Episode 324: SexPoSition
on October 19, 2015
and modified on July 6, 2018.
Chapter: The Social Justice League
Characters: SexPo
Many thanks to my awesome Patron, Johnny, for the title suggestion.
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Oh, my…
I’d hire her.
She seems ideal for the position. Any number of positions, actually…
I think SexPo is hilarious. She probably wouldn’t go over well with the other new group members but as someone who works in adult comics I can appreciate that she wants to do something socially relevant with her abilities.
I definitely think she has potential as a character, but you’d need a reeeeally principled writer to do her justice. Especially for male writers, the temptation to write her as straight-up fanservice—as opposed to actually plumbing the depths of our culture’s messed-up attitudes toward sex—would be overwhelming.
(Just look at how many non-sex-oriented female superheroes are rewritten as straight-up fanservice…)
It would probably take less time to list the ones who aren’t.
You find a lot of them in Webcomics:
Gynostar, everyone in Grrl Power, Superbitch, Supermon, …
Even counting them it still takes less time to list the non-straight fanservice stuff.
Good point.
Good point.
Frankly I’d love it if she came back as more than just a 1-comic throw-away character.
In addition to the plenty of humor potential, sex workers are some of the most violently oppressed groups and individuals anywhere in the world, but especially in first-world countries like the USA.
Apparently there are a lot of right-wing religious conservatives and large, supposedly feminist organisations, that believe if you’ve ever given a man cause to smile, you don’t deserve to have any basic human rights, your freedom, or your children. Most of our current laws were written by such people.
hahaha SexPo’s expression in the last panel…
I really like her costume design. The “chest button” is a nice touch 🙂
Thank you. I had a lot of fun designing/drawing it.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It’s funny because it’s true. 😀
I totally overlooked that her costume is a series of Clitori. Can’t wait to see what’s next!
I did not see that until you mentioned it…
Yes, very Georgia O’Keeffe. I don’t know how I missed that either. I guess my eyes were somewhere else.
Oh good can’t unsee.
That’s hilarious.
That costume is the best.
I like the surgical gloves she’s wearing; just the right touch of cognitive dissonance. 🙂
they look more like condoms to me X’D
…I shudder to ask about the penises you put condoms on!
Remember kids, a responsible hero always uses protection.
I hope she changes those gloves every time after “examining” prostates. (Hmm … maybe she fights prostate cancer? After all, men have been forever demanding that feminists should do more for men …)
Damn it Jim (er, Joan)… she’s a sex-positive feminist superhero, not a urologist!
Just noticed the “star sapphire” tag on the strip. Cannot unsee the resemblance to the comic book Star Sapphire – just with labia everywhere. Brain breakingly hilarious!
😀
I didn’t think Star Sapphire immediately, who I thought of was Vampirella in pastels. But Carol Ferris is definitely there. 🙂
“…I could stand to hear a little more.”
-Jayne
Yay. Let’s go the sexual dumb blond route. Like that’s never been done to death and isn’t within itself sexist. ?
It would be just as sexist if she wasn’t blond. There’s also stereotypes about the sexuality of red and black haired women.
Patriarchy is shitty that way.
Besides, I think the fact that SexPo looks like something straight out of the average man’s wet dreams is sort of the point.
The joke wouldn’t work if she were old, fat and had boring brown hair and eyes.
She looks like the kind of woman who would dye her hair blond. The modern world is a shitty place for women who just happen to fit into the superficial beauty ideals of patriarchy … okay, the world is a shitty place for all women, period, but I bet the large-bosomed women out there are not too happy about pornstars getting breast implants and making them look like pornstars by association, either.
Not that there’s anything wrong with being a porn star…
I’m really not sure why you think she’s dumb. She was an astronaut for Pete’s sake.
She acts the stereotype. Also higher education/high paying job doesn’t necessarily dub you as “smart”. 😐
It’s an astronaut. If you’ve looked at the job description, they basically renaissance people.
… Hang on, how is someone ever an “ordinary” space explorer in a modern day(early 21st) society? Did… Did NASA get a crap load more funding in your universe?
… Can I go there?
Honestly, I don’t know what you’re talking about. If this character seems “dumb” to you, that’s you jumping to conclusions based on her appearance or the fact that she’s talking openly about sex. It’s not from anything in the comic.
