Dudes VS. Chicks, Part 2

By | Wednesday, August 01, 2007 14 comments
I've highlighted this problem before, but in lieu of last week's largest gathering of comic book fans in the United States, I thought I'd bring up the point again: the male population of comic book fans is decidedly unhealthier than the female population. I've culled together another set of examples to prove my point and try to wake guys up to this issue. I swear I am not making this up. These are photos pulled from the Flickr Comic Con 2007 area, and I haven't changed the relative placement of the side-by-side pics...


Slim, healthy looking gal opposite scruffy, overweight guys


Paunchy, middle-aged guy with Dalek opposite slender women dressed as Mystique


Fit Star Wars fans Ghost and Magdalena opposite not-so-fit Babylon 5 fan G'Kar


Power Girl opposite Chef


This is exactly what I'm talkin' about!


Seriously -- I'm not even trying! These photos are all right next to each other!


The Doctor and American Maid


At least this one guy is honest with himself.


Thin Weta rep opposite chunky Buddy Christ


Yes, there were also some pictures of women who looked overweight enough to be considered unhealthy. And yes, there were also some pictures of guys who looked like they spent a good deal of time at the gym. I am not saying that all comic book women are healthier than all comic book men. But, by and large, let's look at the anecdotal evidence here, people! The women, on the whole, are healthier than the guys and I think something needs to be done about that!

Let me leave you with just one more image -- a screen capture from New Rage Order's CCI video reporting -- since Ms. Occasional Superheroine herself tried to counter my previous Dudes vs. Chicks entry...

A beefy Blair Marnell opposite a svelte Valerie D'Orazio


UPDATE: Fixed the identifiers on one caption. Thanks, Johnny!
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14 comments:

That Valerie D'Orazio is pretty cute :-)

I thought you might like that, Dave. ;)

(Puts nerd hat on)

Those "fit Star Wars fans" are actually fans of (L-R) Ghost and Magdalena, Dark Horse comics characters.

(Takes nerd hat away from you)

Magdalena is from Top Cow.

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure that Mystique is a dude! look closer at the arms and face..

Jim Shelley said...

I'm not sure about the Blair picture - I've met Blair (at HeroesCon 2006) and he was actually quite thin.

I think the shirt is just a bad fit.

Regardless, you are correct, but I *think* you could extend the pattern across several other subcultures (Horse Racing, Hockey, Rock Collecting)

Anonymous said...

I wonder though, in the case of these pictures, if it's more that the thin, fit women are the ones more likely to get their pictures taken or to even be wearing the type of costumes pictured in the first place.

I mean I'm not denying the scruffy overweight white guy trend you're seeing.

Jude M said...

Um. The woman with Captain America? Fit? I'm sorry, your ability to see fitness is seriously flawed, because women's arms and legs should not be that thin compared to, say, their heads. She is either a patient with a serious, probably terminal, illness such as cancer, or she is suffering from anorexia nervosa. Either way, she is not "fit."

KKGlinka said...

And those two mysterious punk chicks are Tank Girl and (probably) Jet Girl.

Anonymous said...

Going to have to quibble with you a little. I don't think it's fair to put the middle-aged guy alongside Mystique there. You need to compare apples to apples. Middle-aged-guy is going to have a harder time looking svelte than young-woman (which I THINK she is). Middle-aged-guy doesn't look so bad, and I'm a fitness nut. He's got a little bit of a gut, sure, but otherwise he has some muscle tone, which he gets points for.

G'kar & Darth: Can you really tell?

Darth, especially, could be a muscly guy under all that. you don't have to look like a soccer player or a swimmer to be healthy. Stocky guys can be really fit, too, they are just built that way.

But, yeah, most comic book guys are fatties. Shape up, fellas! If you're in Philadelphia, I'll show you how to work out!

In this particular showing of folks, I have to admit that not every set of pictures provides a perfect example of the health disparity. Some of the guys really aren't obese or anything, and might just happen to be wearing clothes that aren't hanging on them particularly well. And that one girl standing next to Captain America looks a bit too thin (I might add, though, that I certainly never called her "fit") but I think the camera angle and her relative position to the decidedly overweight Cap contribute to her appearance.

My point here was that I pulled these images in pairs from another site. Just browsing through a bank of photos from the Con taken by dozens of different people, I kept seeing this apparent health disparity between men and women.

Again, I'm NOT saying all male comic fans are fat or all female comic fans are healthy. I'm just saying that there seem to be a disproportionate number of unhealthy-looking men to healthy-looking women in the comics world, and something ought to be done about it.

Verge said...

well-played, Mr. Kleefeld -- well-played

...

(busy thinking up clever comeback post)

:-D

SmellsLike said...

I reckon the reason for skinnier women is because the women's costumes are more revealing, and also generally larger women feel worse about their appearance than larger guys do.

You'll note the guys costumes are mainly fully covering them too. If you find pics of men wearing more revealing costumes you'll probably see them more fit looking too.

Catnik said...

Hi.

First? Thin != healthy. Fat != unhealthy.

Secondly - female character costumes tend to be more revealing than male ones. It is much easier for as guy to dress up as a favorite character without putting his body on display. For chicks, even niquabs aren't safe - I'm looking at you, Dust!