Why women dont read a lot of American Comics:

Mr Wallstreet · Post by **Mr Wallstreet** » Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:20 pm

might have something to do with this:

I'm not against depicting women in comics in an attractive or seductive light but to be honest, most of the time women in comics are depicted in the most gratuitous way possible. Kind of hard to attract female readership (which is something all the companies constantly whine about trying to do) when most of the time, female characters are depicted as strippers.

The Warlord of Mars is just one example. I realize that its an older series and a lot of the costumers are kept the way they "traditionally" were but it doesn't mean they can't be tweaked to look a little less ridiculous.

Harley Quinn's costume is another fine example of DC screwing the pooch then thrusting its proboscis in the excrement. Harley's outfit was one of the few costumes that didn't objectify women; It was practical & had a personality that fit its wearer. In DCnU, she looks like a meth addict working the corners to help her get her next fix.

I realize I'm preaching & rambling but it was just something that irked me when and I wanted to get off my chest after seeing the latest solits on newsarama for Warlord of Mars.

Tragic Angelus · Post by **Tragic Angelus** » Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:30 pm

In general, I do agree about Warlord of Mars. It's one of the few books on the shelf that I actually feel guilty about seeing and just having out there whenever I'm at work. It definitely pushes that ideal of 'boys read them because of attractive women' to the utmost extreme, and derails any argument we could make for writing, characters, plots, etc just by sitting there.

As for why women don't read, I do feel that the depiction of the female form definitely has a hand in it, but it isn't the whole reason. Marketing is definitely done towards the whole of the male gender, yet all companies complain they lack significant female readership. The depiction is part of it, but I personally feel it goes much deeper and broader than just that. It is, however, the surface identifier that will put women off initially.