Indian comic creates female superhero to tackle rape
(I've posted about this before, but it's worth revisiting; I would love to see something like this in America--plus I really want to read this comic)
The rape by six men of the 23-year-old Delhi medical student who later died of her injuries sparked national protests and changes to India’s rape laws. For film-maker Ram Devineni, founder of the publisher and film production company Rattapallax, it also led to Priya’s Shakti, a new comic for teenagers which Rattapallax says is “rooted in ancient matriarchal traditions that have been displaced in modern representations of Hindu culture”, and which is intended to support “the movement against patriarchy, misogyny and indifference through love, creativity and solidarity”.
Illustrated by Dan Goldman, the comic is about to be unveiled at Mumbai Comic-Con. It tells the story of Priya, devoted to the goddess Parvati, and as a young girl, full of dreams of becoming a teacher. But she is told by her father to stop going to school, and to stay home and take care of the house. As she grows up, she is the victim of increasing sexual violence, until she is raped - and then thrown out of the family home.
Parvati is horrified to discover what women on earth go through, and inspires Priya to speak out and spread a new message to the world: to treat women with respect, educate all children, and speak out when a woman is being mistreated. Priya, riding on a tiger, returns to her village. She is, said Devineni, “a new hero for a modern India”.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/dec/18/india-comic-superhero-tackle-rape-women-priyas-shakti-parvati
= new reply since forum marked as read
The first issue of Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue Deconnick and Valentine De Landro had a very thoughtful essay at the end by Danielle Henderson ("The striking thing about Bitch Planet is that we're already on it. We don't have to get thrown on a shuttle to be judged non-compliant - be a little overweight, talk too loud, have an opinion on the internet - or be a woman of color."
. Its only one issue in and I have some reservations about it - but it certainly made me think. It's set in a future in which woman who are not compliant or who are outside the norms are sent to another planet - basically it's a modern remash of the woman prison movie, taking that exploitive genre and giving it a sci-fi setting and an interesting sensibility.
Anyway I'm going to follow it for a few issues and see where it goes.
Bryant
