From: ellis@snowy.qal.berkeley.edu (Michael K. Ellis)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: Re: MUTANT: Rogue and Sexual Harassment
Date: 13 Apr 1992 07:22:35 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berzerkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: snowy.qal.berkeley.edu

In article <1992Apr13.043805.11548@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> m107a-ag@euler.Berkeley.EDU (m107a student) writes:
<First of all, I'd like to assert that I am in no way in favor of
<sexual harrassment of any kind, and certainly do not think one should
<be admired for any actions or perceived actions which might constitute
<this.

<However, has anyone thought about it from this perspective:

<Before it was stated that if Rogue comes into contact with another,
<the person with the "stongest will" takes over Rogue's person.

I also remember it being stated this way (although not by who), and I don't
believe that's how her power's been established to work.  In the 'early'
appearances of Rogue (prior to X-Men #200), the only people who
successfully resisted Rogue were extremely powerful, either mystically
(Mephisto), or otherwise.  Rogue hasn't been shown to have particularly
high willpower.  It certainly isn't any higher than, say, Storm's,
yet Rogue was able to 'take over' Storm, albeit voluntarily.  Lately,
of course, I haven't seen her using her power at all, and it seems that
when she does, it barely works.  (Is it yet another example of how any
powerful female superhero will inevitably be depowered over time? :)  )

By the way, I still think the short scene between Rogue and Storm was
both one of the best written and most disappointing I've seen in the
comic.  It was a wonderful set-up to either progress in controlling
Rogue's power, or starting a downhill slide.  Instead it's gone nowhere,
making it just another dangling plotline.  Ah well...

<Now, barring all the negative conjecture about Gambit, one thing we
<do know is that he is EXTREMELY sure of himself (read: cocky as hell).
<Also, he seems quite willing to try anthing even when the odds are against
<him.  But, he frequently gets his clock cleaned by many of the baddies.
<(sure he sometimes wins against the odds, but NOT ALWAYS)
<Anyway, I think it is entirely within his character to be very curious,
<and ready to find out, if he could come into contact with Rogue without
<losing his powers or consciousness or whatever.

Actually, I think Gambit might well try to find that out, yes.  Certainly
the way Rogue's been written lately, he could probably 'overwhelm' her will
and come out on top.  That's not the point.  The point is that he's willing
to push her that far, against her express wishes.  At the risk of
repeating myself, that's harassment, and it's wrong.

<This combined with an attraction to Rogue and his hinted at ability to
<"charm" the pants of people, would incline me to believe is not actually
<playing mind games with Rogue in an effort to hurt her, but is more
<concerned with the challenge involved.

<True, he is probably not taking Rogue's feelings entirely into account
<and this could be viewed as some form of harassment, but I don't buy
<the traitor deal, and I don't think Gambit is out to intentionally
<cause Rogue any harm.

The problem I have with the character is not that Gambit is supposed to
be the traitor.  If he were supposed to be the bad guy, then his behavior,
no matter how 'cool', would ultimately be unacceptable, at least in the
limited shades of black and white that the industry tends to in its
morality.  The difficulty is that Marvel is trying to promote Gambit
as a good guy.  Assuming the reports I've read here are accurate, and
there will be a Gambit X-Man doll, excuse me, 'action figure', along
with the others, this would seem to be the case.

A character who would view someone like Rogue as a 'challenge' rather
than as a young woman with some extremely serious emotional and physical
problems is not, in my book, a hero.  He may be courageous, daring,
and perfectly happy to go out and put his life on the line fighting the
'bad' guys, yes.  That is, for a comic, 'heroic' behavior.  In a way,
that makes it worse.  If you ask Rogue if Gambit is a 'bad' guy, she'd
undoubtedly say no, he's an X-Man, and a hero.  So how is she supposed
to deal with Gambit, a hero, continually and deliberately using her powers,
her phobias, and her fears against her?  If he were a villain, she could
just slug it out with him (traditional Marvel resolution) and be done.
Since he's her teammate, and a good guy, she's unlikely to react that way.
Without some outside support from someone else (say, your friendly
neighborhood Professor who is supposed to be so good at reading people, or
Jean Grey, or Storm, all of whom are supposed to be leaders and 'people'
people), she just goes on, and in all likelyhood her condition worsens.

Of course, I doubt any of this would ever be written.  The whole scenario
I've just outlined would require rather more subtlety and insight I've seen
exerted on this title in ages.  Even Claremont never really dealt with
Rogue.  She just became a flying strongman to substitute for Colossus when
he wasn't around.  What will probably happen is Gambit's marriage is
annuled, he keeps messing about with Rogue until the two fall deeply in
love, and Forge whips up a power neutralizer so that Rogue & Gambit can get
affectionate.  No mess, no fuss, and no characterization.  And several
hundred thousand adolescent readers who never notice what's wrong. <sigh>

Additionally:

<From: gmf2@quads.uchicago.edu (gary michael feldman)
<
<Seems to me Rogue has been getting very lax in covering her body
<lately.  There have been several instances where she's exposed
<a lot!

Again, this seems to be very 'out of character.'  When Claremont was
writing the book, Rogue was usually drawn dressed 'sexily', along with
the rest of the X-Women.  However her clothing was unusual in that it
tended to cover her skin, even with only one layer of cloth.  Long
sleeves, gloves, and slacks were the norm.  More recently, Rogue has
been 'loosening up,' but this seems to be more of a tendency of Lee
to draw scantily clad women than any real character development.  If it
is real character development, then Lee and co. are being a *lot* more
subtle than I'd give them credit for.