Harley Quinn: Not A Sex Object
By Less Lee Moore - April 17th, 2009
The Batman fans on staff at Toronto Thumbs are looking forward to the upcoming game Batman: Arkham Asylum, gobbling up each little bit of news that has been released about it. Upon finding out Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill were reprising their roles of Batman and The Joker, respectively, we nearly freaked out. The fact that it would be co-written by Paul Dini (who produced Batman: The Animated Series) only added to the excitement. Then came the first trailer depicting in-game footage of the Dark Knight in action, utilizing his gadgets and combat training in ways we hadn’t previously seen executed in a game. By all accounts, it looked like Batman: Arkham Asylum was going to be contender for best Batman game ever.
Now Eidos/Rocksteady has released a video showing Harley Quinn in action in a new outfit.
The video has been linked on several news blogs, with varying degrees of sexist commentary, but this one is particularly offensive, using both the words “tits” and “waps” (British slang for breasts). . . and that’s just within two sentences. This seems to be a frequent and frustrating practice amongst video game “journalists” and provokes a contest to see who can respond with the most misogynist comments. It also implies that this is acceptable.
Women enjoy Batman, too, you know. Many female comic fans welcomed the appearance of Harley Quinn inBatman: The Animated Series; in fact, she was created for one appearance but soon took off and became a recurring character.
Although Harley Quinn is emotionally flawed, has a self-esteem issues, and looks to The Joker for validation, portraying her as a sex symbol is detrimental to the essence character. Not to mention her original outfit was already sexy and fit with the playing card theme that The Joker’s visage derives from. This new getup takes away from how she and The Joker visually complement one another’s design. Furthermore, The Joker gets to keep his trademark outfit in this game, so why couldn’t she?
This post from Feministing addresses this issue and the tarted-up version of Harley in the Arkham Asylum game, explaining that, “Fans took Batman TAS seriously because it took them seriously.”
But apparently the game designers forgot that detail when designing Harley’s character. It’s bad enough that women aren’t taken seriously – as both comic characters and actual gamers – but this kind of sexist writing ensures that video games and gaming journalism aren’t taken seriously, either.
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Well put!
Thank you so much for writing this Less Lee. It was a refreshing read, and I’m happy that someone else notices the rhetoric used on most game sites and also has a problem with it. And beyond language changing a character’s essence for sex appeal is equally troubling.
I hadn’t really heard much about this game but it has gotten me thinking even more about some of the directions of this industry. Thank you for this thinking piece!
Also, I love Feministing.
HQ is one of the best retconned characters ever. One of my favorite Batman characters and definitely #1 among the women. Maybe I’m immature because I don’t care that they ’sexualized’ her.
My concern and the reason I’m upset is because as you have pointed out she’s iconic and they’re messing with her icon. She just doesn’t look the same with out some sort of compliment to The Joker. It’s like Poison Ivy without the plant motif or a MMPR who didn’t dress in colors matching his/her Zord.
I had very mixed feelings about this trailer when I first saw it, I started writing a comment to post here but for that I had way too much to say.
I ended up posting a blog entry about it: http://the-harley-quinn-experiance.xanga.com/699378758/finally-something-to-really-write-about-and-how-fitting/
The first real blog I’ve written in a little while, this article got me pretty motivated. :3
I wonder sometimes if “demographics” are something that are created by people who want an excuse to live out their fantasies.
Do you think she’s become a sex symbol or a sex object? The two, although related, are distinct to me. Also, I think that to say that Harley Quinn has never been or should never be a sexualized character is a bit misguided. As I read her, she’s playful, flirty and a bit of a naughty girl that both villains and heroes seek to let play but only within controllable limits. I think there is a lot more sexually and emotionally going on with her than most characters and that is probably part of the reason why she has been such a popular character, occupying so many spaces for readers.
I’m not sure how I feel about this new costume. I think Camille’s blog post brings a lot of interesting points to the table and reflects my own mixed feelings about how Harley looks in the game, how this might be the beginning of the evolution of the character etc, whether the demotion from Doctor to nurse is a bigger issue etc.
Also, the offensive site you link seems to agree with you that the new/old look Harley is sad development. They may use tits and wasp but I think your NA sensibilities are finding offense where none was intended. If anything, they seem to be mocking tabloid parlance to highlight how much the new outfit doesn’t seem right..
