The Guilfordian
April 17, 2015 ! 7
OPINION
WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM/OPINION
GUILFORDIAN@GUILFORD.EDU
Catwoman: bisexual or over-sexualized?
In a world of gods and men, there seems
to be a shortage of, well, people.
DC Comics and Marvel Comics, the
largest competitors in the business of
superheroes, have
created a combined total
.of over 400 superheroes
f in the span of 81 years.
? ^ Yet the percentage of
LGBTQA heroes is,
unsurprisingly, very low.
f That explains why
£- 4 Catwoman’s recently
revealed bisexuality
BY ANNIE could be the biggest
FULLWOOD breakthrough for
Staff Wr^r d^rsity in comics in a
long time.
LGBTQA characters
are hard to come across, but bisexual female
characters are almost impossible, especially
those with their own series. That a major
comic book character who has appeared
countless times on both big and small
screens has been revealed to be bisexual is a
major success for the LGBTQA community
in regards to diversity. However, there is
the ever-present fear that Catwoman’s
bisexuality may be overly sexualized in
order to draw male readers.
“Catwoman #39,” released Feb. 25,
featured the well-known antihero kissing
a fellow female character, and later her
sexuality was confirmed on the blog of the
Catwoman writer.
“She’s flirted around it — often quite
literally — for years now; for me, this wasn’t
a revelation so much as a confirmation,”
said writer Genevieve Valentine on her blog.
“Was it a surprise for (the characters)? In
terms of their sexualities, not particularly;
certainly it’s no surprise to Selina that she
has an attraction to a woman.”
Valentine described how the romantic
tension had been building between the
Issue 39 of Catwoman illustrated the character kissing a woman. Writer Genevieve Valentine later confirmed Catwoman's bisexuality on her blog.
two for a while and will not completely
overshadow her connection with Batman
That is not how bisexuality (or
humanity) works,” said Valentine. “Selina
doesn’t care easily, but when she does care
it strikes deep, and there will be plenty of
that coming up.”
The quiet and accepting response from
the general public is encouraging for the
future of diversity in comics.
“(The kiss that revealed Catwoman’s
sexuality) was an event that became clear,
and there was no publicizing it,” said Ben'
Marlin, associate professor of mathematics,
faculty advisor to the Yachting Club
and avid comic book fan. “It was just
something that happened because that’s
just something that happens in life.”
Unfortunately, comics have a history of
using sexual relationships among women
to increase readership.
For example, former Teen Titans member
Starfire has been recently rebooted into
the new comic series “Red Hood and the
Outlaws.” Within the series, many aspects
of Starfire’s character and past have been
changed from her original conception.
She conveniently lost her memories,
followed orders and quickly began dubious
relationships with her two fellow main
characters, who are both male.
“There were a handful of staff, mostly
other women, who believed the writer was
trying to equate being a strong woman with
being, frankly, a slut,” said an unnamed
source to Bleeding Cool writer Rich
Johnston. “No one said that the writer
was misogynistic, just that perhaps he was
writing from a male perspective.”
The current worry is that this perspective
may be applied to Catwoman’s own affairs.
However, considering the skill with which
the current Catwoman team is handling
her character, the problem seems unlikely
at the moment. What matters now is where
this development could lead the character
in later issues.
“It would interesting if DC made its
universe different from ours in terms of
prejudice (against bisexuals),” said Early
College student and comics fan Dylan
O’Connor. “But DC has definitely been
an activist before, so it would certainly be
cool to see them to do that again since
they’re kind of losing a lot of ground in
other aspects.”
For now, Catwoman fans are right to
rejoice. We can only hope Catwoman’s
bisexuality will help pave the way for new
LGBTQA comic-book characters.
Trans women deserve
equality in education
“In trans women’s eyes, I see a wisdom
that can only come from having to fight for
your right to be recognized as female, a raw
strength that only comes from unabashedly
asserting your right
to be feminine in an
inhospitable world,”
says Julia Serano in her
book “The Whipping
Girl: A Transsexud
Woman on Sexism
and ... Scapegoating
Femininity.”
The treatment of
BY WILLIAM transgender people is a
BURTON huge issue in America
Staff Writer and has recendy been
exemplified by a
Massachusetts women’s
liberal arts college. Wellesley College has
recendy amended its policy on accepting
transgender women. Women who identify as
female can now be admitted, regardless of
their legal sex.
Acceptance of transgender women
into a women’s college such as Wellesley
is a huge step m the right direction for a
greater acceptance of people who identify as
transgender.
