Supergirl is a new superhero show with a female lead. Many people want to believe that this, in and of itself, makes the show feminist. People are even arguing that it’s a good “starter kit” for people who are on the fence about feminism.
I might have agreed with these people before I actually watched the show.
But after watching, I’ve come to the rather unfortunate conclusion that Supergirl is not, in fact, a good starter kit for people who are on the fence about feminism.
If anything, it’s the opposite. In the same way that Raven Symone is using her brown skin to legitimize anti-black racist propaganda, Supergirl is using female characters as tools to legitimize sexist norms.
I’ll start with Cat Grant’s “girls are great” speech:
“What do you think is so bad about ‘girl’? I’m a girl. And your boss, and powerful, and rich, and hot, and smart. So if you perceive ‘Supergirl’ as anything less than excellent, isn’t the real problem you?”
Now even if we ignore the fact that the speech is coming from a white corporate mogul and look solely at the content, the speech is still essentially arguing that equating a woman with a girl is empowering.
But it is not empowering. Equating women with girls normalizes two major social problems:
1) the sexualization of young girls
2) the infantilization of grown women
Consequently, Supergirl is both sexually objectified and infantilized throughout the pilot episode.
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Let’s start with the infantilization.
Infantilization can happen in real life or within the context of a fictional narrative. Infantilization means exactly what it sounds like it means – treating an adult like a helpless infant.
The paternalistic figure – a romantic partner, a parent, a boss, etc. – deprives the adult of agency, either by making decisions for the adult, or by deliberately depriving the adult of information necessary for the adult to make informed decisions for themself.
Infantilization in a superhero narrative tends to look something like this:
Male superhero conceals his secret life of masked vigilantism from his female significant other. He claims the secrecy is for her protection. Of course, she cannot protect herself from a situation she doesn’t know she’s in, and even superheroes cannot be two places at the same time, so the female significant other generally ends up dead.
Now you’d think, since Supergirl is about a female superhero in possession of godlike powers, and not about a male superhero’s girlfriend, that this brand of infantilization would be avoided.
You’dthink.
James Olson starts working at Supergirl’s place of business at the beginning of the pilot episode. He is established as a potential love interest the moment he appears on screen.
We discover at the end of the pilot episode that not only does James Olson know Supergirl’s secret identity, but that Superman sent James to Supergirl’s place of business to “watch out for her” and that both James Olson and Superman kept this secret from Supergirl.
She manages to see through this paternalistic ruse a the end of the episode, thereby “proving” that she is a “mature enough” to “handle the truth.”
This sends two decidedly un-feminist messages.
First, it sends the message that it is okay to lie to adult women for their own protection.
Secondly, it sends the message that adult women must earn the right to be treated like adults – a right that is simply granted to adult men without question.
James Olson and Superman are not the only people who infantilize Supergirl in the pilot episode. A secret government organization infantilizes her by secretly monitoring Supergirl’s behavior and by concealing knowledge from Supergirl regarding her family history and aliens that want to kill her.
Supergirl’s adoptive older sister infantilizes her by concealing the fact that she belongs to said secret government organization and participates in said monitoring.
Supergirl’s mother infantilizes her by concealing the fact that she also belongs to said secret government organization, as well as the fact that she is even alive at all.
All of this secrecy is supposedly for Supergirl’s protection.
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Now, let’s talk about the sexualization and sexual objectification of Supergirl.
Her costume.
Supergirl later acquires sheer black tights to go under the costume. Zero explanation is given for the addition of sheer black tights to her costume.
Put plainly, this is the shortest skirt I’ve ever seen outside of an otaku fanservice boarding school hentai:
But that’s not even the shameful part.
Supergirl’s suit is designed by a male coworker/friend with a crush on her. He is the only friend she trusts with her secret identity. Supergirl has no female friends besides her sister.
She tells him her secret identity the day after she performs her first feat of heroism because she “just really wants someone to be excited for her.” When he receives this knowledge, he proves himself to be a total personification of the friend-zoned Nice Guy™ trope.
Here’s a transcript of the exchange, copied verbatim from the closed captions:
Supergirl: Uh, there’s something about me that for most of my life, I’ve run from it. But last night I embraced who I am and I don’t want to stop.
Nice Guy™: Oh, my god, you’re a lesbian. Oh, Kara, that’s why you’re not into me. This is, this is great news!
Supergirl: No, I’m not gay!
Of course, he cannot wrap his head around Kara’s failure to reciprocate his interest unless he rationalizes it by assuming she is a lesbian.
That’s not the shameful part either.
This is the shameful part:
This is the first costume design her coworker/friend comes up with.
He doesn’t even try to pretend he is designing her costume with functionality in mind. He dresses her up like his own personal sex doll. She goes along with it. The audience is expected to view this incredibly creepy and objectifying behavior as normal male/female friendship.
It takes him two more tries before he comes up with a costume that satisfies both Supergirl’s need for functionality and his selfish desire to sexually objectify his so called friend.
ETA: Just to clarify, I would be all for Supergirl expressing her sexuality if that were what was actually going on. But it’s not. She’s not expressing her sexuality. Some gross friendzoned loser is using her body to express his.
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Let me just recap everything Supergirl’s done wrong thus far.
The most socially/politically/economically powerful woman in the series delivering a speech promoting a sexist ideology that simultaneously infantilizes adult women and sexualizes young girls.
Every single adult in Supergirl’s life infantilizing her, including her closest family member and one of her potential love interests.
The narrative confirming that Supergirl has no close female friends.
And immediately following up with an obligatory affirmation of Supergirl’s heterosexuality.
The show introducing Supergirl’s second potential love interest – a friendzoned Nice Guy™ who sexually objectifies her – thereby completing the show’s unnecessary love triangle.
The spandex teddy pretending to be a superhero uniform.
The sexy™ Halloween costume pretending to be a superhero uniform.
Everyone in the show pretending the superhero is wearing a uniform when in fact she’s running around in a sexy™ Halloween costume.
Everyone in the audience pretending that any of this bullshit can be considered feminist.
Now let’s step back and think about why so many things went wrong in the pilot.
The episode had 1 female writer, 4 male writers and a male director. Women are not in control of Supergirl’s narrative. Instead we have a bunch of men using “strong female characters” as mouthpieces to perpetuate sexist preconceptions.
This show is not a starter-kit for people on the fence about feminism. It is not teaching sexists to be less sexist. Rather, it’s teaching sexists that it’s perfectly okay to perpetuate sexist norms as long as you call yourself a feminist while you do it and you find a woman who agrees with you.
Hell, you don’t even need to find a real woman. Just find a fictional woman and dress her in a really short skirt.
