Why Do Female Superheroes Rarely Date Normal Human Males?

[Gorrath]

Oh sure, and I'd not argue against that as I'm really not familiar enough to do so. I just had a bit of a worry that the whole thing would devolve into a lot of no true scotsman back-and-forth if we started discounting anyone who was "exceptional-normal" or who ahd ever had any kind of powers. I don't know too much about Jameson but even with him struck from the list there's still plenty of "normal" men who dated superhero women. Not that you seemed to be arguing that there weren't, you just mentioned why Jameson shouldn't count, which is fair enough.

Fair enough. I just like talking about John Jameson. Did you know he was also a Superhero called Colonel Jupiter? Though only for 2 issues.

Just checked out his WIKI page. The Captain Jupiter stuff seems kind-a cool. I'll see if I can get a hold of the issues for a look-see. Thanks!

 

[Lightknight]

Whoops, accidentally hit a mouse wheel over a flag icon and reported a post in this thread. The post has nothing offensive in it but I have no idea how to tell mods about the error. It always seems difficult to know which group of mods to contact in specific forums.

 

[Entaris]

Because dating a normal man would mean that the woman was stronger than the man. And that's a no-no.

That or a super woman is more likely to crush a normal mans pelvis... Not entirely sure why the opposite isn't true though.

 

[Asita]

There's an episode of Batman Beyond where Bruce is browsing through pictures of women he's dated, which included Lois Lane.

I'm only passingly familiar with that program. Do you have a name of that episode so I can check a few things?

"Out of the Past," Episode 5 of Season 3

http://dcau.wikia.com/wiki/Out_of_the_Past

Thank you very much, Agent_Z. Unfortunately, I must inform you that the episode "Out of the Past" aired four years prior to the episode of Justice League Unlimited we're discussing, "This Little Piggy."

If I may butt in? JLU was very overt about their mutual attraction, but there is no indication in the show that they actually started a romantic relationship, and indeed showed Bruce rather stubbornly trying to keep it professional.

Spoiler

And to be perfectly fair, that's actually a wise decision on Bruce's part considering that the mutual attraction was apparently something of an open secret, Diana (at least in the DCAU's Justice League) didn't have a secret identity to speak of and didn't make any effort to hide her superhero identity when she was off the clock (so to speak), and a romance would inevitably see Diana with both Bruce Wayne and Batman and consequentially jeopardize his own secret identity.

Mind you, I actually like the two of them together, but to my memory Justice League never really made them an official couple.

 

[SteewpidZombie]

Because some men are afraid of being the bottom-***** in the relationship. Plain and simple.

It's the idea that the woman can't be the dominant partner, because that would mean the man is put into the 'housewife' role in the relationship.

Which is pretty stupid in modern society to be afraid of, yet alot of writers still come from the generation where a man having 'feelings' or being 'weak' were looked down on. So while I think it's perfectly fine if for example: Supergirl had a human husband who stayed home and looked after the kids kinda situation, it's just one of those things where some guys would practically tear their hair out while screaming "OMAGARD IT'S SO WRONG!!!" as they froth from the mouth and drag their knuckles on the pavement.

 

[Tono Makt]

Why do you think writers don't have female superheroes dating normal men a whole lot?

1) Crossover potential.
How many female superheroes have their own individual comic book series/tv shows/etc/? Of those, how many sell well enough to not need crossover with more popular comic books series/tv shows/etc.? I would imagine the number is quite small, and so to keep the options open the writers opt to have the female super heroes date other super heroes.

2) Amount of time in the show/space on the comic pages/etc.
For female super heroes who are part of larger teams, or who share time/space/etc. with other heroes, exploring the dynamics of a Super Hero Woman and a Non-Powered/Non-Super Hero Man requires time/space dedicated to it because you can't simply use the age-old shorthand that was developed for Male Superhero-Non-powered/Non-Superhero female (ie: Superman - Lois Lane) over 7+ decades of comics. They have to develop new shorthand to describe this less-common kind of relationship.

3) Ideas of what women look for in relationships
It is a fairly well accepted idea in our culture that women look for equals or superiors for relationships, and that they are looking for fathers for potential children. This idea is held by writers and readers, and influences what readers expect to see and what writers expect readers to expect. (for both male and female readers/writers) Having a non-superhero man in a relationship with a superhero woman does not fit into this dynamic, and so runs right into Point 2 - to include it requires a large amount of time/space to explain why this relationship is "unique" or special. (Whether this idea is accurate is irrelevant for this discussion - I've actually been googling scientific studies on this topic lately, and the results are extremely mixed and politicized.)

4) Pushback from non-creative executives
Executives are looking to make money, and anything that might not make them money is to be avoided when possible - it's a risk. A "non-traditional" (in the comic book sense) relationship is a risk.

5) General laziness from creative types
Writers run into #4, and decide not to push back against it.

6) Consumers
We're less likely to suspend our disbelief when something pushes us out of our comfort zone. We may not immediately dismiss it or hate it, but we are more likely to look for ways to pick it apart. "She said she had to work late in Issue 7, but in Issue 6 she commented that her law firm was cutting back on hours to save money. How is he not seeing through these lies - he's a lawyer too!" or "Why isn't he asking her about the bandages on her legs?" or "Why isn't he asking how she got all those bruises when she was supposed to be at a company retreat in Aspen?" etc.

None are particularly good reasons or excuses for it, mind you,

 

[deeman010]

Women tend to date up whilst men tend to date down. It's not that hard to believe that a group of writers, whether consciously or subconsciously, made it true for their fictional characters.

 

[deeman010]

<pls delete; double post>

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Women tend to date up whilst men tend to date down. It's not that hard to believe that a group of writers, whether consciously or subconsciously, made it true for their fictional characters.

Jeah, i'd argue the same. With the addition of "Both sexes date equals".
But people will argue about semantics or just start nitpicking by bringing up some celebrity couple, where it's the other way around.
That's why it's "tend to" as in "usually" as in "the way it works out most of the time".

I've met couples where it's both ways, but very rarely the women dated-down (and had no helper complex).