Women In Graphic Novels

This novel “is a book that truly speaks to adolescents in contemporary language and with teenage characters about adolescent sexuality” (Kaplan 27). Katherine is learning about her sexuality in the novel.

As young girls navigate the world around them, they’re often faced with threatening situations that can potentially harm them physically, emotionally, and mentally. The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates exemplifies how the outside world can be a hazardous place for young girls, and it is imperative for them to be aware of these circumstances to protect themselves. Through the use of vivid imagery, characterization, and symbols, Oates creates conflict that arises from generational differences in expectations and values, as well as the struggle for freedom that teens face with their families. The life of Connie, a rebellious but naive teenage girl, parallels the dangers of the outside world toward young

In the long legacy of DC comics there are two female archetypes who couldn 't be more different: one is a paragon of virtue and one is a psychopath. One has an abusive relationship with an insane criminal that defines her identity; the other encourages women and girls to fight for their independence. One has decades of historical canon and an inception full of purpose; the other was meant to be a one-off and a short amusement in a kids ' cartoon, but exploded into a phenomenon. Despite their many differences, they are both beloved the world over. They hold constant interest for fans over the years and, for many women, both mark milestones of feminism. To understand this phenomenon more we will take a closer look at the characters of

Connie is a fifteen year old girl who is confident and proud of herself, and almost feels as if she’s invincible, until she has a rude awakening when an unwanted visitor appears at her doorstep. The stories, "Lust" by Susan Minot, "ID" by Joyce Carol Oates, and "Where are you going, Where have you been?" also by, Joyce Carol Oates, describe the female coming of age. The female sexuality of these three young girls is that they didn’t understand their own reality, but yet wanted independence. The authors get across the message by using vivid symbols.

“It’s taken the fantasy genre decades to grow out of its image as a juvenile boys’ club obsessed with cleavage and crossbows” (Griner). Though science fiction has attempted to break the gender stereotypes against female characters, the genre still has a long way to go. Currently, the majority of female characters are still portrayed as over-sexualized, and dependent on male characters. When women are shown in heroic female roles, they are still belittled for not being a man. Seiter claims that “Many of the more stereotyped features of the portrayal of women…are also accurate reflections of the sexist reality of our society” (21). It is unfortunate that this claim is accurate, but it is. Science fiction is a fictional genre, providing an opportunity to break all stereotypes and create a world from scratch. But gender stereotypes have been ingrained into the world, making them difficult to break when producing fictional stories. Sexism has created a gender bias in science fiction that needs to be changed.

Being on the verge of adulthood and having just left the simplicity of childhood, teenagers have always been particularly complex and enigmatic individuals. While most people struggle to see things from an adolescent perspective, Canadian playwright Joan MacLeod is well-known for her accurate portrayal of teenagers. In 2002, she published The Shape of a Girl, a play related to the dramatic story of a young girl named Reena Virk who was tragically affected by bullying, a characteristic behavior of adolescent development. Throughout The Shape of a Girl, MacLeod effectively exploits the Aristotelian dramatic elements and she uses Reena Virk’s story as well as the thoughts that it produces in the antagonist’s mind to portray both adolescent character traits and behavioral patterns.

Comic books have taken on a “cultural boom” within the past few years. Many famous comic books have been transformed into movies, thus making the comic book industry more viewed. Even with new viewers the comic book industry is slowly dying. Monika Bartyzel contributes this failure to sexism within the comic book industry. In her article, “How Sexism is Destroying the Comic Book Industry” Bartyzel writes and argues points on why the comic book industry is sexist from obvious rape culture in it’s writing or the way women are perceived. She also points out how un-diverse the comic book industry is. Bartyzel backs up her points from quotes from various comic book writers and shows ways how the comic book industry could be improved by eliminating the sexism.

In order to properly view a story from a feminist perspective, it is important that the reader fully understands what the feminist perspective entails. “There are many feminist perspectives, and each perspective uses different approaches to analyze and interpret texts. One is that gender is “socially constructed” and another is that power is distributed unequally on the basis of sex, race, and ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, ability, sexuality, and economic class status” (South University Online, 2011, para. 1). The story “Girl” is an outline of the things young girls

This One Summer chronicles the days of a pre-teen girl named Rose Wallace at her families’ summer cottage. The black and white graphic novel details Rose’s time spent with her friend Windy and her family. As the girls discover their own body image (35) they also observe the dynamics between the male and female relationships among the local teenagers in the town. I focus my attention on page forty as Windy is called to as “Hip Hop” and Rose is called “Blondie” from the local older teenage guy known as Dunc and how that makes them feel. Most important is Windy and Rose hears another guy called the local girls Sarah and Jenny “Sluts.”

puberty bring with it a complex tradition of restrictions and behavioral guidelines. Kincaid’s poem reveals the rigidity and complexity of the social confines the girl is expected to operate underl. A girl is an induction into the women community as well as an orientation into the act of womanhood (Walkerdine et. al.). The lectured instructions given to the silent girl child vary from the housekeeping, “this is how you sweep a whole house”, to dealing with intimate relationships, “this is how a man bullies you; …how to bully a man” to medicine, “this is how to make good medicine (to abort)” (Kincaid).The inane patriarchal society expects gender stereotypes to prevail. The mother is tasked to give her daughter instructions on how to be a good woman in the stereotyped society. The advice the mother gives to the daughter cements the gender stereotype and portrays limitations on a woman (Bailey and Carol 107).

Jamaica Kincaid’s Girl explores these controversies and writes a long form poem that includes a list of rules for young girls to follow as advice that will help them be more likeable and become a reputable “woman”. These rules are delivered in a direct emphasis with strict undertone. The guidelines given to the young girl can be inferred as a mother teaching her daughter who is at the age of adolescence. Jamaica Kincaid’s long form poem Girl highlights the stereotypical social responsibilities of young girls which is heavily defined by language, culture, and mothers. In the poem the mother figure covers everything from how to

Abstract: This study analyzes the linguistic behavior of female characters in shoJo (girls) and ladies (women) manga (Japanese comics) and discusses the portrayal of female gender identities in the context of popular print media. Considering the great impact that Japanese print media has had over Japanese women's speech patterns throughout history, a linguistic analysis of female characters' speech patterns in shojo and ladies manga may reveal the kinds of representations of language and gender in manga and how these representations may affect Japanese women's gender identity today. Based on data collected through quantitative and

In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” the narration of a mother lecturing her daughter with sharp, commanding diction and unusual syntax, both affect the evolution of a scornful tone, that her daughter’s behavior will eventually lead her to a life of promiscuity that will affect the way people perceive her and respect her within her social circle. As well as the fact that it emphasizes expectations for young women to conform to a certain feminine ideal of domesticity as a social norm during this time and the danger of female sexuality.

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“Girl” is a short story in which the author, Jamaica Kincaid, unofficially presents the stereotypes of girls in the mid 1900s. Kincaid includes two major characters in the story “Girl”, they are the mother and the girl. Although the daughter only asks two questions in this story, she is the major character. The mother feels like her daughter is going in the wrong direction and not making the best decisions in her life. The whole story is basically the mother telling her daughter what affects her decisions will have in the future. The mother believes that because her daughter isn’t sitting, talking, cleaning, walking or singing correctly it will lead her to a path of destruction. “Girl” is a reflection of female sexuality, the power of family, and how family can help overcome future dangers.