comic books and the female image

[Don Gately]

I was going through some of the stuff in my mom's garage the other day, and found my old comic books. I first read these in elementary school, probably 3rd or 4th grade. Going through them again, I immediately started to recognize one more source of images that gave me unrealistic expectations for women's bodies. Looking at the pictures of women, I even felt my brain do that thing where it sees an image, and kind of responds with a "that's what I'm looking for," which it also does when I see P, or Instagram models, magazine covers, etc. But I think the comic book influence was way more influential than I realized, and I'm still not sure how complete the recovery from its influence is going to be.

People talk about this and I'm always kind of like "meh, it can't be that big of a deal," but I hadn't actually looked at comics for a long, long time. The female characters are almost all porn-type bodies in unrealistically body-conforming outfits. I don't know if I have a specific question about this, but I thought I'd throw a few thoughts out there for anyone to respond to. I was going to put images up, but I figured it could be a trigger for some poor soul on here.

 

[Themadfapper]

I was a big comic book fan, although it depends on the era. I'm not too impressed with the current state of comics.

In defense of comics, the guys are also drawn unrealistically with impossibly small joints to go along with muscular aesthetic physiques. Comics to me are fantasy, and while I do think the people in comics look better than people do in real life I have no problem with it. Yes often times the women are drawn very shapely and attractive but I don't find it to be the same as porn. Obviously, it could be used that way and if it is a problem for someone then they should avoid it [ think Chris Griffen on family guy, lol].

 

[Endless Night]

I was going through some of the stuff in my mom's garage the other day, and found my old comic books. I first read these in elementary school, probably 3rd or 4th grade. Going through them again, I immediately started to recognize one more source of images that gave me unrealistic expectations for women's bodies. Looking at the pictures of women, I even felt my brain do that thing where it sees an image, and kind of responds with a "that's what I'm looking for," which it also does when I see P, or Instagram models, magazine covers, etc. But I think the comic book influence was way more influential than I realized, and I'm still not sure how complete the recovery from its influence is going to be.

People talk about this and I'm always kind of like "meh, it can't be that big of a deal," but I hadn't actually looked at comics for a long, long time. The female characters are almost all porn-type bodies in unrealistically body-conforming outfits. I don't know if I have a specific question about this, but I thought I'd throw a few thoughts out there for anyone to respond to. I was going to put images up, but I figured it could be a trigger for some poor soul on here.

P can be anything that appeals to one's prurient interests. I would often prefer to PMO to hentai manga over P videos of "real people". Because women in comics can be drawn to unrealistically emphasize sexual characteristics, they may actually be more damaging to the addict brain. Even with makeup and lighting, human beings are messy and imperfectly shaped; reality is messy. Comic women can be drawn with perfect skin, symmetrical features, and super-sexualized bodies.

I am not huge fan of comics, but I do enjoy animation and the art of comics. So I hope after my addict brain rewires, I will one day be able to read a comic for the story and characters, without becoming sexually arroused by the female characters. Because even if its a shampoo commercial, if it peaks my prurient interests, I consider it P -- and thus verboten.

 

[iHappy]

Check this out, it is an entry from my journal I wrote it a few day ago:

Trigger alert!!
I will be back to it shortly, but first.. I have a confession to make! It is nothing major but I have to write it down because it kinda suck that I am nowhere near complete recovery from porn addiction and I doubt it will ever be possible.
So...by watching league of legends streams I become tempted to check who are the new female streams and to see if the "old" ones are still there. Andddd they were. I tried watching the stream of one of them, but let's be honest here, I was never interested in her game play and the next thing I know, I was on her facebook page and checked a picture of her wearing shorts and short shirt, showing her perfectly flat belly. It was a huge turn on for me, and that is where I stopped. I can't still get that image of my head.
The sad thing is my inner addict tricked me, I went there without even thinking. That was an automatic reaction, that was my old habit.
The good thing is that I have stopped immediately, that one picture was it. I didn't not touch my dick nor I was thinking about watching porn or anything. That picture triggered negative emotions in me, loneliness and wanting to have a girlfriend ( but this was not for the sake of being connected or anything...but only because of sex ) and it kinda makes me wonder "Have I really stopped objectifying women's?" The answer to that question is YES! When I see a beautiful women in real life I don't think about her as a sex object, but when I see a girl on a screen....that is another story. Because of this I have stopped watching some of the tv shows because I can't stand watching beautiful actresses. It is painful and it leads to pointless suffering. Looks like i will have to deal with this by doing what I am doing right now, that is, avoid tv, internet, magazines and everything that contains pictures or videos of woman's. That is not a problem, it can and it will be done.
But I wonder...will this ever change? Will I ever be able to see a beautiful women on a tv and not think about sex? I mean, it doesn't even matter what is she doing or what is she wearing, I still get triggered.... Not triggered enough to act out and follow with PMO, but still... I will definitely have to avoid those triggers, because even I have a limit to how much triggering shit I can take before relapsing
Just to be clear here, I do not consider this as a relapse. Some people are strict about this stuff and I have already seen people restarting their counters for even smaller things. I won't because my goals are clear: No porn and masturbation. No orgasm at all until I meet a partner in real life ( that might take a while ), but that is fine. I need to get my shit together anyway and from what I've read in the success section of the forum, NoFap might help me a lot. In fact, it is already helping I can feel the increase in my confidence

What I want to say is that pictures and videos of woman's have a different impact on us than women's in real life. I feel like I will never be "Ok" with just seeing a beautiful women on a screen. I feel like I will always want to masturbate to it.
On the other hand, I don't feel that way when I see a beautiful women in real life. I want to connect and talk to her, not to masturbate on her picture....

@Endless Night I think you should also read my comment.
I doubt that will ever change. I would also like to enjoy a movie or tv show without thinking about PMO each time I see a beautiful actress, but...

