Q: Ramifications of having two strong women leads
Originally a question asked by
Emily on February 1, 1999 at the Unofficial Birds of
Prey Message Board
Okay, this has been bothering me for a while. Why
can't two strong, intelligent, independent women be presented in a comic book, television
show, movie, etc. without rumors of their being intimate with one another? I've heard
people online tell me that it is "obvious" that Oracle and Canary flirt with
each other. Upon re-reading the BOP stories, looking for this flirting, I found no such
evidence supporting this claim.
I don't have anything wrong with homosexuality,
but it always seems to me that two powerful women linked in friendship are targets for
rumors of something more "going on" (Dinah and Barbara, Xena and Gabrielle,
etc). You don't hear rumors about say, Batman and Commissioner Gordon (both strong,
intelligent, powerful men, linked by frienship), or Barry and Hal, etc. etc. Is it because
the strong women together are intimidating? Some weird fantasy? Or am I missing something?
Emily
Chuck: This subject REALLY frosts me. We've had letters to
BOP openly thanking me for writing a "mature lesbian relationship" between Babs
and Dinah. Where does this stuff come from? It is almost exclusive to comics that two
women who become close must be getting it on. The two have never actually MET in person
face to face!
Dinah, in her Black Canary persona, had briefly crossed
paths with Batgirl in the past. I've been asked to do a LEGENDS OF THE DCU arc about just
this subject. (Maybe I should gety off my duff and do it.)
But as far as I see it, Dinah has no reason to suspect
Batgirl and Oracle are one in the same. It's like saying to yourself, "I wonder if my
eighth grade science teacher is the voice on the Moviefone line?" There's just no
connection between the two except that Oracle often co-operates with the Batguys. But she
also does spade work for the JLA as well. And I always assumed she used a device to
disguise her voice when she speaks to Dinah.
Even if they did swing that way, when would they have
acted on it? When I first started in the business I worked with a pro who was going to
take two of his strongest female lead characters and have explore "alternate
lifestyles". I urged him not to do this as it was simply immature and dishonest for
the two characters involved. He ignored me.
I have no objection to an honest portrayal of gay
characters in comics but I hate it when people read things that are simply not there. If I
have one more letter talking about Connor Hawke being a homosexual, I'm going to have an
aneurism.
Glad you feel the same way.