Wertham's a complicated figure! He was very pro civil rights, and worked actively there. Seduction fo the Innocent is very homophobic in its discussion of Wonder Woman...but the chief Wertham scholar, Carol Tilley, said that was probably because it was plagiarized wholesale from another writer; Wertham seems to have little homophobic bias himself. (Of course, plagiarism is not ideal either!)
I still haven't read Carol's book, I'm just realizing...I really should.
Homophobic in more ways than that! He also went on, at length, about Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson—which had me snarling, "*Honi soit qui mal y pense,* you self-righteous old prick!"
Like Tipper Gore, Wertham brought on de faco censorship by an industry he tried to gain power over by attacking. Worse, he brought on the Silver Age of Comics which celebrate misogyny and keeping women in the home, as well as Black erasure (because if you had a Black male character you couldn't have him romantically involved with a White woman, because THAT would be "miscegenation"—so, nice job on civil rights there, Freddie!).
He's a hateful person who gave us Superman as the World Greatest Dick, turned Lois Lane into a scheming shrew, and neutered Batman—and destroyed crime and horror comics which were really fun and interesting.
After I read this book years ago, I scoured my library and the internet for anything by you I could find since I loved it so much. I found your 50 Tentacles of Unspeakable Hue which was a kick too! You are one of my favorite feminist writers, and I look forward to buying/reading your newest book of poetry (next week).
I've been looking to get a copy of this. I consider it an important work of scholarship in this field.
aw, thanks!
If you don't want to buy it you could ask your library to order or purchase?
If it's not in my local library's catalogue, I will.
I just ordered your book. I read the Jill Lepore book, but I’m interested in yours too.
they're very different!
she's completely uninterested in the comics themselves, and thinks the bondage is disasteful, as far as I can tell.
Sounds like that fraud "Dr." Fredric Wertham.
Wertham's a complicated figure! He was very pro civil rights, and worked actively there. Seduction fo the Innocent is very homophobic in its discussion of Wonder Woman...but the chief Wertham scholar, Carol Tilley, said that was probably because it was plagiarized wholesale from another writer; Wertham seems to have little homophobic bias himself. (Of course, plagiarism is not ideal either!)
I still haven't read Carol's book, I'm just realizing...I really should.
Homophobic in more ways than that! He also went on, at length, about Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson—which had me snarling, "*Honi soit qui mal y pense,* you self-righteous old prick!"
Like Tipper Gore, Wertham brought on de faco censorship by an industry he tried to gain power over by attacking. Worse, he brought on the Silver Age of Comics which celebrate misogyny and keeping women in the home, as well as Black erasure (because if you had a Black male character you couldn't have him romantically involved with a White woman, because THAT would be "miscegenation"—so, nice job on civil rights there, Freddie!).
He's a hateful person who gave us Superman as the World Greatest Dick, turned Lois Lane into a scheming shrew, and neutered Batman—and destroyed crime and horror comics which were really fun and interesting.
I ordered a used copy online and received a package from the Edward Bowditch book company in England.
The postal declaration gave the Wonder Woman title correctly and the value at 33 1/2 British pounds.
When I opened the cardboard, however inside was a somewhat Christian nationalist hardcover treatise of 150 pages:
“rethinking educational theory“ by one Rupert Wegerif.
Why me!?
Oh no!
After I read this book years ago, I scoured my library and the internet for anything by you I could find since I loved it so much. I found your 50 Tentacles of Unspeakable Hue which was a kick too! You are one of my favorite feminist writers, and I look forward to buying/reading your newest book of poetry (next week).
Oh my god; I’d almost forgotten about 50 tentacles! That’s so kind of you to remember!