We can be sheroes

September 24, 2011 12:29 PM

Superheroes are for girls too! (sltumblr) "Superheroes aren't just for little boys. Here you'll find lots of images of little girls from past and present who also love them." We've been talking a lot about gender and comics on MeFi lately, especially with respect to superheros. Here is a tumblr full of righteous babes.

This post goes out to the awesome little girl I saw proudly wearing her Spiderman costume at the post office the other day.

posted by mandymanwasregistered (47 comments total)

via!
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 12:30 PM on September 24, 2011

Do Batgirls become Batwomen too soon?
posted by roger ackroyd at 12:31 PM on September 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

Do Batgirls become Batwomen too soon?

Only if a licensed costume comes out for women.
posted by hal_c_on at 12:42 PM on September 24, 2011

That's like every other day at our house.
posted by Artw at 12:55 PM on September 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

Also, dressing your girl up as Hit-Girl? That's just wrong, and... oh, never mind.
posted by Artw at 12:57 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Stop training your kids to be assassins!
posted by P.o.B. at 1:02 PM on September 24, 2011

why does this one remind me of those photos of dogs dressed up in some stupid costume? The baby on the right is saying "Really, you're going to do this to me??? Really? Someday I'm going to be big and the mistake you've made isn't so much that you did this to me, but that you took a picture of it."
posted by HuronBob at 1:14 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

And super heroes come to feast

To taste the flesh not yet deceased.

And all I know ... is still the beast
posted by Eekacat at 1:17 PM on September 24, 2011

Usually I hate these blogs full of other peoples' "cute" kids. But this? This tugs at the only tiny shred of a maternal instinct I have (seriously, I've met bricks more nurturing than I am) and makes me want to be that awesome aunt that gets the kids into subversive feminist fantasy novels and dresses them up and takes them to DragonCon and gives them copies of Sin City at 13 so they can learn what not to do.

... I may be over thinking this on the basis of one of my two close female friends being pregnant, and the other already making video blogs for her as of yet un-conceived baby. Maybe.
posted by strixus at 1:25 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Supervillains are for girls too.
posted by The Hamms Bear at 1:26 PM on September 24, 2011

My daughter wears a batman costume everywhere she goes. People always call her batgirl and it pisses her off. She is NOT batgirl, she is BATMAN!

She's having a batman bday party today! Princess's aren't her thing, just superheros.
posted by Sweetmag at 1:40 PM on September 24, 2011 [7 favorites]

Usually I hate these blogs full of other peoples' "cute" kids.

Seriously, I find it so goddamn tedious. But ZOMG these chubby little batgirls have won me over completely.

The first halloween costume I can remember wearing was an astronaut dinosaur princess at age 4. That was the same year my fat bald baby cousin Sasha was dressed as Lenin, so it was a banner year for our family in general.
posted by elizardbits at 1:40 PM on September 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

It's telling that the superheroes girls want to dress up as are male, by and large, although there are a few Wonder Women. It seems like male superheroes appeal to everyone, but female superheroes appeal only to men.
posted by grouse at 1:43 PM on September 24, 2011

...and gives them copies of Sin City at 13 so they can learn what not to do.

That's a little excessive if you want to teach them how to write dialogue that isn't terrible. Why not expose them to well-written noir instead; give them something to aspire to?
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:59 PM on September 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

Cute!

I have a female coworker who comes to the lab dressed in spiderman clothing or wearing a small cape. She's the freaking awesomnest.
posted by porpoise at 2:01 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is great, but I have to say, this is one of the ONLY con Batmen I've ever seen who comes correct. Batman is the apex of human athleticism, his reflexes and strategy allow him to move where the bullets wont be, a sort of Wayne Gretsky of bullets, obviating the stupid looking body armor that has been de rigueur since the horrid Tim Burton movie.
posted by Scoo at 2:04 PM on September 24, 2011 [4 favorites]

On the other hand, Pink Batlantern might be better than everything that has come out of Green Lantern in the last 20 years or so. But the poem is lame. It should be something more like:

