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"Unpacking the complicated ways superheroes reproduce cultural beliefs about gender, sexuality, and romance, Love, Sex, Gender, and Superheroes delves into the underlying and erotic implications of caped crusaders. Superheroes are more popular than ever, with a seemingly endless run of record-breaking Hollywood movies, hit television and streaming series, the mainstreaming of comic books as a literary form, and superhero themed merchandising available almost everywhere. The genre has always been about good vs. evil, larger-than-life heroes vs. stylish villains, and a never-ending fight for "Truth, Justice and the American way." But, in a less obvious way, the genre has also been about gender ideals: how men and women are supposed to look, act, and interact with each other. Under the guise of being merely childish fantasies, superheroes have consistently provided fantastic adventures that make abstract ideas about gender and sexuality seem natural. Superheroes deal with topics as diverse as: fetishism, phallic symbolism, bodies, love, marriage, eroticized violence, queer identities, homosociality, transexuality, orgasms, and robot/human sexual relations. This spicier underside of superheroes reveals and reinforces attitudes about gender and sex, and how some of those ideas are changing in a modern world"-- Impossibly muscular men and voluptuous women parade around in revealing, skintight outfits, and their romantic and sexual entanglements are a key part of the ongoing drama. Such is the state of superhero comics and movies, a genre that has become one of our leading mythologies, conveying influential messages about gender, sexuality, and relationships. Love, Sex, Gender, and Superheroes examines a full range of superhero media, from comics to films to television to merchandising. With a keen eye for the genre’s complex and internally contradictory mythology, comics scholar Jeffrey A. Brown considers its mixed messages. Superhero comics may reinforce sex roles with their litany of phallic musclemen and slinky femme fatales, but they also blur gender binaries with their emphasis on transformation and body swaps. Similarly, while most heroes have heterosexual love interests, the genre prioritizes homosocial bonding, and it both celebrates and condemns gendered and sexualized violence. With examples spanning from the Golden Ages of DC and Marvel comics up to recent works like the TV series The Boys, this study provides a comprehensive look at how superhero media shapes our perceptions of love, sex, and gender.

Comic books, strips, etc --- Love in mass media. --- Sex role in mass media. --- Superheroes in mass media. --- Social aspects. --- Superheroes. --- Heroes in mass media --- Comic books, strips, etc. --- Gender identity in mass media