http://henryjenkins.org/2009/06/an_interview_with_mary_borsell.html

This link is to an interview with Mary Borsellino who authored Boy and Girl Wonders: Robin in Cultural Context. The interview explores the conception of Robin, who has been played by a girl twice in the Batman series, the first time by Stephanie Brown, who even sewed her own red skirt to match her costume.  The first time Robin was played by a “Girl Wonder” the idea was “handled clumsily with obvious institutional sexism” (Borsellino). Stephanie Brown was controversially tortured with a drill, killed and promptly forgotten by Batman. Borsellino makes some interesting points about the concept of the “Side-Kick”….often the side-kick represents a group already marginalized by society, whether it’s through gender, race, or physical ability.  Robin, played by Carrie Kelley in The Dark Knight Returns becomes a “transgender” figure, as she is even more androgynous in costume than civilian life, she’s even referred to as a “boy” on the news.  Stephanie Brown’s Robin was quite androgynous as well, before becoming Robin she was “Spoiler” who even fooled her own father into believing she was a boy. However, Borsellino seems hyper-sensitive to the gritty and realistic dialogue in The Dark Knight Returns; I think the salty language matches Miller’s vision of Gotham City and it’s inhabitants.  Her feminist criticism The Dark Knight Returns can only accomplish so much, although her theories about Robin are worth taking a look at.