The Hawkeye Initiative – Comics Readers Take Up the Challenge of Drawing Male Superheroes in the Same Poses

In an attempt to combat the blatant objectification of female superheroes (who are often drawn in impossibly contorted poses that show off their buttocks), a group of comic book fans have started an art project known as the hawkeye initiative. The concept is simple: instead of drawing the woman in these distorted positions, artists draw male superheroes performing those same poses. The result is both hilarious and a great way to demonstrate how messed up the representations of women in comics are.

The idea was born when Tumblr user HoursAgo posted a drawing of Black Widow in an action pose, her body upside down and contorted so that she could expose her chest and buttocks to the viewer. HoursAgo tagged the image with “The Hawkeye Initiative,” and from there the idea spread. Now there’s a Tumblr blog dedicated to the meme, featuring hundreds of images of female superheroes’ poses being corrected by redrawing them as Hawkeye in those same distorted positions.

Artists from around the world have taken up the challenge, depicting Hawkeye bending over backward for a kick, saucily turning to show off his behind for an upcoming fight, and falling casually through the air with his bow while holding a sword in his hand. The results are both hysterical and a great way to point out how inaccurate, stereotypical, and ridiculous the depictions of female characters in comics are.

This type of redrawing can be done by anyone with a pen and paper, but some of the more elaborate submissions have come from cosplayers, who take the idea a step further and create impressive costumes of their favorite heroes in these impractical positions. The Mary Sue has rounded up some of our favorites, which you can see in the gallery below.

In a recent blog post, author John Holbo argues that the popularity of The Hawkeye Initiative can’t simply be attributed to its hilarity. He points out that the redrawings highlight how messed up the poses of female superheroes are in their original form, and that they’re often crudely drawn.

While it’s nice to see comics readers taking a stand against the sexual objectification of female superheroes, the fact is that most of these artists are still men, so the pictures don’t really make people think twice. They might make people laugh, but they won’t change the way that men and women view comics.

We’ve talked about other projects that target comic book sexism in the past, such as Women in Refrigerators and Escher Girls. But this one is particularly unique in that it focuses on the ways in which women are represented in comics without ever actually calling out the artists for being sexist. That’s why the hawkeye initiative is so effective; it raises awareness about the way the female figures are drawn, rather than making it seem like the problem is the artist.