Poll: DC's Catwoman Comes Out as Bisexual

[Ieyke]

Yeeeeaaaaa..... This isn't really new.

Catwoman has been pretty obviously bi forever. Maybe this is the first fully super ultra in your face blatant confirmation, but I don't think this would surprise anyone who is even vaguely familiar with Catwoman....

 

[Aerith]

It's not that she's bi that's bothering me. Rather, it's the fact that this is such big news. Like, stop making a fuss over stuff like this. It's pandering to Tumblrinas. Let it happen like in Korra. Now that was how to do it!

Korra is the perfect example of waht you are describing, LOK was a great show but that doesn't matter when it comes to people writing about it, it's write-ups where almost none-existent. Throw in some quick homosexual subtext at the end and then you get articles that can't stop singing it's praises for that alone, it feels so cheap.

To be honest, I saw that relationship coming from seasons away. Or, that it was a possibility at least.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Spoiler: previously...

The ultimate comic book sex symbol is now being postured as open to at least two teams? Colour me shocked.

I know that sexual orientations apart from heterosexuality have to get any scraps available, but I can't help seeing this through the lens of all the fantasy porn rather than something actually empowering or meaningful. Something to get the boys excited about being with a few girls at once rather than anyone else.

Yeah, it does come across that way...

Then again, I've had conversations with guys that were into me, but just talking to, and when the subject of me being bi comes up, sooner or later they start to ask weird questions...
Also this bizarre conversation I've been having with this one guy... Who, again I'm not in any way having a relationship with, but he really likes me...
I sometimes mention I've been talking to other people. And when he hears it's other guys, he acts all jealous, but when it's girls he doesn't care.
Even when I point out to him that in terms of the risk of me doing anything that he might have reason to be jealous of both are pretty similar, he still says it doesn't bother him to think of me spending time with another girl.

Then again, he asks stupid stuff like 'can he watch' as if that's even remotely how this works...
A relationship is a relationship, and no, you can't watch... Ugh. >_<

Anyway, I guess what I was getting at is the tendency for girl on girl things to often be aimed at a male audience rather than the girls themselves is vastly more common.
I don't get it, but that's how it seems to go.
(Also, guys get weird ideas if you mention it at all... Like, really weird... XD)

Many of us guys would not mind if our girlfriends experimented with other women. Hell I bet a few would even encourage it. Why? Multiple reasons. The small hope of a possible threesome in the future? Maybe some of us feel competitive against other men for a girl's affection, but not competitive with other women. Maybe it's pride thing? Like "Okay I understand her sleeping with other women because I am physically incapable of satisfying that particular urge because I lack a vagina", while the thought that a woman would sleep with anther man besides him makes us think "Am I not good enough? What does he have that I don't have?". Maybe it's a sense of understanding and comradely because both the man and the bisexual both appreciate touch of a woman?

As a guy, if my girlfriend told me she wanted to sleep with another man, I wouldn't be happy. If she told me she wanted to sleep with another women? I would give a high five and tell her to go for it!

Yeah, that does sound a bit like what he was saying. The threesome stuff, and how he feels as though a woman couldn't offer the same things he does, so it's less of a threat.

Still seems really bizarre to me, but I guess I look at this from a different angle completely. Or at least, it seems I do, judging by what guys say to me sometimes...

 

[Silvanus]

The only romance Catwoman is allowed to pursue is Batman. Its a great idea for a tragic story because they can't really be together, as Batman exists to stop crime and she lives for thieving, but they aren't so polar opposite that they won't flirt with the idea of a romance. As Batman won't kill people and although she's often a villain Catwoman isn't a murder either.

Well, Catwoman did kill Roman Sionis (Black Mask), but that's pre-New 52.

If they had faith that homosexuality could be good for a story, they would create a new character who is gay and take it from there.

Inclined to agree on that point, but it's a far riskier strategy. A new IP could sink much easier than an established one.

 

[Grumman]

If they had faith that homosexuality could be good for a story, they would create a new character who is gay and take it from there.

Inclined to agree on that point, but it's a far riskier strategy. A new IP could sink much easier than an established one.

Batwoman was a good one who, despite the name, didn't depend on Batman to tell good stories.

Then DC ruined everything. All they needed to do is let her have a happy, married civilian life - you know, the story their customers actually wanted to pay them to read. But instead they hooked her up with a date rapist and then turned her into a monster in their "Five Years Later" month.

 

[Lightspeaker]

Chalk me up as another in the "I thought she already WAS canonically bisexual" column.

Honestly I'm surprised at the announcement, but only because I thought its been that way for years already. I mean I don't read comics but the characters are ones that you basically can't get away from being exposed to (thanks to the many, many other forms of media they're in). And I just...well I guess i just always assumed she was.

 

[Thomas Barnsley]

Huh. My money would have been on Harley Quinn being the first to do this. (Though I guess that's pretty much canon already.)

In her own comic series she is pretty much straight bi, to the extent of offering to sleep with Power Girl! I don't think they ever made a big fuss about it.

Makes sense they'd be a bigger reaction to Catwoman, since she's the more famous of the two. Though like some of the others said, it's not really surprising. Her roommate in some storylines was a confirmed lesbian after all.

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

...Did... did we not already know this? I always thought it was safe to assume every comic book woman was bisexual until proven otherwise. Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Black Widow, Power Girl, Huntress, Storm, Jean Grey, etc. All bisexual unless such time as they make it clear they aren't. I've only recently begun reading comic books seriously, so that would pretty much make every female character bisexual.

