Escher Girls

Float like a butterfly, Sting like a WTF!?

This is a blog to archive and showcase the prevalence of certain ways women are depicted in illustrated pop media, specifically how women are posed, drawn, distorted, and sexualized out of context, often in ridiculous, impossible or disturbing ways that sacrifice storytelling.

contact: eschergirls@gmail.com

Please read submitting and commenting guidelines (sidebar) before doing either.

pidgesflock submitted:

This may not be something that goes here, but this is the female batman costume….

Actually, I too roll my eyes at how Halloween costumes for women are basically “sexy XYZ” or “sexy female version of male hero”.  Also, “sexy” just means mini skirt and boob revealing shirt, and often midriff showing.  That’s it, just paint by the numbers.  Plus, even when there are canon clothes of the heroines that they could use, they tend to just end up going with exactly the same formula above.  And really the costumes seem more about the person wearing it than the costume itself.  It expects you to have a certain body type for the costume to be “sexy”, the costume itself isn’t all that special.
I took pictures of some of the more hilarious ones I found while I was browsing in my city.  There’s sexy Judy and Jane Jetson, sexy V for Vendetta, sexy Marvin the Martian and even sexy Wolverine!
What I found really interesting is that the male Wolverine costume included foam arms, and the male costumes for other heroes also included foam parts, especially if they expected you to have an exposed chest.  So the men aren’t actually showing their chest or muscles at all, even if the costume is meant to show skin, the skin is foam.  Even the costumes where men were clothed (like a Superman costume) had foam padding to emulate muscles.
It’s interesting that men aren’t expected to be ripped to wear these costumes, but the women are expected to look like those models to wear our costumes.  No foam breasts.  Even the models for the male costumes in the photos were wearing the foam suit, not their own musculature.
It also means that the female costumes end up being extremely boring because you’re really not dressing up as anything.  The above character doesn’t look like Batman or Batgirl or Batwoman, and the Marvin the Martian one is basically a Marvin the Martian t-shirt and themed skirt ensemble.
There was a sexy female Beetlejuice costume too, but I forgot to take a picture of it. :(

pidgesflock submitted:

This may not be something that goes here, but this is the female batman costume….

Actually, I too roll my eyes at how Halloween costumes for women are basically “sexy XYZ” or “sexy female version of male hero”.  Also, “sexy” just means mini skirt and boob revealing shirt, and often midriff showing.  That’s it, just paint by the numbers.  Plus, even when there are canon clothes of the heroines that they could use, they tend to just end up going with exactly the same formula above.  And really the costumes seem more about the person wearing it than the costume itself.  It expects you to have a certain body type for the costume to be “sexy”, the costume itself isn’t all that special.

I took pictures of some of the more hilarious ones I found while I was browsing in my city.  There’s sexy Judy and Jane Jetson, sexy V for Vendetta, sexy Marvin the Martian and even sexy Wolverine!

What I found really interesting is that the male Wolverine costume included foam arms, and the male costumes for other heroes also included foam parts, especially if they expected you to have an exposed chest.  So the men aren’t actually showing their chest or muscles at all, even if the costume is meant to show skin, the skin is foam.  Even the costumes where men were clothed (like a Superman costume) had foam padding to emulate muscles.

It’s interesting that men aren’t expected to be ripped to wear these costumes, but the women are expected to look like those models to wear our costumes.  No foam breasts.  Even the models for the male costumes in the photos were wearing the foam suit, not their own musculature.

It also means that the female costumes end up being extremely boring because you’re really not dressing up as anything.  The above character doesn’t look like Batman or Batgirl or Batwoman, and the Marvin the Martian one is basically a Marvin the Martian t-shirt and themed skirt ensemble.

There was a sexy female Beetlejuice costume too, but I forgot to take a picture of it. :(

blog comments powered by Disqus
  1. evil-alien-chickens reblogged this from eschergirls
  2. walkskipjogrunfly reblogged this from nikkiscarlet
  3. aki-appeared-and reblogged this from eschergirls
  4. aleshamaya reblogged this from eschergirls
  5. haru-hearts reblogged this from buddahverse
  6. boot-to-the-head reblogged this from buddahverse
  7. emerald-rogue reblogged this from buddahverse
  8. buddahverse reblogged this from eschergirls
  9. themazziah reblogged this from eschergirls
  10. missanthr0py reblogged this from eschergirls
  11. urdnot-mordin reblogged this from eschergirls and added:
    e
  12. someone-you-do-not-know reblogged this from eschergirls
  13. volpesvolpi reblogged this from eschergirls
  14. geviladahe-el reblogged this from eschergirls
  15. timeywimeyisonmyside reblogged this from theringingnevergoesaway
  16. ruthituesday reblogged this from eschergirls
  17. theringingnevergoesaway reblogged this from eschergirls
  18. namidaaz reblogged this from eschergirls
  19. braysl-march reblogged this from eschergirls
  20. shaed-knightwing reblogged this from thedarklordkeisha and added:
    This reminds me of my friend who went to a Halloween party last night in a full-body skeleton costume, totally covered...
  21. liara-shadowsong said: Gag. Thanks for reminding me that if I want a costume for next Halloween, I’d better start finding the supplies to make it myself. The costumes in the stores are by and large ridiculous. Dear costume-makers: I don’t want to dress sexy, or be chilly.
  22. agenttoast reblogged this from eschergirls and added:
    I’m glad Escher Girls decided to cover this as well. Fuck No Sexist Halloween Costumes has a bunch of comparisons...
  23. anotechaotic reblogged this from eschergirls
  24. wearelikebutterflies reblogged this from eschergirls
  25. inbetweenthelineart reblogged this from eschergirls