In brightest day or blackest night,
Present or in absentia,
Let all who worship evil's might
Fear this shade of light magenta!
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:04 PM on September 24, 2011 [11 favorites]

GenjiandProust, I believe in brutal teaching methods for the young. You must be made raw and bleeding before the learning can be embedded into your flesh, like gravel into the wound.
posted by strixus at 2:06 PM on September 24, 2011

Burton's Batman came out when I was five years old. I spent months with a towel around my neck, flying like a cape, running around the front yard. I spent many a Halloween as Batman, and it was always awesome. I hated being called Batgirl, too.
posted by meese at 2:10 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

I believe in brutal teaching methods for the young

But is "what does not kill you makes you Frank Miller" a solid pedagogical foundation?
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:18 PM on September 24, 2011 [5 favorites]

But is "what does not kill you makes you Frank Miller" a solid pedagogical foundation?

No, but it is fun.
posted by strixus at 2:49 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

P.o.B.: "Stop training your kids to be assassins!"

At first look I thought this said, Stop training your kids to be assholes!

Which is a good idea, actually.
posted by Splunge at 3:00 PM on September 24, 2011 [4 favorites]

This is so cute it makes my teeth hurt.

My nieces love superheroes too, particularly Wonder Woman and Supergirl. They've got stacks of comics (mostly that I bought them, but they picked them out after I flipped through to make sure they were appropriate), tons of toys, etc. Mostly my fault. The youngest niece isn't quite as into it but she wanted an Iron Man of her own for the longest time after seeing the commercials, and also a Bumblebee from Transformers (she would run around the house yelling TRANS-FORM-ERS! which amused her Optimus Prime-loving dad to no end). Doesn't do that much anymore (she's moved on to butterflies/princesses/ballerinas) but I have successfully convinced her to watch Brave and the Bold instead of Dora* and she liked it quite a bit.

So this blog warms my heart on a lot of levels.

* Yes I know Dora is more "educational" BUT SHE HAD WATCHED THE SAME ONE ON REPEAT FOR THE LAST 3 DAYS COME ON
posted by HostBryan at 3:33 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Relevant bar chart.
posted by charlie don't surf at 3:48 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

but female superheroes appeal only to men.

That's because they're all wearing bikinis and don't have cool utility belts.

I personally wanted to be a Musketeer, because SWORDS and HATS and OMG THE BOOTS.

Still do, actually.

Compared to that costume, your average superheroine weaponized bikini is definitely "meh."
posted by emjaybee at 3:51 PM on September 24, 2011

This is a little off topic, but is any one else upset with Dora?

I really like her outfit and how they didn't portray her to be super girly. Now all you can find is Dora in dresses or princess Dora. What happened?
posted by Sweetmag at 3:57 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Sweetmag - Marketing happened.
posted by HostBryan at 4:05 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Okay, so I don't usually whip out pics of my amazing-est "what are gender roles?" kid, but this thread seems like an totally appropriate place to post this* and say, "Suck it, Disney Princesses!"

*If it isn't obvious, she's the dinosaur.
posted by jeanmari at 4:58 PM on September 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

Man, I'd never get away with referring to Buddy from Dinosaur Train as "A dinosaur".
posted by Artw at 5:27 PM on September 24, 2011

"Grace as dinosaur"

What a wonderful collection of words.

(I am not being sarcastic)
posted by Hicksu at 5:28 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Dora on TV is pretty much Dora as she has always been, give or take the odd stint as a mermaid, but tell me, have you seen. The horror that is Dora's Explorer Girls (feat. Shakira)?
posted by Artw at 5:34 PM on September 24, 2011

Man, I'd never get away with referring to Buddy from Dinosaur Train as "A dinosaur".

