Red Sonja: From Exploitation to Empowerment

Please don't hate her because she's beautiful. With every issue Dynamite Entertainment's Red Sonja is working hard to prove she's much more than just a chick in a metal bikini. The modern Red Sonja is smart, strong, brooding and capable of handling everything from attacking barbarians to cultural politics. She's come a long way from the sword holding sex-kitten she began as during the exploitation era of the silver age.

Created as a comic book character in 1973 by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith, she was part of a growing presence of eye-candy in the largely male oriented comic scene. She started as side character in Conan The Barbarian, but her appeal soon afforded her a title of her own with Marvel Comics. Her popularity peaked and crashed in 1985 when she was portrayed on screen by Brigitte Nielson. Modern women were appalled by a character with little to offer but brutality and sex appeal. In 1986 Marvel cancelled her title and she remained in relative obscurity until 2005 when fast rising publisher Dynamite Entertainment began her 4^th series title.

Still clad in her steel swimwear, Red Sonja travels the wastelands righting wrongs and working on her own moral compass. She's a complex character who doesn't always do the "right thing" and seems to see violence and diplomacy as two sides of the same bronze coin. Scoffed at by feminists for decades, the new Red Sonja lives out lessons they've been trying to teach for a generation. She offers such messages as:

You don't need sex to succeed. A refreshing diversion from the world of sexually explicit music and media where a woman's ability to appeal to and please men seems to be the requirement, Red Sonja exists in a paradigm where that is not on the menu. Her powers came from the red goddess Scathach who decreed she will be adept with weapons as long as she doesn't lay with a man unless he had bested her in fair combat (this last condition leaves a wonderful ambiguity to be fleshed out in many ways). She doesn't seduce or scheme for attention to make her way through the land, and if she does find someone to be intimate with, at least he will be an equal.

Be confident. Red Sonja strides into town and tavern with her head held high and her voice strong and firm. She doesn't let opinions or expectation get in the way of her mission. She has a host of social survival skills from trading witty comebacks with a bartender to cutting off the hand of a man who places it on the warrior without her permission. She doesn't hesitate and has no doubt about her self or her actions. The She-Devil With A Sword assures women and girls of all ages that all they really need to be is who they are.

Make friends, not crutches. Red Sonja takes most of her journeys alone. She doesn't need a side kick or constant support personnel to remind her how good she is or to carry her equipment. Usually alone, she's not a loner. She makes friends and allies in the villages she encounters, creating trusted relationships along the way. Her example of inter-dependence and self sufficiency stands out in our affirmation needy generation who grew up having to be assured "everyone is a winner".

With cover artists such as Michael Turner, Alex Ross, and Paolo Rivera, Red Sonja is always going to look good. Beyond the athletic body and bountiful red hair is a character who is using her dagger to carve an indelible mark in the history of women in comics, and the empowerment of women in culture.