Men *Never* Sacrifice the Sluts: The Virgin/Whore Dichotomy in Comics

Wonder Woman is a virgin.

That's a little weird to think about isn't it? I mean, in the Teen Titans Annual, it's very clear that Wonder Girl isn't following in her mentor's footsteps there. Odd that in one way, Cassie is more "experienced" than Diana.

But it's not like it's a big deal, after all. Sex is a choice to be undertaken, and there's certainly nothing wrong with a woman choosing to wait or partake whenever she's ready. And comics certainly have no dearth of strong, sexual female characters such as Oracle, Black Canary, Power Girl or Starfire.

But around the time she was in the courtroom for arraignment for killing Max Lord, there was a storyline with the Cheetah stalking Diana growling about her "purity" and how it made her favored by the gods moreso than the Cheetah herself.

It seems like an odd thing to be sensitive of, as Cheetah tends to be off her rocker, so there's no real reason to think anything of it beyond delusion, right? It doesn't even make sense, as of the Greek Goddesses who patron Diana, only three were virginal themselves (and neither Hestia nor Athena seemed particularly inclined to disfavor of the activity as long as it's not in their temples), of the others, Demeter was a fertility goddess and Aphrodite's the goddess of love... Only Artemis, in my very limited understanding of the Ancient Greek Pantheon really tended to favor virginity and that tended to be less important than strength or skill in the hunt. The Gods certainly didn't seem to glorify virginity. It must just be Cheetah being crazy and delusional as always, right?

But there are little things... A scene in Batgirl, with Batgirl and Spoiler, where Steph brings up her baby, causing Cassandra to confess that she'd never even kissed a boy. That part of Batman/Superman 19, where being kissed by Poison Ivy, Supergirl remarks shocked that that was her first kiss...

It doesn't really mean anything, I suppose. I mean, virginity certainly makes sense for both characters given their histories, temperaments and lack of opportunity. I certainly have no problem with young female characters being openly virginal.

But something about the portrayal bothered me. Steph's sexual history and pregnancy, written about poignantly enough in Robin, is suddenly relegated to a side comment designed to emphasize Cassandra's innocence. And in the case of Supergirl, the line read like something out of a silly school girl manga. I certainly never felt the need to proclaim my first kiss to anyone, and I don't know any other young girl who did.

I suppose, considering the skin tight, sewn up, leather almost-fetish outfit Cassandra wore as Batgirl, or the very open midriff, tight shirt and low riding skirt that make up Supergirl's costume, that it's beneficial to assert these provocative young women's "purity".

I'm a comic fan and as I'm not a masochist, obviously I'm not bothered terribly by skimpy or provocative outfits. But if the outfit is provocative enough to make one inclined to assert the lead character's virginity in such an obvious manner...maybe it needs redesigning.

As an example, Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark. I don't recall it outright stated, but it's assumed that until the Annual at least, she was a virgin. It was never needed to be said. She's pretty young, dressed like any other young girl (midriff included, unfortunately), and thus it's easy to assume. I certainly wasn't losing sleep about her virginity or lack thereof. Notice also, that in the upcoming Teen Titans, her character design is changed to look markedly older. A reflection of the change in status from virginal teen to sexual adult? If so, I'm not terribly bothered.

Stargirl, Courtney Whitmore, is another one. She's young, dressed like a stylized version of a normal teenager, I assume she's intended to be portrayed as a virgin, though it's not stated for sure. That's fine. Again I don't need to know.

I wouldn't need to know for Cassandra or Kara either. I know the character histories, but for some reason they felt the need to *say* that. Perhaps the over-the-top costumes are a part of that...

Which then leads to another question, putting these young girls in costumes based after predecessors...both Helena and Linda were adult sexual women...without alteration, or in the case of Kara, altering it to be *more* provocative, but at the same time emphasizing their virginity.

Well, what does that *say*? What does it say that Wonder Woman, in all other ways an embodiment of all the great potential within women, and wears a glorified bathing suit into battle I might add, is portrayed as a glorified virgin?

There's a rumor that Wonder Girl will be pregnant. Which might make for good drama, I certainly have no problem with babies, and Selina's story's going well...but it starts to look a little odd...

Cassie might be pregnant, seems to have (if temporarily) lost her powers and suffers a profound emotional loss, Mia has HIV, Steph is dead.

Three underage girls...three very dire life-changing (or life-destroying) fates. That might be a coincidence...but it disturbs me that every case of underage sex in comics that I can think of seems to have been or will be thematically "punished".

As for the older single, sexual women, most of whom I love and think are usually very well written, well... Barbara has been attacked and shot, Dinah has been tortured, Helena shot, Kory loses her people and planet (again), Karen's had her world upheaved, Hippolyta is dead.

That's a lot of misfortune to happen. Again, it's probably just a coincidence...

But I wonder what the Women In Refrigerators list would look like if we weeded out the virgins and the (currently married) wives.

Even more irritating has to do with personal histories, of those sexually active female characters...the only one I can think of without any sort of implied or actual sexual assault in her history is Karen. (And possibly Helena, I can't recall.)

And then there's Marvel, where the majority of female characters seem to be either currently married wives (Sue, Jean), somehow untouchable in either power or personality (Rogue, Storm), or constantly being reverted into young teenagedom, (Kitty, Jubilee).

I'm not saying every female character should have extra marital sex. I'm not saying that sex should even be brought up terribly often. But I'd like to lose the impression that *sexuality* is somehow a bad thing.

As for Cassandra, Kara and Diana, these virginal women in fetishized clothing, all dressed up yet emphasized to be untouched and pure...what the hell does that mean? That male readers can appreciate the sexuality of the outfits, but need to be *reassured* that these women haven't appreciated the sexuality of *anything*?!

Grow up!