Women's Comics

For this assignment I read "Diary of a Dominatrix". I have to say that although it was very sexually explicit, it still maintained a light humor about it. Zelda, the main character, treats her dominatrix side so nonchalantly. Just like its normal and no big deal when she's whipping and beating these men into submission. For her this alter ego is just like another day at the office and I love that. I even like how the artist includes little paper dolls of Zelda to keep the comic lighthearted and fun.

I think something that was interesting to me is that this comic is about a topic that would seemingly be dominated by male writers. However, even if I had no prior knowledge of who wrote and illustrated the stories, I would still figure that it was a woman. The way that Zelda is drawn in a more voluptuous form than your typical poster girl for new age sexiness is a huge indicator for me. She's not just super thin with huge boobs. She got a little mass to her with huge boobs instead. I think that if a man were to illustrate this story that it wouldn't be this way at all. She would be a cookie-cutter image of what today's society has deemed attractive. The creator also shows this woman in ways that a man just couldn't because they're not a woman. The way she's not afraid to show this woman popping a zit or plucking the hairs out of her upper lip like all women do (whether they'll admit to it or not) is something that I don't think would be included if it were written by the opposite sex. Men just don't think of women that way. They might show her shaving, drying her hair, filing her nails... but the hair on the upper lip image I know would just never appear in a male created comic unless it was about an ugly chick and this comic clearly is not.