 

[Don Gately]

I was a big comic book fan, although it depends on the era. I'm not too impressed with the current state of comics.

In defense of comics, the guys are also drawn unrealistically with impossibly small joints to go along with muscular aesthetic physiques. Comics to me are fantasy, and while I do think the people in comics look better than people do in real life I have no problem with it. Yes often times thewomen are drawn very shapely and attractive but I don't find it to be the same as porn. Obviously, it could be used that way and if it is a problem for someone then they should avoid it [ think Chris Griffen on family guy, lol].

Portraying the men in unrealistic ways doesn't really justify anything though. I think I'm a bit messed up with my own body-image from a lot of the males we see in different places, too. Probably I'm just kind of sensitive and way self-conscious, and I don't expect anyone to build a society just to protect me from my insecurities, but there are tons of us on this forum, and tons more who should be.
I know some hero stories have revolved around legendary giants and unrealistic attributes (Goliath, Paul Bunyan, Odysseus, etc.) for a long, long time. Maybe it's just part of my personality that I blend fantasy and reality a little more than other people, but there is definitely something toxic going on. I mean, these are just artists working in offices with ink and paper (and now digital methods, too). Most of them are geeky, too.
I was pretty happy with the girl they picked for Rey in the new Star Wars. She's cute, but not unrealistically cute, and doesn't seem to have a body that was conjured up by plastic surgery. More thoughts to follow...

 

[Themadfapper]

^ I was thinking of posting that very same meme to make my point, lol.

I don't think the unrealistic portrayals are such a bad thing for me at least. To me, it's a fantasy I don't think I will be crawling up walls like a spider or jumping 40 feet in the air anytime soon either. I liked how they portrayed the female characters in comics back in the 80s although I was a child then and didn't see the sexual side of it as much. Perhaps it did have a negative effect on me, but I don't see it and still like comics.

As for he-man, being muscular and strong is healthy. The only thing that I can get that is negative from that he man doll is that he has such a small waist. I always wanted a small waist, but now realise it isn't actually a great thing or conducive to better athletic performance.

Obviously, He-man is beyond what is healthy for men, but I got no problem with how he looks. Not everyone is built like a mack truck either and for some slimmer, builds are more healthy and obtainable. Like Micheal Jordan or Usain bolt, or a famous tennis player. This body image stuff comes from feminism I think and that is a very poisonous and batshit crazy ideology, IMO. If your not obsessed with what other people think of you and about what girls think of you, then you probably won't have much body image issues. Do it for yourself and what you like and think is achievable and compete with yourself and don't concern yourself with what girls think is hot which will change with the wind from muscular freak to gay twink, etc.


P.S

Refresh my memory. Other than his amazing Journey what was so unrealistic about the attributes of Odysseus? Certainly a brave fellow who had some pretty amazing adventures but I don't recall him being like Achilles or something of that nature.

 

[Don Gately]

^ I was thinking of posting that very same meme to make my point, lol.

I don't think the unrealistic portrayals are such a bad thing for me at least. To me, it's a fantasy I don't think I will be crawling up walls like a spider or jumping 40 feet in the air anytime soon either. I liked how they portrayed the female characters in comics back in the 80s although I was a child then and didn't see the sexual side of it as much. Perhaps it did have a negative effect on me, but I don't see it and still like comics.

As for he-man, being muscular and strong is healthy. The only thing that I can get that is negative from that he man doll is that he has such a small waist. I always wanted a small waist, but now realise it isn't actually a great thing or conducive to better athletic performance.

Obviously, He-man is beyond what is healthy for men, but I got no problem with how he looks. Not everyone is built like a mack truck either and for some slimmer, builds are more healthy and obtainable. Like Micheal Jordan or Usain bolt, or a famous tennis player. This body image stuff comes from feminism I think and that is a very poisonous and batshit crazy ideology, IMO. If your not obsessed with what other people think of you and about what girls think of you, then you probably won't have much body image issues. Do it for yourself and what you like and think is achievable and compete with yourself and don't concern yourself with what girls think is hot which will change with the wind from muscular freak to gay twink, etc.


P.S

Refresh my memory. Other than his amazing Journey what was so unrealistic about the attributes of Odysseus? Certainly a brave fellow who had some pretty amazing adventures but I don't recall him being like Achilles or something of that nature.

Yeah that's a good point. I guess I just kind of put that together mentally from how he's stronger than everyone (no one else can bend his bow), and how he slaughters all Penelope's suitors. It wouldn't necessarily take extra strength to shoot through the axe heads. But there was also Saul http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/9-2.htm, who was a head taller than everyone else in Israel, and better-looking, too. Although Saul turns out to be tragic, so maybe not. I have no idea what I'm talking about. I think it totally makes sense that we want our heroes to look heroic, and our women to be babes. It's likely I'm just bitter over being duped by some of the fantasies that I wasn't all that aware I was buying into, and how I didn't end up married to a model or fall in love and marry someone who wasn't. But I'm aware that I'm ridiculous.

 

[Themadfapper]

^ Your probably right about Odysseus based on all the things you said. My memory is terrible, from what I do remember he was a captive suitor for a Goddess on an Island and fought a cyclops [ although he used mostly craft rather than strength] unrealistic may not have been a bad choice of words, lol.

Saul, however, was definitely not the hero of the story, that one I do remember, lol.

Models aren't usually all that beautiful underneath all the paint anyways. Beauty is an illusion, people are just people. Would you really be a different person if you had big bulging muscles, took steroids, got some plastic surgery and looked like an adonis? Same with girls except most of their looks come off in the shower.

 

[Don Gately]

I thought about the use of that word after I wrote it. "Model" was sort of a catch-all term for someone really attractive. Just pining over here, dudes.