In other words, this is not news. At all. Call me when a male character comes out of the closet.

 

[VikingKing]

This gives that episode in Batman the Animatec Series where Catwoman and Batgirl teamed up a whole new layer of subtext to their playful banter. ^^

...but, yeah, this isn't shocking to me. I'd always felt that Catwoman was willing to do whatever felt right to her. She already flaunts most rules of convention, law, morality, and so on.

Might be interesting to see a celibate superhero. Someone who sets aside romantic and sexual relationships until after they retire from superheroing. Or is that just what most superheroes are like?

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

So I wonder if down the road this means she has a 3 some with batman... I mean in an alternate universe they were married and had the huntress as their child so it could happen. LOL

 

[IceStar100]

I already though she was to be honest. Heck seems like most comic girls are.

 

[Silvanus]

In other words, this is not news. At all. Call me when a male character comes out of the closet.

Well, Alan Scott (the original Green Lantern) is gay [http://nypost.com/2012/06/01/dc-comics-green-lantern-relaunched-as-gay-superhero/] in the New-52. Marvel also recently had Northstar marrying his partner [http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/marvel-comics-hosts-first-gay-wedding-in-astonishing-x-men-20120522] after NYS legalised same-sex marriage. There's also Wiccan and Hulkling, of course, but they're not exactly high-profile.

 

[Tono Makt]

So this is a thing that happened:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dcs-catwoman-comes-as-bisexual-778030

Selina Kyle, AKA Catwoman, is now acknowledged as being canonically bisexual by her corporate masters over at DC Comics.

So does this alter your perception of the character or is it ultimately much ado about nothing?

Honest, not snarky comment : aren't ALL female comic book characters Bisexual, at least in the major comic universes? Yes, yes, I know that not all of them have the "Got nekkid off-page with a female character in a sexual manner in Issue XXX", but how many will actually surprise readers? Seriously, Aunt May coming home with another senior woman and Peter accidentally coming home when the two of them are getting frisky on the couch - readers will go "Wait, when did she come back from the dead?" and "Ew... Golden Girls porn, I did NOT need that image in my brain!" but no one will care that she's suddenly bisexual. Seriously, how many female characters in comics would actually shock readers by coming out as Bi?

Call me when Gambit comes out as Bisexual, and we'll talk about whether this is a big deal.

 

[rorychief]

Yeah, that does sound a bit like what he was saying. The threesome stuff, and how he feels as though a woman couldn't offer the same things he does, so it's less of a threat.

Still seems really bizarre to me, but I guess I look at this from a different angle completely. Or at least, it seems I do, judging by what guys say to me sometimes...

Sounds like the guy has quite an ego. Good for him. A friend of mine once had A five-way. (Her, her girlfriend of the the time and three other guys) She said it was the single most depressing time of her life and she actually excused herself to weep elsewhere before the end.

I imagine its extremely difficult to watch someone you're into have sex with another person. More so if they're of a different gender to you, because the very same 'I don't have to worry because her vagina can't do what my dick can' mentality can easily (much more easily in my experience of being with bi girls, ) be reversed to 'my dick can't do what a vagina can so eventually she will roll round to wanting vagina and I will never satisfy her fully and never be enough and how can we have a relationship where I can't provide all of what she wants oh my god this is all about me.'
Ahem. In my own personal experience.

Lots of people can make polygamy work and more power to them. It just requires a degree of maturity, trust and self assuredness to make work without devolving into jealousy, feelings of inadequacy and self loathing. Attraction can be selfish like that.

 

[Captain Marvelous_v1legacy]

In other words, this is not news. At all. Call me when a male character comes out of the closet.

Well, Alan Scott (the original Green Lantern) is gay [http://nypost.com/2012/06/01/dc-comics-green-lantern-relaunched-as-gay-superhero/] in the New-52. Marvel also recently had Northstar marrying his partner [http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/marvel-comics-hosts-first-gay-wedding-in-astonishing-x-men-20120522] after NYS legalised same-sex marriage. There's also Wiccan and Hulkling, of course, but they're not exactly high-profile.

I knew about Northstar and Alan Scott already, but I did not know about Hulkling or Wiccan. Bunker (DC) and Daken (Marvel) can be added to that list as well, but those are the only male Heroes/Villains I know of that aren't straight. Men in comics tend to be aggressively heterosexual. It's always interesting when an existing male character comes out of the closet. Less so when a character is rebooted and becomes homosexual. Lookin' at you Alan!

 

[Callate]

Gee... Catwoman has evolved as a character in the same way as half the women I knew in college. Is this supposed to be provocative and/or progressive? Because I'm having difficulty finding a rodent's posterior to offer up to the news.

 

[Silvanus]

It's done to make SJWs happy. And that's just another one of the many reasons that so many people don't like SJWs.

Of course, when it's a change one doesn't personally like, it's pandering, but when it's a change one does like, it's good market sense.

 

[DementedSheep]

What's up with these stupid press release announcements? "This character is gay", "This character is bisexual", "This character likes cake". Weave it into the fucking story then.

It's done to make SJWs happy. And that's just another one of the many reasons that so many people don't like SJWs.

In case you haven't noticed superhero comics do this all the time and not just with stuff like a character being gay or bi, with any character change. Announcing things like this ahead of time rather than just having it in the story in an attempt to get more people to pre order is what they do.