Catwoman is the sexiest of the Batman rogue’s gallery, but Harley Quinn is more cute than sexy even when hanging out with Ivy in the episodes where Ivy tries to empower her. Ivy is probably the strongest female Batman villain. Harley’s weak because she depends on Joker’s attention but her suit never made her a sex sybol or object. Sometimes she is illustrated as “sexy” or “playful” but this is way different than being either sex symbol or sex object like she comes across in thsi video. It’s nice to see Less bringing this topic up and to see the different comments to this.
I think sex symbol and sex object are very different as the former implies that a woman might have some control over her sexuality while in the latter case, she definitely does not. I didn’t state or imply that Harley shouldn’t be sexualized, just that her sexuality should not be controlled by the male gaze.
I’m not a prude by any means; I don’t think that linked post was clear in its usage of the terms tits and waps. Perhaps if it had been a bit more in depth or explained that “hey, we think it’s sexist, too” it wouldn’t come across as so tacky AND it wouldn’t encourage the offensive comments.
I don’t think NA sensibilities can dictate when a woman finds something sexist in English slang. It’s not like I was railing against a non-western treatment of women.
You use both Object and Symbol in your piece so I was confused. In terms of the male gaze, as much as I’d like to see a game version of ‘Riddle of the Sphinx’ I’m not sure how, if or when that will ever happen. Harley Quinn has arguably always been a character for the male gaze across the TV series, where she plays in the shadows and the books where I think she had a crude lesbian affair with Poison Ivy. To me the more interesting angle is why doe she adopt a nurses outfit when she was a Doctor? Why not a mad scientist? Why a ‘demotion’ in status? If anything it plays well to the idea of an emotionally stunted character and someone who knows and uses her sexuality.
Love that you wrote this piece though. I think discussions on portrayal of sexuality across all media and culture is worth having and largely thought provoking.
As for your link, fair enough - just as a British person reading it I didn’t find it offensive and thought that something might have been lost in translation. There are lots of terms that offended far more on this side of the Atlantic than back home.
Kate, yes, I can see how the “object” and “symbol” usage might have been confusing!
Thanks for your thoughts and your praise!
for what it’s worth the demotion that’s been mentioned several times here is probably the bigger controversy.
For me the Judy Nails makeover is a great example of unnecessary sexualization of a character.I’m with thoughtful on Harley Quinn. I she was just as sexualized before just in a different but equally problematic way.
@Shaun
Sorry - I guess it is something of a pet topic and this one of the few places that I’ve seen a discussion? I can go bug a few other sites though
@Kate :)
@Kate
I think we are totally on the same page, Thanks for reading my blog! :3
The new batman game is amazing and its about time they include Harley Quinn in more things and her and the joker make the best team. I’m even more glad that they re-did her outfit because her old one was getting boring and I think her new outfit is cool, her last outfit made her look like a christmas decoration.
It may show off but this outfit makes her look more girly and shes only a character and isn’t a woman icon cause she MENTAL and shes just a CHARACTER, but shes still one of my favorite villians! :D x
Okay…I’ll admit I know very little about Harley Quinn prior to Arkham Asylum. I’ve read a bit about her history, and to me, it doesn’t seem that she’s been oversexed or that her importance as a character has been downplayed.
Harley’s insane, right? So why would it matter if she decides to ‘play nurse’, especially when she’s also wearing an ID tag that identifies her as the warden while subduing guards twice her size?
Yeah I’ll admit, the first thing my guy friends said when Harley debuted in her new outfit was that she looked ‘hot’, but I just thought she was badass.
Please don’t throw tomatoes…
But how is this worse than a skin-tight, latex outfit?
I completely agree with this. I am a big batman fan, and a girl. When I first heard that Harley was going to be featured in the game, I was excited, as she is one of my favorite cartoon characters and she isn’t featured in a lot of recent batman goings on , but then I saw what they’d dressed her up in and I thought it was completely irrelevant.
I like her original outfit, as it was very symbolic and like you said it adds to the Jokers image.
It makes me sad in a way that if Harley ever appears in one of the films that they won’t keep her design, as the pressure to make a more realistic gotham would surely rule out her jester look, and replace it with some unneeded attempt to enhance her sexiness, such as this nurse outfit.
Harley Quinn is a cartoon character through and through, and I’d rather they not include her in new projects and leave her as she is rather than trying to change her.