Super"men" vs. Super"girls"

Why are many super heroes referred to as "Men" while many super heroines are referred to as "Girls"? Incidentally, Wonder Woman is one of the few heroines who's name refers to her as "Woman".

Because of, whassat s word, syllable check.

That doesn't explain much.

Supergirl has three syllables, as does superman, while superwoman doesn't.

It's about euphony. "Woman" sounds more awkward in most compound words than either "man" or "girl."

I don't like it either. There is a great tendency in our culture to refer to grown women as girls in contexts where it would never be appropriate to refer to grown men as boys.

That's probably the most convenient answer if there ever was one.

Unless your a soldier in which case you can refer to your underlings as boys. Or was that Prohibition era gangsters?

edited 24th Jan '11 11:24:01 AM by SandJosieph

Wonder Woman works because of Added Alliterative Appeal.

Also, most of the characters are girls rather than women, I believe.

Maybe its their vain attempt to hold on to their youth. Power Girl, sweetie, no one's going to believe you're young enough to be a girl.

There's also Batwoman, Catwoman, and plenty of Wonder Boy style names. Also, most of the female super heroes/ villains have cool names, like Elektra or Black Canary.

Combination of what Karalora said and female characters on average tending to be younger than male ones in fiction, I imagine.

Stevie Wonder made a track named Superwoman in 1972, which I guess made him ahead of his time.

People who mentioned men not being referring to as boys has not lived in the South.

What's been said above, it's not that prevalent, and there's a good reason for it. 'Girl' is just a better suffix in 99% of these superhero cases. Oh, and 'superheroine'? Doesn't sound as good (another extra syllable).

Actually, it is not really the case. Few super heroine carry a "girl" in their name, and if it is the case, they are mostly teenagers, where it is appropriate.

edited 17th Feb '11 2:41:35 PM by eX

Which then brings up the issue of "Why older super heroes and younger super heroines".

Oh, and "Super Heroine" is far better than "Female Super Hero"

Of course, 'hero' doesn't have to be gender-specific.

Because it's more acceptable for men to be old than for women. that sounds weird, i know, but it's true. that's why there are always really old wrinkly men in fighting games and movies but rarely ever see old women. no one wants to see an "old lady" but apparently everyone's fine with looking at heihachi's wrinkly ass in a giant diaper. >.< it's considered "normal" for young girls to find men the same age as their dad as attractive, but if a guy considers an older woman attractive it's a fetish for MIL Fs.

i think the word "woman" in a female superhero's name invokes a more "sexy" connotation. "girl" is more feminine, young, pretty. i mean, i'm sure people like their sexy, mature female super heroines too, but a young one is more what people gravitate to for the reasons i mentioned above. that's what i think anyway.

It's primarily a syllable issue followed by an age thing. A lot of these -girl suffixed heroes are more likely to be the younger sidekicks of a pre-existing male hero I think.

I'll stick by the syllable argument though. Power Girl is just simpler and quicker to say rather than Power Woman. Though now that i think about it, Power Woman sounds better. Hawkwoman would actually sound better than Hawkgirl... What were these people thinking?

Which then brings up the issue of "Why older super heroes and younger super heroines".

There aren't significantly more female teenage superheroes than males, nor are most superheroines teenagers. From where exactly do you get these ideas?

edited 17th Feb '11 2:42:36 PM by eX

Usually its because the characters start out young enough to be referred to as Girl, and the name just sticks.

Well, most female heroes don't get to be as grim and gritty as their male counterparts. That's changing, but slowly. And girls are not as intimidating as woman, who are adults and probably to be taken a bit more seriously. The whole dichotomy carries a load of Unfortunate Implications on the whole anyway.

^ What do you expect, its comic books? There's a few exceptions, but overall, comics are still a fairly misogynic medium.

...not that I mind, Ive never been very fond of female characters anyway. Thats probably not a good thing though.

Well, one of the dictionary definition of girl is young unmarried female which does include a fair amount of superheroines.

Probably also why Invisible Girl changed her name to Invisible Woman.

edited 18th Feb '11 5:59:42 AM by CBanana

I think the first definition is far more popular.