I've been seeing some of her YouTube videos, most of which focus on video games. I'm not a gamer, but her discussions about the Ms. Male Character and Women in Refrigerators Tropes made sense...and spawned this particular blog.
Jennifer Walters first appeared in 1980,
in her own title.
The character was created as a result from the popular The Incredible Hulk television show, and therefore is a proven example of the Ms. Male Character.
I admit this, as any true comic fan would.
But to my knowledge, she's never worn a pink bow.
As to her sexualization, yes. She's shown wearing skin-tight outfits that show off her body, along with other characters, like...
...Nightcrawler...
...Spider-Man...
...Captain America...
...Daredevil...
...and Superman - who I'm never going to look like, no matter how hard I try.
I'm not dismissing her exploitation, I'm including the visual exploitation of male characters with hers.
In "Women in Refrigerators", Sarkeesian talks about writers using a female character's death for no other reason than to move a male character's story arc forward or for improving a male character's development. She has a point. However, Marvel dealt with this topic in an interesting way over a decade before WIR became a trope.
In 1984, Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars was a crossover event that brought together most of their characters and titles into a single story arc. (A major endeavor, to be discussed at a later time.) In issue #7, Janet van Dyne (Wasp) was believed killed after the local healer tried to revive her to no avail. A lot of the remaining heroes were gearing up for payback when Cap stepped in and told them it wasn't the right time to do so.
True to her character at the time, Jennifer snuck off on her own. Twelve pages later, she's discovered at the villain's hideout by Bulldozer, one of the Wrecking Crew. On the next page, she's leveling the guy as the rest of the Crew show up. Then Titania arrives...
...and sees She-Hulk standing over an unconscious Bulldozer, Thunderball, Piledriver and Wrecker.
Soon more bad guys show up and She-Hulk loses the fight, and almost her life. The writers could have had Spider-Man go off on his own. Or Hulk. Or Thor. Or Thing, Iron Man, or even Human Torch. But they didn't, they chose She-Hulk. Now, an argument could be made that the end of the fight proves the point that if a female hero goes off on her own to fight a group of baddies that she could get killed. My argument is that if any one of those other heroes went off and did the same thing, the result would have been the same too.
I like her channel.
She's got a lot of valid points that do what all valid points should do: promote discussion.
