Superhero Costumes: "Sexy"

All right, I'm going to talk about this because I think there needs to be a dissenting redblooded straight male opinion to the prevailing attitude on superhero costumes.

The prevailing attitude I'm talking about is this notion that a skimpy costume is the "most sexy" costume for a female character.

Now, I suppose I could be going out on a limb here, but if every single female in a room was wearing nearly nothing, would all that skin continue to mean anything? Some would say yes (probably as they manga-bled to death through their nostrils). I would not. (Of course, I don't especially like seeing such excessive amounts of skin-I'm more of a sweater and jeans kind of guy.)

I don't particularly mind the idea of the occasional "swimsuit issue" or even a character who mostly wears swimsuit-style garments. But there's a significant problem with this whole superchicks wearing nothingkinis all the time: What happens when a bullet slides right between all that cleavage and through a woman's heart?

Now, obviously this isn't a problem for, say, She-Hulk. She-Hulk's cleavage would stop that bullet cold. But what about the dozens of female superheroes/villains who have no durability advantage whatsoever who *still* run around with only a tiny layer of tiny cloth keeping it from being a birthday suit?

They probably ought to be very dead, if nothing else. Wear some Kevlar, consarnit!

I'm not necessarily saying that comic book women should dress like Dust, either. But...

(image courtesy of Major Spoilers)

I have to admit that I really like that costume. While I tend to think that it's an honest positive appraisal of what would probably be a typical costume for a male character, it could also be that the reason I think costumes like this one are so doggoned sexy is because they present such a strong contrast with costumes like Emma Frost's "costume" or those tiny things Shadow Lass usually wears.

I'll admit, there are quite a few "modest" costumes. Aside from Sensor Girl (whose alter-ego, Princess Projectra, goes rather strongly in the other direction), there are costumes like Jean Grey's '90s costume with the headband and the costume worn by Alpha Flight's Nemesis. Lately, though, for every "modest" costume (how modest they really are when they stick to the skin the way they do is rather questionable, of course), we get a costume like the Dark Phoenix type costume worn by Jean Grey in some alternate future where the only thing covering her chest was the Phoenix sigil itself, or a Star Sapphire (my eyes try to explode just from thinking about that one), or a Starfire costume (this one is frustrating because I really like Starfire otherwise), or for that matter an issue of a comic where everyone is running around in underwear.

It's also kind of funny; people seem to think that women can't wear man-superhero costumes, yet practically every single character from MC2 is a woman wearing a slightly modified man-costume (the only modification being the sizing). It's almost as if MC2 is trying to slap the rest of the comic industry in the face with a dose of nonstandardism, but MC2 sadly seems to be too quiet to get their attention. (That, or they're attempting to sexualize traditional superheroes like Captain America and Spider-Man. That seems more likely, actually.) There are a few male costumes that would look rather stupid on women, but let's face it: Most of them look stupid on men too.

Note that I haven't even really approached this from a feminist perspective. Probably just as well, too, since I'm not a feminist, and I'd likely botch any attempt.