>I was challenged by circumstances surrounding a post that I made this morning to the FANTASTIC FORUM Facebook page. As I was scrolling through a popular site about comic book movies I noticed an item on an upcoming pornographic parody of Superman. I’ve been aware of a number of porn parodies of popular sci-fi and comic properties for some time but have deliberately avoided any mention of them on the program, FB page or here in this blog.
There were several responses to this post during the day which I saw this evening. One was from someone who was clearly offended by the post. I responded to one of the other replies and then posted an apology for giving offense to the person who indicated displeasure. But the incident started me thinking.
We live in a highly sexualized society. Not a day goes by where we aren’t bombarded by a host of sexual imagery and innuendo on the internet, television, radio and print advertising. Many of us, particularly in the United States, are absorbed with thoughts of sex and sexuality on a constant basis.
Superhero comics are innundated with hyper sexual imagery. The female figure in particular is exaggerated to accentuate the breasts, hips, thighs and buttocks. To say that most super heroines dress provacatively would be an understatement.
Given these facts, porn parodies of comics, science fiction, fantasy and horror genres were inevitable. These genres are natural ones for pornographic exploitation. Why aren’t they worthy of discussion?
My knee jerk reaction was a negative one based on my personal feeling that pornography objectifies and demeans women. But from what I’ve seen of some of this stuff, one could make an argument that men are equally objectified and demeaned by it.
So I’m wondering if it all warrants further investigation and discussion. Some of these parodies seem to have some genuinely humorous elements to them. With the increasing popularity and financial success of comicbook movies the porn parodies are proliferating. If the material is restricted from persons under legal age and appropriate discretion is taken to evaluate it responsibly perhaps a legitimate, objective discussion is possible.
