Hollywood’s sexless modern heroines by Echo Chamberlain

The video discusses the trend in modern superhero movies to depict female characters without love interests or sexual relationships, which marks a departure from older superhero movies where romance was a common element. The author suggests that this change is driven by societal and self-imposed repression rather than any inherent characteristic of superhero movies. The writer also argues that modern female characters are portrayed as every bit as powerful as male characters but are not allowed to be bested by a man or be seen as emotionally demonstrative, which is limiting the depiction of femininity and sexuality in these films.

• Modern Hollywood seeks to empower women, but doesn’t always see femininity or sexuality as part of that empowerment.
• Superheroes in recent films have less romance in their lives than they used to.
• There are fewer love interests in recent superhero movies, and when they do exist, they are often sidelined or written out altogether.
• The modern generation is the most sexually diverse ever, but also the most sexually dormant.
• The social constructivist view of gender and the breaking down of sexual and social conventions and expectations may lead to more sexual openness and disinhibition, but strangely, the opposite has occurred.
• Increasingly, female superhero characters are depicted as every bit as powerful as the men or as not substantially dependent on a mentor.
• Female superhero characters cannot be portrayed as being bested in a physical confrontation with a man or be seen to be bested in an exchange of repartee.
• They cannot have a process or approach explained to them, even in a supportive and more productive way.
• They cannot undergo a character arc that sees them begin as fallible even on the way to becoming self-sufficient and powerful.
• They cannot be overly emotionally demonstrative in a way that would see them socially or professionally compromised.
• The inclusion of a love interest for a female lead character can compromise the ideal independence and exceptionalism of that character.
• This may imply emotional parity and compromise inherent in any healthy relationship, limit their freedom and depiction as a force of nature, and imply the consequences of a furtherance and consummation of such relationships such as child-rearing or domesticity, and limiting, compromising gender conventions.
• These writers have issued even the introduction of humbos, toyboys, subverted and exploited Chads or simps.