Why are male X-Men allowed to be fat but female X-Men aren't?

[Domino_Dare-Doll]

Most of the creators at the top arent gay males or females, and arent catering to them. The ones that are and have been vocal have had shades of that influence in their work but they are by and large a minority hence why we see more material catered to straight white men

Then we need to keep challenging that.

[Havok83]

Then we need to keep challenging that.

Of course. It continues to be an ongoing struggle but to their credit, the current X-line has more openly LGBT creators (and those of color) working on the books so maybe we are in for a shift

[Domino_Dare-Doll]

Of course. It continues to be an ongoing struggle but to their credit, the current X-line has more openly LGBT creators (and those of color) working on the books so maybe we are in for a shift

Oh definitely! Always gotta admire progress where it happens; sure it might be a slow step, but the fact that they haven't retconned Bobby's sexuality is so encouraging!! If there's anyone who can help push progress more into the mainstream, it's Iceman! <3

[bladeofdarkness]

Are you sure? Because I've heard that the readership's been growing on that demograph. Besides; what would even be the harm in being a bit more inclusive for them. I mean, it's just variant covers and if you've got the exact same equal standards to draw men and women by then, so what? The sexy, exploited ladies would still be there, but now just joined by equally sexy and equally exploited men. Everyone wins.

I think you're operating on a potentially flawed premise - you're assuming that said "Sexy" variants would attract a large number of gay people who would otherwise not be into said characters - I'm not convinced this is the case.
I'm no expert on what marketing works best on groups other then straight men (being one myself) but I'm not sure that kind of blatant eye candy would catch you all that many new gay readers - and it probably would turn off at least some of the straight ones.
After all - who the hell wants to explain why you've got a comic with Cyclops doing stripper poses on the cover if one of your mates visits.

Edit:
Anyway, I kinda have to go now.
This was fun
bye.

[Domino_Dare-Doll]

I think you're operating on a potentially flawed premise - you're assuming that said "Sexy" variants would attract a large number of gay people who would otherwise not be into said characters - I'm not convinced this is the case.
I'm no expert on what marketing works best on groups other then straight men (being one myself) but I'm not sure that kind of blatant eye candy would catch you all that many new gay readers - and it probably would turn off at least some of the straight ones.
After all - who the hell wants to explain why you've got a comic with Cyclops doing stripper poses on the cover if one of your mates visits.

You operated on the same premise though; that sex sells. If it works for a straight male who's wandered into a shop to pick up his first comic, why not a gay one? You even argued that losing any sex appeal would harm the sales of already established comics.

Well, I've had to, and none of my female friends have judged me for it; we all know what kind of agenda's being pushed. Nobody ever questions the women's poses, why they're drawn like porn stars; maybe it's time you had a taste of what we ladies have to deal with?

[Andru]

I think you're operating on a potentially flawed premise - you're assuming that said "Sexy" variants would attract a large number of gay people who would otherwise not be into said characters - I'm not convinced this is the case.
I'm no expert on what marketing works best on groups other then straight men (being one myself) but I'm not sure that kind of blatant eye candy would catch you all that many new gay readers - and it probably would turn off at least some of the straight ones.
After all - who the hell wants to explain why you've got a comic with Cyclops doing stripper poses on the cover if one of your mates visits.

Edit:
Anyway, I kinda have to go now.
This was fun
bye.

Hi, Hello, gay male here. I just posted on the last page that the only reason I got into Dick Grayson/Nightwing is because of Janin's Sexy Grayson

So the "sexy" male covers/variants do work.

[Su_Whisterfield]

Hi, Hello, gay male here. I just posted on the last page that the only reason I got into Dick Grayson/Nightwing is because of Janin's Sexy Grayson

So the "sexy" male covers/variants do work.

Ahem, clears throat. It’s too long* since I’ve seen The Cover posted here...

C1918AB5-2940-4F6A-B434-D760C98C5072.jpg

*of course, 24 hours is too long in my opinion.

[Grey]

Classic case of art mirroring life.

This question isn’t really about xmen but the world in general. At least in western culture (not sure what it’s like in other cultures).

[CellarDweller]

This character was in the X-books, but not an X-man. I don't even know if she's still active or alive.

is Thumbelina still around?

[Killerbee911]

Superhero is a fantasy that depends on people normally wanting to be the character. Straight up being honest most people won't really pictures themselves as fat hero. I think people have already said it is not a X-men thing. They are just no fat heroes in general much less female ones. Other than Faith at Valiant there is no real attempt a high profile overweight female character.

