Gender equality in comics soon?

We've seen them thrill fans and dominate screen space for ages and now, that tradition might take a historic turn.

If a young girl's plea has its way — you may no longer see just Batman and Superman hog all the limelight. The 11-year-old fifth-grader from Illinois, Rowan Hansen, has written to a comics company to question why only male superheroes get to have all the fun. She wants more superheroes to be women and with all the costumes too! She wrote, "I love your comics, but I would love them a lot more if there were more girls. I'm a girl and I'm upset that there aren't many girl superheroes or movies or comics. There are many Superman and Batman movies, but not a Wonder Woman one. Please do something about this, girls read comics too." Her parents, English professors at a University, said Rowan has been aware of gender inequity for years. And ever since her father posted her letter online, it went viral!

What it kick-started
It's the age of equality and gender-bending and this has created a furore of sorts. Folks have been writing on a microblogging site, showing solidarity and agreeing with Rowan. Some even shared their daughters pictures dressed as superheroes. One of them, Jessie Bennett wrote, 'Thanks Rowan for being an awesome role model for my daughter LilyLynn.' Another user posed with her daughter, dog and herself dressed as Wonder Women and wrote, 'We are Wonder Mom, Wonder Daughter, and Wonder Dog.' It was a show of strength for another parent, who put up a picture of her daughter and her friends who are diabetic, and said, 'A pic of our daughter & 2 friends — all 3 have type 1 diabetes & are definitely superheroes!' Appearing on a talk show, Rowan added, "If Batman gets to wear armour, then why doesn't Wonder Woman get to wear armour? I know that she's kind of invulnerable, but it would still be nicer if she didn't have to wear a bathing suit all the time." Is the new movement going to get women kick some ass for a change? We sure hope so!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=SUPERHEROES,gender equality,Comics

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