Blacksad And Watchmen Gender Analysis

Within the worlds of “Blacksad” and “Watchmen” women are portrayed in a stereotypical way. They are not seen at the same scale as the men within their respective universes; instead, they are seen as symbols of sex. And through being viewed as sex symbols, the women gain their power. Although the women from their respective universes differ with how this power is used. Some use their sexuality to their advantage to try and gain something from those around them, while some are given this power of sexuality and it is used against them, creating negative biases or people misinterpreting their sexaulity, or it just does not work in their favor. “Blacksad” reveals how the power of sexuality works to benefit the women; while “Watchmen” uses the power
In this panel you are able to see the frightened look on Natalia’s face as she is pointing to what was making her upset. This makes Blacksad react and makes him take action: fight with the flower shop owner. Natalia’s display of her emotions is what makes Blacksad react. She plays up her fragility to make Blacksad take action, thus using her power to try and make him solve her problems for her. This is later solidified when Blacksad returns to her house by saying that “she was impressed with the results” (Blacksad: Somewhere Within the Shadows, pg 13 panel 3). When Blacksad comes over to Natalia’s house she is no longer concerned about the note, instead she is too focused on her sexual needs and “repaying” Blacksad for his earlier help, allowing Blacksad to stay under her “power”. Later in volume 2, Jezebel tries to obtain revenge on Karup for killing her mother. She ends up changing her identity and marrying Karup, claiming that she was “ seducing him [so that she] could easily figure out what his vulnerabilities were” (Blacksad: Arctic Nation, pg 50 panel 4). By marrying Karup to exploit his weaknesses and flaws, Jezebel is using her “power”,
The women are still portrayed with having overly done proportions to try and show off their sex appeal. The have their full-figured bodies and are seen wearing revealing outfits that show off a lot of their skin. Meanwhile the men have tight outfits, are seen as more heroic with well-defined muscles and having far bigger forms than the women. Although this time around, instead of their sexuality working in their favor it works against them. This is first seen with Sally in “Watchmen” volume 2: Absent Friends, page 6 panels 1-9. On this page we are able to see Sally undressing and Eddie comes in to try and take advantage of her. On panel 2 he explains that she has “some reason for wearin’ an outfit” like the one she was wearing -a short yellow dress and fishnets- to try and excuse his actions. He believes that she dresses in that way because she wants to have sex with him. This shows how Sally’s sexuality betrays her and she ends up getting hurt because Eddie read it in an entirely wrong direction. At the time, Sally had worn the outfit to play up her sexuality because she felt comfortable by it and with the attention that it had given her. She had confidence and power about her sexuality and that was quickly taken away by Eddie, who harassed and sexually assaulted her