People can talk about the male gaze in comics and wanting females to look sexy in comics but even women centric projects on tv you won't see much fat female leads. I can count on two hands the female actors who are fat who get parts Melissa McCarthy, Rebel Wilson, Chrissy Metz, Gabourey Sidibe ,Olivia spencer Amy Schumer, They are couple more of course but eliminate comedy from picture and see how many get to do anything. And this is for male and female when was last time you have seen a fat male lead in action project that wasn't comedian? When was last time you have seen fat male or female lead in straight up drama? It is rare thing.

Comic books plays to its main audience like all forms of media. Comic books are male dominated thing so females are sexy, males are powerful and muscular. On occasion you get geeky or normal looking for direct fantasy thing. There is no need to apologize for that because for example I can't think one fat male lead for a soap opera or female romance centric drama. When in media is aimed at female gaze it is not like much better ,of course guys are more visual simulated so women aren't going to objectify like that as much guys but the leads female focus projects are handsome models and female leads are conventionally beautiful females.

Being fat is not the social norm for being appealing or beauty to tell yourself differently is lying. Right or Wrong that is just how it is at least in US and some other places. You build fictional characters to be appealing. Now they are different cultures that might value different things so it can change from place to place to some degree. You aren't going to see a lot of fat characters in general in US based comic stuff, The few times you see them are going to mostly be gross bad guys and occasionally comedy based good guys and most case those guys are going to be side characters never really the lead. In action genre you more like to have unconventional big or muscular woman ala Gwendoline christie in game of thrones, Matrona in seven deadly sins, She Hulk in comics or Zarya in Overwatch than overweight women. The good news is more often now because of people are trying to be diverse you will see stuff like this

[Beaddle]

Have you seen mortal combat female characters?

[Gamall]

Yeah, "monstrous mutants" are almost always men.

And some of them get a cool girl at some point, even if it’s not long last. Can’t remember the opposite situation with some monstrous girl.

[Sutekh]

And some of them get a cool girl at some point, even if it’s not long last. Can’t remember the opposite situation with some monstrous girl.

A female mutant 'Thing' dating a normal-looking 'Alicia Masters' sort of dude, who doesn't seem to mind that his lady looks like one of the fugly dude-mutants like Glob, could be interesting for a twist. (The closest I can think of right off was the short lived flirtation between Hellion and Shark Girl, but she could, IIRC, revert back to a normal-looking girl, so that might not count...)

So true that it's usually the other way around, with the fugly Beak dating Angel Salvadore (who got prettied up so much that she was even a professional supermodel in one of the ubiquitous short-lived mutant-utopia AUs, IIRC).

[Nyssane]

i could be wrong. but i believe they are mainly talking about natural girth. Blob's a villain. so he wouldn't count anyways. there are few characters his size (kind of expecting a Blob jr to show up any day now). there are multiple female villains who approach the Blob's size (Gatecrasher, Pink Pearl, Briquette, that recent microverse queen). the complaint is that neither the Gatecrasher's or the more naturally thicc girls are X-Men. personally, i think that we'd run into the same problem. they will be objectified by someone. She-Hulk is a sex symbol afterall. but so was Nightcrawler.

Briquette is NOT Blob's level of fattitude. She seems more like Anaconda when she's drawn accurately husky.

This character was in the X-books, but not an X-man. I don't even know if she's still active or alive.

is Thumbelina still around?

Clearly you haven't read the opening post or many of the replies as Thumbelina has been mentioned quite a bit. Outside of this thread she even has her own appreciation thread.

Thumbelina is usually a villain, and while we'd all love her to join the X-Men, she hasn't yet so that still makes the number of overweight good gals at 0 while the

Comic books plays to its main audience like all forms of media. Comic books are male dominated thing so females are sexy, males are powerful and muscular. On occasion you get geeky or normal looking for direct fantasy thing. There is no need to apologize for that because for example I can't think one fat male lead for a soap opera or female romance centric drama. When in media is aimed at female gaze it is not like much better ,of course guys are more visual simulated so women aren't going to objectify like that as much guys but the leads female focus projects are handsome models and female leads are conventionally beautiful females.

I'm sorry, this isn't the 90's anymore and comics, especially X-Men comics, have definitely sought out a female (and LGBT) audience.

I get what y'all are trying to say in that superheroes should be sexy or athletic, but the point still stands that we have Mondo, Goldballs, and Glob Herman yet literally NO big ladies. They should either trim these Blob-wannabes down to socially-acceptably bangable size or add some fat women to the mix. #equality

[Michael Watkins]

i'm all about that Bendis crap character Goldballs being forced to lose weight. Mondo isn't always portrayed as fat. he's a large framed (albeit lazy) individual/stereotypically-Samoan. and Glob Herman is literally a skeleton. he probably has a very small percentage of body fat. were you thinking of Basilisk? because he's in prison, irrc.