Red Pillers: Making Thor a feeemale will accelerate our society's plunge "down the rabbit hole of feminization."

Wow.

I apologize for the wall of text. I’ve lurked here for several years, but this is my first comment. I’m a comic book nerd, and I’m very passionate about increasing diversity in the comic book industry.

There are legitimate reasons why changing Thor into a woman in the main title probably isn’t a good idea. But these jackasses haven’t hit on a single one of them. And of course they haven’t. These guys probably don’t even READ the Thor comics. I’d be surprised if they read any comics at all. If they did, they’d have better reasons than “Me Grimlock no like girls. RAARRRGGH!” This is nothing but knee-jerk misogyny.

As much as I’d like to celebrate the female Thor concept, I think that a better idea would be to bring a pre-existing female character (say, Valkyrie) into the existing Thor title, re-introduce her to the fans, give her a good storyline within that book, and then give her a spin-off title. That way everyone gets what they really want. Thor remains unchanged; and we still get an awesome, powerful female Asgardian headlining her own title. A female Asgardian who will never be in danger of being reverted back to male, because her status quo is already female; and who will eventually be able to break away from Thor, because her success will be on her book’s own merits, rather than being solely connected to the success of Thor.

Alternately, they could introduce a new female Asgardian and start her out in the Thor title (as IDW did with Transformers: Windblade).

Also, I would totally read a transgender Wonder Woman title. In fact, Lea isn’t the only one mentally working out an origin for that character, and I may use a similar concept in my own writing.

Well, I feel a bit silly. Somehow I managed to miss this part of saintnick86’s comment:

“The funny part is that Thor isn’t really being turned into a woman, an already established female character (likely Valkyrie) is going to take his place since he’s been depowered.”

(Sorry, I don’t know how to blockquote yet.)

If Thor is being replaced by Valkyrie, that could actually work to increase diversity. Valkyrie spends some time holding down the mantle of Thor, establishing herself as a character worthy of her own title. They inevitably bring back the male Thor, and Valkyrie can be (hopefully) spun off into her own title.

If that’s what’s going on, I may be adding Thor to my pull and hold soon. Of course, for financial reasons, that means I have to drop something. But Invincible has been annoying me for the last couple of months, so it’s not going to be a difficult decision.

My favourite was Thrakkarzog, though the Man-eating Cow was awesome.

@Falconer
One of the things that I think that the original Beta Ray Bill story line did was make explicit the kind of superhero that Thor is: a role more than a person. Bill wasn’t “granted Mjolnir as a lesson for Thor”, he beat the crap out of him and took it, because he and Thor of the Asgardians are both considered worthy to wield it by the item itself. The fact that Odin felt the need to intervened on his son’s behalf, first by proposing that Thor and Bill fight a duel to determine who should have Mjolnir, and then by giving Bill Stormbreaker instead when he won, implies that having the hammer is what makes someone Thor, because all sorts of sentients have The Power of Thor. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, is just what Princess Diana of Themyscira calls herself when she puts in her Nazi-stomping boots. These MRAs aren’t just horrible people, they’re not even good nerds!

Thrakkarzog! Right on.

“The female genders”

If that is saying that non-binary people with traditionally female anatomy (is there a better way to say this?) are females, there’s the men’s rights movement for you — you’re either a cis man, or a feeeeemale (said in your best Gollum voice of course)

The events of the Thrymskvitha, a comedic poem starring Thor and Loki, Thor wakes up one morning and finds that Mjölnir has been stolen while he was sleeping. Eventually, Thor and Loki figure out that the hammer has was taken by Thrymr the giant (no explanation is offered for how, we guess the god of thunder is a really sound sleeper or was really hung over). Thrymr has hidden Mjölnir and is only willing to give the hammer back if the Norse gods will let him marry the most beautiful Freyja.
So Thor and Loki tell Freyja to get dressed all nice so they can marry her to one of their mortal enemies, and she pitches a well deserved fit, shaking the halls of the Æsir. The rest of the gods have a big meeting and it is suggested by Baldur (the prettiest male god, possibly shoehorned in by Christian scholars as a Christ analogue) that they take a page from Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and just dress Thor up like Freyja and send him in her place.
So the gods dress Thor up in “jewels, women’s clothing down to his knees, a bridal head-dress,” and Freyja’s famous necklace Brísingamen. Loki, who we’ve already described as something of a shapeshifter and a genderbender, makes himself look like a handmaid, and off they go. When “Freyja” astonishes the other giants by eating enough for thirty men, Loki explains that Freyja is so excited about marrying Thrymr that she hasn’t eaten in more than a week. When Thrymr raises Freyja’s veil and sees the burning eyes of a warrior staring back at him, Loki explains that Freyja hasn’t slept in eight days either.
Convinced, the giants bring out Mjölnir to use in the wedding ceremony and lay it on Freyja’s lap. Then Thor slaughters every last one of them wearing a wedding dress and fabulous jewels.

Ah, memories of third year at uni, and Old Norse, which I took in lieu of dry linguistics theory courses as a requirement for my oh-so-employable English Lit degree. Best move I ever could have made. I absolutely loved that saga. Especially the part where Freyja doesn’t want to go along, and her necklace “leaps” on her bosom from sheer rage. My prof (whose name I have foolishly forgotten) remarked, at that part, “Freyja is very sexy, but she’s also very big.”

If these guys think the “feminization” of Thor is some terrible tragedy for manhood in general, they should have met my prof. He’d have neatly told them to grow some vertebrae and read this one. ‘Course, it would probably cause their ‘nads to retract permanently into their pelvic cavities from shock…

For the Tommy Wiseau/The Room fans here, WTF:

Dude, you’re not funny when you think you’re in on the joke.

“You think that the strongest of the norse gods is fine being a female?”
Well, it’s a freaking GOD! It can be anything, a god without genitals or a baby, ANYTHING, it would still be super strong and powerful.

“This is more of a man-hating issue” … says the person who is implying “female” is an insult on a thread saying the “feminization” of society is the worst thing ever.

Notice how their complaints about “feminization” are not about their own survival/security/respect as men, but about the facts that a non-misogynist culture could possibly happen one day and replace patriarchy, the horror!

Sometimes, reading these bullshits makes me feel good for a few seconds (until I watch the real world): they believe so hard we are living in a world where womanhood will soon be worshipped and that violence and entitlement will disappear from manhood to give place to empathy and mutualism! Not that I have a thing for matriarchy but well!

@bina…we had compulsory anglo-saxon as part of our oh-so useful english lit degree, no opting out for anything fun

:: waves at BigMomma ::

It’s terrible how Marvel is feminizing Thor…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Erymskvi%C3%B0a

Þrymskviða (the name can be anglicized as Thrymskviða, Thrymskvitha, Thrymskvidha or Thrymskvida) is one of the best known poems from the Poetic Edda. The Norse myth had enduring popularity in Scandinavia and continued to be told and sung in several forms until the 19th century.

Synopsis

The giant Þrymr steals Thor’s hammer Mjölnir and demands Freyja as payment for it, desiring the goddess as his own wife. Instead of Freyja, the Æsir dress Thor as the bride and Loki as the bridesmaid, and the two travel to Jötunheimr for the “wedding.” Thor’s identity is comically hinted at throughout the reception (the god eats an entire ox on his own), with Loki providing weak explanations that the giants somehow accept for the odd behavior (he claims that the bride’s immense hunger stems from her not having eaten for the last seven days for her excitement). Mjölnir is eventually placed into Thor’s hands as part of the wedding ceremony, allowing the god to strike down the giants and return home.