Normally I cringe at examining anything through a feminist lens, but after a few people mentioned a lack of authentic female characters, I couldn’t help but read the book that way.

Alyse mentioned her dissatisfaction with Laurie, but later put her flaws in perspective with the male characters’ flaws. I don’t actively think Alan Moore is a sexist or a chauvinist, but I think being cynical or power-hungry are a little more innocuous (and appreciated by society) than say…being accused of being a whore or losing a career after having an illegitimate child.

I went back and looked at other minor female characters and I couldn’t really find one that was put in a positive light:

*Joey the lesbian. (ch.5, p.21) It seems like her main purpose is to serve as a foil for Bernard (the guy at the newsstand). She’s a crass butch stereotype. She looks at porn with a toothpick in her mouth and states her opinions on the world. This was probably done to make her seem as “gritty” as the other characters, but she just seemed contrived.

*Rorschach’s mother (ch.6, p.4). She’s a slut (possibly a prostitute?) who verbally and physically abuses her son, which results in severe psychological damage.

*Dr. Long’s wife, Gloria. (ch.6, p.28). Although she starts out as being loving and supportive, she ends up “subject[ing him] to a lot of sexual insults.”

*Dr. Manhattan’s first girlfriend, Janey Slater (ch.4, p.18). Although, the reader might have more sympathy for her (she just got traded in for a newer model), there are few times in the book where she isn’t crying or being angry and bitchy. Also, that whole cancer accusation (even though it was Veidt’s fault) doesn’t paint her in the best of lights.

In the end it turns out Joey’s girlfriend is normal and not also a stereotype (ch.11, p. 6), and Veidt admits to the starting cancer allegations (ch.11, p.26), but those two tidbits don’t change the outlook of women in Watchmen too much.

Now these are all a bit of a stretch, but what if, what if Moore’s less-than-stellar portrayal of women can be attributed to one of the following:

1)    It’s his heavy-handed way of making women seem as “gritty” as the men.

2)    Women traditionally don’t read comic books. To get really Meta, maybe the female characters are crazy and bitchy because they don’t “get” the comic book world. While there are female superheroes, maybe he thinks it’s a guys-only club that women don’t understand.

3)  Female characters aren’t generally presented in a realistic fashion (yay crazy Barbie proportions!) in comic books and Moore is simply pointing that out in the most obvious way possible.