idealize certain gender roles, body types, sexualities, and racial identities at the expense of others?
 
Hot Pants and Spandex Suits  offers a far-reaching look at how masculinity and femininity have been represented in American superhero comics, from the Golden and Silver Ages to the Modern Age. Scholar Esther De Dauw contrasts the bulletproof and musclebound phallic bodies of classic male heroes like Superman, Captain America, and Iron Man with the figures of female counterparts like Wonder Woman and Supergirl, who are drawn as superhumanly flexible and plastic. It also examines the genre’s ambivalent treatment of LGBTQ representation, from the presentation of gay male heroes Wiccan and Hulkling as a model minority couple to the troubling association of Batwoman’s lesbianism with monstrosity. Finally, it explores the intersection between gender and race through case studies of heroes like Luke Cage, Storm, and Ms. Marvel.
 
Hot Pants and Spandex Suits  is a fascinating and thought-provoking consideration of what superhero comics teach us about identity, embodiment, and sexuality.

Genres: Theory, Nonfiction, Comics

216 pages, Hardcover

Published January 15, 2021

Reviews

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hot Pants and Spandex Suits: Gender Representation in American Superhero Comic Books é, como diz seu título, um livro sobre a representação de gênero nos quadrinhos de super-heróis estadunidenses. A autora desenvolve uma ordenação de capítulos que vai dos corpos mais "normatizados" ou com maior "posição de poder" até os com menos. Assim, inicia com super-heróis masculinos e brancos, passando para super-heroínas mulheres brancas, depois super-heróis do espectro queer e finaliza com super-heróis e heroínas negros. Ao meu ver quanto mais "forte" a "posição de poder" destes corpos maior foi a crítica da autora e quanto maior foi a crítica da autora, melhor e mais interessante se tornava o texto. Um ótimo livro que traz novas visões sobre o estudo de gênero e dos super-heróis sem cair nas óbvias armadilhas dos lugares comuns deste tipo de estudo.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Academics often get stereotyped as studying things that don’t matter and initially a critical reading of race, sexuality and gender in comics might seem like that, but honestly this book was amazing. It uses comics as a vessel to talk about how pop culture reflects and influences the way we normalize identities in society. So if you can out up with 4 pages in the “underwear of power” (looking at you, Superman) I highly recommend this.

[Dan Newland · Rating 5 out of 5]

With topics ranging from Superman’s Underwear of Power to Kamala Khan's burkini, Hot Pants and Spandex Suits is a lively and thoughtful look at how American superhero comics have envisioned women as “plastic dolls” and men as “violent action heroes.”

Full Review: https://www.comicbookyeti.com/post/ho...