“Gyno-Star” may not be a household name for a superheroine, but she wields no less power than her more well-known peers like Wonder Woman or Black Widow.
She doesn’t fight street crimes or super villains from the underworld; instead she battles against the “forces of evil and male chauvinism”, stunning her nemesis with the ultimate weapon: the childbirth pain.
The brain behind this feminist superhero is Rebecca Cohen, a Bay Area-based cartoonist who started the Gyno-Star comic as mere doodles on her notebooks. In her bid to change the stereotype of feminist, her works extend beyond Gyno-Star series. On her Tumblr account, she regularly posts other cartoons to spread feminist messages with humor.
"Feminists get a bad rap as having no sense of humor, and I want to counter that image," she told The Huffington Post.
Blending political and social issues with comedy, her cartoons jab at the issues women face in their everyday lives, from pay gap to female online bullying. They poke fun at a lot of things, from sexist beer ads, tea party libertarians, to glossy women’s magazines.
Cohen also uses her cartoon to shine a spotlight on women who make a difference. She recently featured Bree Newsome, an activist who climbed a flagpole and took down the Confederate flag in South Carolina in the wake of Charlestown Emanuel AME Church shooting.
Cohen earned her Master’s degree in Cinema Studies from New York University. She now lives in Berkeley, California.
Now who says feminists can’t do funny?
Aqila Putri is a sophomore studying at Wesleyan University, trying to pursue her degree in Economics and International Relations. Her daydreams consist of owning a bakery and a kitchen like Gordon Ramsay's. Hit her up at @aqilalistya to talk about food, cat, and social justice.
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