“I understand that for the colleges it’s
a difficult decision because they’ve been
sort of budding their reputations, or their
communities, based around a particular
notion of what it means to be a women’s
college, and what it means to be a woman,”
said Lisa McLeod, associate professor of
^ philosophy. “I do think that people who
identify as women ... should be admitted
into women’s colleges.”
People who identify as transgender face
0 much oppression in America, and this is
something that needs to change.
“Transgender is an umbrella term for
people whose gender identity differs from
what is typically associated with the sex they
were assigned at birth,” according to the Gay
& Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
GLAAD also states that transgender
men and women are four times more likely
to experience poverty. Ninety percent of
transgender people experience harassment,
mistreatment or discrimination on the job.
Twenty-two percent of transgender
people who interacted with police reported
harassment by police, and 46 percent
of transgender people reported being
uncomfortable seeking police assistance.
Even though there is mistreatment of
transgender people in our country in general,
the mistreatment of transgender women is
especially prominent.
“Trans women are subject to dreadful
abuse and violence,” said Julie Winterich,
associate professor of sociology and
anthropology. “(Accepting transgender
women into women’s colleges) is one
springboard (to acceptance), and I think
whenever you institutionalize identities,
it opens up cultural conversation and
recognition of the different ways folks are
discriminated against.”
If women’s colleges across the country
have begun to accept transgender women
into their institutions, it could spark a
more acceptance in society as a whole. The
amount of discrimination that transgender
people face is truly astounding and needs to
be addressed.
Not only do changes need to be made in
the higher educational system, but changes
throughout society will help to create a
world where people can be accepted for who
they are.
Accepting transgender women into
women’s colleges will be a huge step in
the direction of justice and equity for all
oppressed people, regardless of how they
identify.
Swedish pronoun drives
the gender revolution
GENDERLESS PRONOUN HITS
SWEDISH DICTIONARIES
The word is “hen,” and it could mean a big
change for the gender binary.
According to the Swedish Academy,
Sweden’s gender-neutral pronoun is getting
incorporated into the
dictionary.
Finally, those removed
from the gender binary
^"■1 will be acknowledged.
Il- “This is a move that
gives the word a certain
legitimacy and recognizes
a need for a gender-neutral
pronoun,” said junior
BY NICOLE English major Laura Todd
ZELNIKER in an email interview.
Features Editor “Languages change over
time to accommodate the
needs of speakers.”
This is an incredible step for non-gender-
conforming persons, though it isn’t entirely
unexpected.
“Swedish society is very mindful toward
the needs of its citizens,” said Assistant
Director of Study Abroad Daniel Diaz.
Diaz studied abroad in Sweden in 2003.
“Sweden has, for a long time, been
extending liberties to different genders,”
said Diaz. “This has been a movement in
Sweden.”
Though “hen” has been around as a
gender-neutral pronoun since at least 2012
according to Newsweek, the move to the
dictionary means that Sweden as a country
is breaking out of a restrictive gender binary.
“We don’t have to follow dictionaries as
if they’re some ultimate authority, but... it’s
cool,” said Visiting Instructor of English Rod
Spellman.
This is something we aren’t even close to
accomplishing in the United States.
“It’s not even considered,” said sophomore
Taylor Brown. “We’ve taken steps to
(acknowledge the queer community), but
we’re not ready to accept more than two
binary genders.”
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines
“they,” one of the most common gender-
neutral pronouns in the U.S., as an acceptable
singular pronoun.
At the same time, those who use it as a
gender-neutral pronoun are often told they’re
wrong.
“People don’t want to have to accept
grammatically or socially that transgender
and non-binary people exist,” said first-year
Aron Correa.
Though “they” and “them” are the most
commonly used gender-neutral pronouns,
others include “zie” and “ey.”
“People are using those gender-neutral
pronouns,” said Diaz. “You do find people
who are starting to be very conscious in their
writing and speaking, (but) it will take more
time.”
Because the gender binary is so ingrained
in U.S. culture, it is hard for some to
acknowledge that their idea of gender isn’t
the only one.
Like in Sweden, there is need in the U.S.
for gender-neutral pronouns.
“It’s just going to make a lot of people
way more comfortable,” said Correa. “No
one can say, ‘Oh, you can’t have that as a
pronoun.’”
Different pronouns ultimately have
different connotations.
“Using a pronoun like ‘they’ means that I
am open to the idea that gender is not solidly
set and that I respect someone’s choice not
to be defined as one of the two binary
genders,” said Todd.
“‘He’ and ‘she’ carry baggage. ‘They’ also
carries baggage but of a different sort. The
language we use is a powerful way to declare
what we believe to be true.”