Depiction of Gender in American Superhero Comic Books, 1960-2010
This blog was established to share the findings of a longitudinal quantitative content analysis of American superhero comics from 1960-2010. The project sought to identify how gender roles are represented in popular American superhero comic books and to measure how those representations have changed over time. Research was conducted in 2011 at Portland State University.
Our complete research paper is finally available in entirety in the Shared Files box in the upper right hand corner of this blog. The filename is Superhero_Study_Working.pdf, please feel free to download a copy. Note some grammatical or formatting revisions will likely be made in the near future, and we will keep the online copy current.
LOOK, UP IN THE SKY! IT’S A BIRD, IT’S A PLANE, IT’S A…BIKINI?
DEPICTION OF GENDER IN AMERICAN SUPERHERO COMIC BOOKS, 1960-2010
Jordan Augustdt, Michael Iacob, Arne Laudwehr, Andrew Meichtry & Dan Rudh
Portland State University
ABSTRACT
As the popularity of superhero fiction has surged, so too has the question of the genre’s depiction of gender. This research qualifies gender depiction in American superhero comics and measures how those depictions have changed over time. To quantify characterization and change, 720 comic book covers from 1960-2010 are analyzed based on gender variables. Analysis reveals depictions of violence against women have dropped but sexual stereotypes have risen. Nonetheless, the most recent content suggests decreasing use of gender stereotypes.
I will be presenting our research on Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at The 8th Annual Ronald E. McNair Student Research Conference at Portland State University. I am compiling some nice visualizations for the talk, and look forward to making them available on this blog shortly thereafter.
