Despite its Latina lead, I haven’t been reading White Tiger as I was planning to give it a look when the trade paperback comes out, but I have noted its outspoken co-writer, Tamora Pierce, actively participating in a variety of blogiverse discussions and debates and have been impressed with her willingness to speak out against some of the stuff Marvel’s published recently. I’ve never been more impressed with her than right now, though, in light of her public comments about the ridiculous Heroes for Hire #13 cover that’s currently enflaming the blogiverse:

Colleen Wing and Misty Knight are personal icons of mine. In the 1970s they were the first female heroes I found anywhere who satisfied my desires for female heroes: strong, funny, active, straight (sorry, gay and bi friends, but at the time there was a wealth of gay female warriors out there, thanks to Marion Zimmer Bradley and her sisterhood, and no straight ones), independent, fierce, into martial arts. I didn’t discover Lessa of Pern until after Misty and Colleen had me cheering with a comic book in my hands…

This cover makes me INSANE. It is nasty. It is degrading. It is everything I fight and write against.

Three supposedly strong, war-like women, strung up by their wrists, in chains, the emblem of the slave (paging John Norman…); dazed and helpless (someone on scans_daily said it would be hilarious if they were awake and mad; I think it would be powerful and redemptive); bared practically to their navels (but no nipple showing because nurturing organs would be dirty in this screwed-up pervo-catering censorship universe) as nameless Things with glowing eyes (and probably elongated barbed dicks) slaver in the background–and phallic tentacles reach up to their crotches. Misty’s clothes are ripped; she’s bleeding. Do her eyes and Colleen’s glimmer with tears? Colleen’s mouth hangs open–to receive a tentacle?

It’s not right that we have these powerful women. Let’s humiliate them publicly, on the cover. Let’s strip them of their power, wit, and rage, and show them off to everyone who walks by, to show what powerful women can expect, even when we’ve showed them being powerful. This is what happens when women strut along, kicking butt. This is what they can expect. Savor and learn!

The worst? It was drawn by a woman.

Now Marvel can say, see? We have women working for us, and moreover, she had no problem giving us the kind of cover you whiners have been squealing about. Real women give real men what they want.

Bra-fucking-vo!

Over at The Beat, where I first saw reference to Pierce’s comments, Heidi points out an interesting study that confirms what should really be common sense, but clearly isn’t:

AND…why are we still talking about this? Well heedthis new study: “Repeated exposure to one person’s viewpoint can have almost as much influence as exposure to shared opinions from multiple people. This finding shows that hearing an opinion multiple times increases the recipient’s sense of familiarity and in some cases gives a listener a false sense that an opinion is more widespread then it actually is.”
[via Kottke]

What’s particularly compelling about Pierce speaking out is that she’s a well-established writer outside of the small, insular comics world — who surely isn’t hurting for the work — and by speaking out so publicly and vehemently, Marvel can’t simply ignore the debate surrounding the cover. People who don’t get what all the fuss is about, who dismiss it as “it’s just comics”, are sadly short-sighted, not realizing that while superhero comics may have a relatively small audience relative to other forms of entertainment, they do not exist in a vacuum and are not immune to criticism of their lack of social graces.

That sound? It might just be the other shoe finally dropping.

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