One theme in comics is the idea that if only women were running things, it'd all be swell. Superia formed her group the Femizons to remake the world with this idea in mind. Nicole Hollander is credited with the quote "Can you imagine a world without men? No crime and lots of fat, happy women!" A variation of that was in the dialog of a Living Single episode. Synclaire asked Khadijah "But did you ever stop to think about what the world be like without men?" who replied "A bunch of fat happy women and no crime!" (Khadijah, of course, was played by Queen Latifah, who's famously plus-sized herself.)
I will admit, there's been times that I've thought the same. But to believe that, you have to assume that women are non-violent, ever-logical and inherently peaceful. This is demonstrably not the case. We are human, we are prone to making poor decisions just like our male counterparts, and whether we admit it or not, hormones do play a role in our behavior. (What the guys don't know, or don't want us to know is, their own hormones cycle just like ours. The difference is, their hormones follow a 24-hour cycle, instead of a monthly one.) You could make the argument that, because of this, men are much more likely to be on the same page with one another during the course of a day, where women, who don't all follow a perfect 28-day cycle, are potentially at odds with one another. (Menstrual synchrony studies have produced wildly differing results. It's an interesting idea, but one that has not been conclusively proven.) But I digress...
In my personal observations of women, myself included, I am forced to state that women would not make inherently better world leaders than men. Frankly, I think we'd ƒµ¢|< up just as badly as the men do, but in different ways. (No, I will not give up my Girl Card; unpopular truths are still truths.)
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| Saying things other woman may not like doesn't make me less of one. |
My husband and I have had a number of spirited discussion on the nature of women and men, politics and rights. There have been many times we've had to agree to disagree. We're coming at the topics from our own points of view, and that is colored by who we are as individuals as well as by our gender. And no matter how sympathetic we might each be to the opposite sex's point of view, we simply cannot truly understand the fe/male experience without living it. Added to that, I have some significant hot-button issues that I am not capable of being objective about, no matter how hard I try. The fact that I can acknowledge that makes me (usually) think a little more before I open my mouth and say something really inflammatory and turn a conversation into an argument. (No doubt he'd disagree, but there again, he can't understand just how much restraint I'm exercising, can he?)
ANYWAY... Back to the Femizons. The Femizons were a group of women assembled by an evil genius, Superia. Superia is pretty sure that a world ruled by women would be better than the one presently ruled by men, particularly on her Earth in her timeline. You see, Marvel Comics has multiple Earths. It's all pretty confusing, but Superia (real name Dr. Dierdre Wentworth) learns that she is the ancestor of a race of Amazons in a different timeline than "this" one (Earth-616) where we are. Naturally, she decides to try to bring about that same reality on this world, and gathers an army of ethically flexible females to help her bring it about.
This is wrong-headed on several levels, the first of which I have already touched on. But another flaw in Superia's plan is that she's recruited criminals to be part of -- founders of, really -- this new female-dominated society. Now, on the one hand, it makes some sense. You're going to want women who are not inclined to defer to men, strong women who won't take crap from anyone. On the other, you don't have to be a thug to be strong. And when loyalty can be purchased at the right price, it doesn't seem like the best foundation for trust and cooperation.
However wrong-headed it is, I am currently fascinated by the whole idea of the Femizons. Fortunately, to read up on the storyline, I don't have to hunt up hundreds of comics to get the full story. "The Superia Strategem" is a 6-issue miniseries in Captain America starting with #386 (1991). (Thank you, eBay...)
What I hope to do, because I need more projects, is to create the Femizons roster -- some 40+ women -- by customizing action figures. Many of the characters appear in only a few comic book issues. Add to the sparse appearances of these characters, they are also villains AND female, so they don't have action figures already, meaning that if I want to have the Femizons roster, I'll have to make them myself. The good news is, loose female figs can be had. (I don't want to buy minty carded ones because A. they're more expensive, B. some collector might want them and C. they're more expensive.) The bad news is, I am an utter novice at figure customization. And by "novice" I mean all I've done previously with toy customs is to repaint the eye color and tone down the lipstick on a Barbie doll. But there's more positive news: a good friend of mine does G.I. Joe custom figs and will be able to give me advice -- huzzah! So, once my 21 year old comic books and the box of loose women* arrive, I'll be able to take a closer look at the various characters and determine who will make the easiest first custom and find the right base figure for her.
I'm pretty sure that this is one of the more insane projects I've ever taken on. I mean, I don't have room to display all the figures I have now, let alone someplace to display 40 more. (I have some thoughts on that, though, so not an insurmountable issue.) If you read my other blog at all, Creative Miscellany, you know I have incredibly varied interests and a wretchedly short attention span. I have many dozens of UFOs† and WIPs‡ in varying stages of completion, starting anything new without finishing some of the old is madness, really. Which sort of proves my suggestion that this is one of the more insane projects I've taken on...
* In joke.
† UnFinished Objects
‡ Works In Progress
ANYWAY... Back to the Femizons. The Femizons were a group of women assembled by an evil genius, Superia. Superia is pretty sure that a world ruled by women would be better than the one presently ruled by men, particularly on her Earth in her timeline. You see, Marvel Comics has multiple Earths. It's all pretty confusing, but Superia (real name Dr. Dierdre Wentworth) learns that she is the ancestor of a race of Amazons in a different timeline than "this" one (Earth-616) where we are. Naturally, she decides to try to bring about that same reality on this world, and gathers an army of ethically flexible females to help her bring it about.
This is wrong-headed on several levels, the first of which I have already touched on. But another flaw in Superia's plan is that she's recruited criminals to be part of -- founders of, really -- this new female-dominated society. Now, on the one hand, it makes some sense. You're going to want women who are not inclined to defer to men, strong women who won't take crap from anyone. On the other, you don't have to be a thug to be strong. And when loyalty can be purchased at the right price, it doesn't seem like the best foundation for trust and cooperation.
However wrong-headed it is, I am currently fascinated by the whole idea of the Femizons. Fortunately, to read up on the storyline, I don't have to hunt up hundreds of comics to get the full story. "The Superia Strategem" is a 6-issue miniseries in Captain America starting with #386 (1991). (Thank you, eBay...)
What I hope to do, because I need more projects, is to create the Femizons roster -- some 40+ women -- by customizing action figures. Many of the characters appear in only a few comic book issues. Add to the sparse appearances of these characters, they are also villains AND female, so they don't have action figures already, meaning that if I want to have the Femizons roster, I'll have to make them myself. The good news is, loose female figs can be had. (I don't want to buy minty carded ones because A. they're more expensive, B. some collector might want them and C. they're more expensive.) The bad news is, I am an utter novice at figure customization. And by "novice" I mean all I've done previously with toy customs is to repaint the eye color and tone down the lipstick on a Barbie doll. But there's more positive news: a good friend of mine does G.I. Joe custom figs and will be able to give me advice -- huzzah! So, once my 21 year old comic books and the box of loose women* arrive, I'll be able to take a closer look at the various characters and determine who will make the easiest first custom and find the right base figure for her.
I'm pretty sure that this is one of the more insane projects I've ever taken on. I mean, I don't have room to display all the figures I have now, let alone someplace to display 40 more. (I have some thoughts on that, though, so not an insurmountable issue.) If you read my other blog at all, Creative Miscellany, you know I have incredibly varied interests and a wretchedly short attention span. I have many dozens of UFOs† and WIPs‡ in varying stages of completion, starting anything new without finishing some of the old is madness, really. Which sort of proves my suggestion that this is one of the more insane projects I've taken on...
* In joke.
† UnFinished Objects
‡ Works In Progress
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