Superheroes and the Supermom

Assignment 1-3-2 - Journal Article Paper

If you were ever interested in female superheroes—maybe for their awesome super powers or their ability to kick anyone’s butt, even men—then the journal article, The Accidental Supermom: Superheroines and Maternal Performativity, 1963-1980, will likely cause you to respect the typical female comic book heroine even more so.

After reading this article, it is clear the author is attempting to make a correlation between the idea of the female super hero, and women becoming more independent—leaving the home for a career, and not only having the ability to be a nurturing mother, but essentially multitasking a career, motherhood, and social life. It is during the years 1963 and 1980, where a shift in the common assumption of the maternal responsibilities of women is changing tremendously, and prominent female superheroes are created in a predominantly male genre of heroes. The author is making a point that the idea of the supermom is symbolic with the notion of the superheroine (D’Amore, 2012, p 1226), and superheroines’ characteristics transformed based upon popular culture of the time.

The author could be targeting any reader with this article, but appears to be zeroing in on females, mothers, comic book nerds, and anyone who may have any misconceptions of the female comic book hero—that female heroes are not just exceptional women because they can fight and save the world.

D’Amore makes many valid points regarding the comic book heroines, their super ‘mom’ status (even though only one heroine has ever actually given birth), and popular culture. The article gives the idea that the heroines of the time were created with strength, independence, and different special abilities; and were deemed unacceptable in the eye of the public unless they portrayed some type of motherly traits. Those traits included the ability to straddle public and private lives, nurturing their children and family members, and teaching and instilling values to their young charges.

In addition to nurturing characteristics, strength, independence, and multitasking abilities, feminism was a large accelerator for the superheroine. At the time female comic book heroes were making their presence known, women were being guilted into staying home with their children instead of pursuing careers. Women were feeling inequalities between the sexes. The superheroine was the perfect model for identifying the struggles of American feminists, but also maintained a recognizable social order with regard to gender roles (D’Amore, 2012, pp.1226-1228).


D’Amore goes into detail on how Wonder Woman, Marvel Girl (Jane Grey of X-Men fame), Sue Storm (Fantastic Four’s Invisible Girl), and Storm (X-Men) all portrayed motherly and maternal traits throughout their comic book careers. Wonder Woman is seen as a feminist icon. Marvel Girl begins to take on the role of a mother to the kids at Xavier’s School for the Gifted, but has the strength and independence to make much larger men fear her. Sue Storm is the only actual heroine who marries and has a child. She is the epitome of the supermom of the time. She struggles with the idea of having ‘to work’ and leave her child with a sitter, and yet is able to maintain her super status and find time to care for her child. Storm adds yet another layer to the feminist, motherly hero. She is an African-American woman who is considered ‘free’ to do what she will, and all men bow down to her. During the 1960s and 1970s, Storm was an empowering hero to women of all races, crossing the boundaries of civil rights, racism, and the women’s movement all in one character.

After thoroughly dissecting this article, I view the female comic book heroine in a different way. I had never before made a connection between when these characters were popular, and the popular culture or the movements occurring during that time frame. I find it interesting that the term ‘supermom’ could be associated or stem from the comics that I read as a child—and I agree after having read this article. This article is important because it brings forth the realization the superheroine was an outlet to explain that women have gone from strictly ‘mothers,’ who only had one main function—to nurture—to empowered creatures who can ‘do it all,’ and are worthy of as much respect as anyone.

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Reference:

D’Amore, L.M. (2012). The Accidental Supermom: Superheroines and Maternal Performativity, 1963-1980. The Journal of Popular Culture, 45(6), 1226-1248.