this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2026
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I think there's a core difference, which is intent, sexy v sexualised
Men are often sexy, but rarely sexualised
Superman's underwear is on the outside and his suit is nearly always painted on.
BatNipples.
Thor's entire marvel design history is essentially 'boring office worker turns into half naked muscle bound man,' which brings me to He-man which is the same thing and also skeletor for some reason has more muscles than mister olympia and just has this tiny little loin cloth on top of his robes for no reason except to tease the reader.
Hell the x-men. I actually forgot until I looked up some references but they're the origin of the whole 'painted on uniform' trend to a large extent. No one can look at wolverine's design and say that isn't ridiculously sexualized.
There is a difference, of course, that being comic book artists were primarily selling to plausibly straight teenage boys so there are more women and thus more sexualized women; but at least a few comic heroes were clearly targeting the gay demographic and hypersexualizing men.
Sexy sure, but sexualised is the "sexy lamp" problem, where if you swapped the character for a sexy lamp, you wouldn't notice.
There's also the needless poses that no person would use, like casually in a standing split with arched back
Male characters have much much much much much much much much much much much less examples of that than female characters
https://www.tumblr.com/thehawkeyeinitiative