Hahahaha. I know, I know. But she was really into him. We live in Chicago and saw him at the WTTW Kids Fun Run and, well, let's just say I'm happy that she didn't choose anything from this collection (because, yeah, we've seen these on 5-7 year olds and it makes me want to barf. Or kick their mom in the shins.)
posted by jeanmari at 5:41 PM on September 24, 2011

I was so excited to find the old Superfriends cartoons on Youtube. My daughter will watch any episode with Wonder Woman and/or Rima the Jungle Girl.
posted by mogget at 6:45 PM on September 24, 2011

I noticed recently that one of my company's client contacts is named Diana Prince. I can't decide if it would be awesome or awful to share a name with a superhero's alias. I'm thinking awesome.
posted by cali at 7:38 PM on September 24, 2011

It makes me NUTS that "goth" is a costume idea these days - especially for small children! Last thing I want to see is some small child dressed in the same way her parents attacked me in high school for. Why is dressing your child like a harlot okay these days? Especially when we're all so concerned that someone wants to touch them!

Not only that, but it seems a little meta for me... we dress for Halloween every day. We put some Halloween in your Halloween, so you can Halloween while you Halloween, yo.

Dammit, I worked really hard on that outfit just to have Target come along and make it in cheap material for every little kid to wear to pretend to be me.
posted by _paegan_ at 7:39 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

oh god if they showed up at my doorstep this Halloween they could have all the candy

no seriously, come on in, take my television
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 8:36 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Now all you can find is Dora in dresses or princess Dora. What happened?

There was a post here a while back about the dressification of Dora, which I am too lazy to google for you.
posted by elizardbits at 8:47 PM on September 24, 2011

Dora needs to pull an (Resident Evil) Alice.

Functional footwear, at the very least.
posted by porpoise at 10:00 PM on September 24, 2011

I lost hope in suburbia when I opened the door to see a child of 8 or 9 in a Hooters 'costume'. I think I gave her candy but I just conked out for a while so I'll never really know.

Super heroine costumes? Gotta love em, though I'm still waiting for Miss Vader. Embrace the dark side early youngling.
posted by Slackermagee at 12:30 AM on September 25, 2011

Man, this makes me wish I could find pics of myself in 1st grade dressed as Leondardo from TMNT.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:50 AM on September 25, 2011

I've got nothing to add except that this blog does my heart good. I hope a portion of these girls grow up to be women who create superhero comics that would be good things for girls to read.
posted by EatTheWeak at 9:27 AM on September 25, 2011

Oh god, I used to wear my Wonder Woman costume to the library EVERY TIME when I was a little kid. Eventually they put my picture in the paper because it became A Thing.

Augh this thread is also making me babycrazy, Strixus
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:13 PM on September 25, 2011

This is why girls don't want to be female superheroes. (hint: their parents don't want them dressing like that--the link is probably NSFW)

My daughter has been a rain cloud and Katara (from Avatar: TLA) at previous Halloweens. This year she gave up Poseidon (err what?) for a ninja. I say this not to brag, because I'm not responsible, but to illustrate the silent thank you I say every year that I'm not pulling her away from the "sassy" costume aisle (which is Target/Walmart's euphemism for "sexy").
posted by artifarce at 5:26 PM on September 25, 2011

This is why girls don't want to be female superheroes.

TBH I'm seeing no evidence whatsoever that girls don't want to be female superheroes. What I'm seeing is that they have no problem whatsoever with being male ones as well.
posted by Artw at 5:57 PM on September 25, 2011

I love this little girl in her Catwoman costume. Her expression is just.. amazingly cute.
posted by ashirys at 10:20 AM on September 26, 2011

the creator behind My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic working on a series of animated shorts teaming Wonder Girl, Batgirl, Supergirl called Super Best Friends Forever.
posted by Artw at 9:35 AM on October 4, 2011

Hey! Me and my little girl met the San Diego BatGirl without realising it!

(It was actually still pretty cool before I knew it was THE Batgirl. India and I basically had a great time at Geek Girl Con people watching all the cosplayers. Not many other kids her age though. )
posted by Artw at 10:14 AM on October 9, 2011