Today in the overlap of classic comic books and “male writers have female characters expl

Today in the overlap of classic comic books and “male writers have female characters explain their ridiculous costumes are good for women actually” we have two classic pages from Emma Frost, aka White Queen (who we’ve previously featured been slut shamed for a costume male creators put her in) giving a ridiculous diatribe about how the costume is sexist but that means it’s empowering and is her armor actually… in a way that’s so convoluted it breaks the Female Armor Rhetoric Bingo.

But why does Emma wear that ridiculous outfit? Did legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont have complex thoughtsonfeminism, sexuality and social dynamics? Was it a symbol of power in the era it was created?  You can probably guess the answer is: No. Not even a little bit. The opposite of that.

The actual origin of the outfit is that in the 1960s, there was a super popular, super edgy (for it’s time) TV show called the Avengers and it had an episode A Touch of Brimstone in which super spy EmmaPeel infiltrates a club of debaucherous millionaires (trying to re-enact the legendary Hellfire Club) by posing an ultra elite, submissive sex worker, “The Queen of Sin”

(By the way, if the actress looks familiar and you can’t quite place her - that’s because the last time you saw her she was probably saying “Tell Cersei..  I want her to know it was me.”)

There’s more homages in there but yeah, after shamelessly copying content from a popular television show, Claremont then realized it was absurd even in that context and rather than reflect or revise, felt the need to put in this ridiculous warble about sexism in favour of women actually, if they just have the will to use it for their own advantage.

This is one of many reasons it is very difficult to have patience with people who insist that there’s actually good explanations and a lot of important symbolism in these things - because the symbolism is almost ways just misogyny and horniness with extra steps.

- wincenworks

P.S. That before someone rushes in to let me know Emma is evil at this point of her character development - the issue here is not whether she’s good or bad, it’s that the story is showing her beliefs as functions and has given her advantages over the other evil women.  It’s not portrayed as a delusion of the evil, it’s portrayed as a truth that only the evil are willing to exploit.

Edit:  I have received a couple of messages advising that Emma’s monologue was penned by Ann Nocenti, which creates a fun complicated dynamic given their history working together and Claremont’s history of sharing opinions.  Further commentary to follow, but thank you to the people who reached out.