SuperGIRL? Shouldn't that be SuperWOMAN?
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SuperGIRL? Shouldn't that be SuperWOMAN?
2019-01-20 05:54 PM PDT
BACK IN THE SIXTIES when I was just a young pup, Supergirl was my first crush. What the hell, I was just a kid, but I still like the fact that the woman could kick some ass just like her male cousin, and she's even beaten him a time or two.
Thinking about that got me wondering, why Supergirl instead of Superwoman? Why is she called a girl, while her cousin is called a man? I mean, come on, they didn't call Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, did they? Although, I do wonder how that would've went over?
I don't follow the comic world as closely as when I was a kid, so I have no idea if they even care, but it was brought up in the first Season of the Supergirl TV series starring Melissa Benoist as my first crush come back to life.
In the series, Calista Flockhart, playing the owner of an immense Newspaper Empire, Cat Grant, is the one who names her. She also just happens to be Supergirl's boss. The idea doesn't sit well with Kara Danvers, Supergirl's secret identity, and she even ask her why Supergirl? Why not Superwoman?
Her answer was that all woman are girls, aren't they? It was pretty dramatic, but to me, it was lame.
It's interesting to note that the very first Supergirl was actually called Superwoman.
In a 1943 DC comic, Action Comics #60 (May 1943), Lois Lane dreams she's a companion to Superman. I haven't read it, so I'm not really sure how that worked, but in that comic, she's called Superwoman.
It wasn't until 1959, Action Comics #252 (May 1959), that the most familiar version was introduced, and she was called Supergirl instead of Superwoman. It was the Fifties, and woman were still considered inferior to men, and that's probably the real reason she was called a girl. I'm sure some people must've complained, but obviously that didn't change anything.
Personally, I like the fact that she's called Supergirl, and it has nothing to do with woman being inferior to men.
Every single reference in English to the opposite sex, female, woman, she, and her, all of them somehow refer back to the male, like without them, women wouldn't be able to exist. Even Lady, I think, refers to a lad, the younger version of a man, and don't get me started on Ma'am, Madam, Mrs., Miss or Ms., because they all refer back to M for Male.
I have to laugh, because that all seems so petty, but it's important none the less. It's important, because the only exception that isn't derogatory is girl. It's the only one that doesn't reference back to a man somehow, and that's what I like about it.
Another reason I like it is because it's so deceptive. She's only a girl, what can she do? Obviously, those people conveniently forget that Supergirl beat her cousin a few times, and they're also clueless about Fearless Girl too.
In case you've been living under a rock for the past decade, Fearless Girl is a small statue in New York. It was only a small statue of a girl, but what caused the uproar was that she was facing the Wall Street Bull and daring it to charge her. That's my take on it anyway, and I had to laugh again, because what were they all worried about? After all, she's just a girl, what can she do?
She can do plenty and being a girl doesn't change a thing. It's like girls are the secret identities of the Superheroes all women really are.
It's too bad men, me included, can't see and appreciate that more often.
History is replete with examples of women being called on to step it up when men couldn't. World War II is the perfect example. Women stayed home and did the jobs men left behind, and they were awesome at it.
And, did you know that when the codes for the original computers were written, almost all of it was written by women?
Today, it's mostly a male profession, and not many of them seem to remember the contribution that woman made to their own history.
As a matter of fact, not too long ago, there was a big fuss over at Google when a manifesto was released explaining why women weren't qualified to write software. The guy who wrote it obviously didn't know his history either.
Ironically, social media is doing a hell of a job in helping to change those perceptions, and the #MeToo movement is a good example. It's moving fast too, and that gives me hope that maybe I'll still be around when equality for everyone finally does go global for real.
Besides social media, another interesting trend that I've noticed are women referring to themselves as grrls, or grrrls, and if you look up Riot grrrl on Wikipedia, you'll see what I mean.
Hmm, Supergrrrl?
I like it.
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FROM: http://www.amystrange.org/BLG-2019-01.html#201754a
I wrote this article/editorial at the beginning of this year (2019-01-20)
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Dave,
the Real AmyStrange
dug.amystrange.org
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= new reply since forum marked as read
You said:
I simply said Lois Lane was the girlfriend of Superman. She wasn't called Superwoman as far as I ever knew. Or was she?
Response to Amy-Strange (Original post)