I suspect half the fun of a character like this lies in confounding expectations. Not unlike Elle Woods in _Legally Blonde_, or Barbie in _Toy Story 2_…
You mean aside from how her catchphrase is?
Huh. No, I didn’t see that as making her look stupid. But I do appreciate hearing your point-of-view on it.
Presuming that it’s a reversal of “my eyes are up here,” I read it to mean “it’s okay to look at my breasts,” which in certain contexts could be a sex-positive thing to say. (Imagine if she were counseling a young hetero man raised to believe that all sexual desire is disgusting/dirty/sinful.)
Granted, however, I don’t see that it would work well for her in most situations. I think a more realistic catchphrase for her would be, “I like sex, but not necessarily with you” :-] (A refrain that many real-life sex-positive feminists have had to arm themselves with, unfortunately…)
Wow, you folks really know how to kill a joke. :p
Well, the fact that she’s a sex pozzie is kind of a hint. It is kinda dumb to imply that all other brands of feminism are sex-negative.
Midnight, I don’t think there are any men who look at women’s eyes too much and have to be told to ogle breasts more.
I’m not prepared to agree that she’s dumb until I know exactly how she got into the accident with an alien dildo.
Your draftsmanship is exceptonally strong for a comic artist. All your characters are always bang on model.
For example, SexPo’s hands in panel three. Drawn with just a few simple bold lines, but completely natural and exquisitely expressive. It must have taken you years to learn to do that.
The people who show up in your stories are, at bottom, burlesques — but your bold line and flat fill coloring raises them above mere silliness, and makes them into serious icons.
I mean, anyone can draw boobs. Hands are really difficult.
Please continue to find time to write and draw Gyno-Star.
My, that’s very flattering. Thanks for your kind words! And for appreciating the hands — that’s probably the highest compliment you could have given. Hands are difficult.
I have to admit I didn’t even notice the hands before I read your comment. (Which somewhat proves that they are well done – if they had seemed off, I would have been more likely to notice)
Those are really nice, natural-looking hands.
However, I must disagree with your claim that anyone can draw boobs. There are quite some people who seem to be unaware that there is such a thing as gravity and (natural) breasts are not exempt from it.
You might say that it is easier to learn how to draw boobs, but willful ignorance is possible.
“…anyone can draw boobs. Hands are really difficult.”
Profound.
For the record, SexPo is a real convention (expo) down under…
I probably could have guessed that. 🙂
“When I spread my arms, I can gather up the concentrated power of space energy and libido, then unleash it in a big spurt of power from my power tiara.”
I wonder who’s next.
White Knight, Drag King, Poverty Pimp?
The ideas basically write themselves 😛
What would be the superpower of Poverty Pimp? Oo
I, for one, hope there’ll be a candidate that is actually an useful addition to the group. At least one. Gynostar deserves some success.
Maybe a run of the mill feminist like the one described here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIOQNJMUtos
Well, White Knight showed up. 😀
Don’t grown women have nipples?
I think her nipples were removed by the alien dildo.
Torn on this one.
Most sex positive feminists have the opposite problem.
But.
I have context for her catch phrase, because I’m a sex positive feminist struggling with a sex phobia. I may have frustrated a few people into ordering me to engage their bodies, breasts and all, because breaking eye contact isn’t always easy…
Facing your fears isn’t easy. Even when you really want to.
I wonder if SexPo ever struggled with being afraid? She seems like she’s trying really hard to keep GynoStar off balance. Most sex positives I’ve met, feminist or otherwise, who are that ridiculously sexual, that ridiculously fast, are looking for exactly the same outcome she got in the end.
It’s a way to keep most people at a distance, so they can’t hurt you. And it tells you who actually thinks on that level, so they can’t hurt you either.
If any of this makes any sense?
It makes sense. But I don’t think you should over-think the comic. Some people are very open about sex and sexuality. Others, even though they approve of such openness in principle, still have trouble with it in practice, because sexual mores are deeply ingrained. Hence, I hope, humor.
Ha, the biggest difference between gyno-star and sexpo is that sexpo kept the tiara xD
Oh, for the love of…”put it in writing” doesn’t exist in this universe? I don’t how icky it is, you need to KNOW this stuff, GS!