Batwoman as a male-fantasy lesbian

I’m just going to go with the CBS News link to the Associated Press story. Here’s some images.

Gay characters aren’t really new, even in superhero comic books (I never read Alpha Flight, but I remember thinking at the time when Northstar was coming out of the closet that it didn’t seem like much of a big deal. But that’s just me). I’m fine with a lesbian superheroine — I mean, I don’t care one way or another. I’ve just known several lesbians, and while they’ve all been beautiful women, none of them have looked like that.

I’m not saying lesbians can’t look like that because I know some do and while I realize that most superhero characters are presented in this idealized form, I can’t help think that the whole fanboy mindset has come into play here. I suppose DC going for “diversity” is not the same as DC going to “realism” but I think it would’ve been more inspiring to see a lesbian superheroine who wasn’t such a pander to the typical comic book demographic

I know the female comic book fan is in a much better place than she used to be 10 years ago (even five years ago), but it’s things like this that do remind me that, yes, this whole thing is still very much a boy’s club.