Supersex : sexuality, fantasy, and the superhero

Summary/Review: "Despite the frequently form-fitting costumes and prominent secondary sex characteristics, superhero sexuality has rarely been discussed seriously. Besides homoerotic accusations directed at Batman & Robin and Wonder Woman in the '50s and Larry Niven's seminal essay "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" in the '60s, the topic has mainly been just the source for tittering jokes and innuendo. Peppard and her contributors work to correct this by examining how the sexuality of superheroes has been both portrayed and neglected through a variety of media from the comics themselves to film and television to fan fiction and porn parodies. Topics discussed move beyond basic notions of the X-Men as a gay metaphor or Wonder Woman's sexuality coming from an island of Amazons to issues of the female gaze, women's costumes in the 1940s, queer underground comics, and the ramifications of a whole category of fan fiction revolving around a female Captain America"--