What Is The Hawkeye Initiative?? 

Something I feel I have to bring up in response to the 'men are sexualized too' argument is that yes, men definitely are sexualized and have their own set of societal expectations, but if you only ever bring up this issue to diminish the issue that women are sexualized, then you don't actually care about men being sexualized.

I kept hearing "Hot Guy" instead of "Hawkeye". I mean, that would also be correct, but still.

The Hawkeye Initiative is one of my favorite fandom moments! It was all good fun at the time.

My friends and I were super into the initiative in high school and not one of the 20 of us ever thought of it as anything but witty commentary… there was also some discussion of how if these sexy poses were empowering to women than it should be equally as empowering to men with Hawkeye there

So I have a lot of thoughts on the Hawkeye initiative so essay comment!: 1) sexy men in comics: Yes, men are also sometimes overly sexualised in comics as well, but I would argue that because I’m the history of comics men weren’t always sexualised (Unlike female superhero’s) its a lot bigger issue for females and how they’re expected to only be powerful when sexy. I’ll touch on that point later. 2) how this relates to comic covers: although there are panels that are dedicated to sexy men, rarely do you see them so sexualised on the cover of the comic. This is because comics are, traditionally, targeted towards straight men and anything overtly sexual on the cover that holds a man instead of a women would put that particular audience off. This practically proves that, at least with the cover photos, women are being sexualised for ecomical gain and not because of their power. 3) Women and Power and how they’re linked in comics: powerful women in comics are portrayed to be sexually pleasing, if they’re drawn not so sexually pleasing they are a “butch, bad women, or just extremely bossy-aka a bitch” and this most likely stems from the fact that if a man can’t get anything from a women (not even sexual enjoyedment) then they are terrifying or perhaps just considered lower in society. The fact that we link powerful women to sex is likely because men wish to control that power as much as possible, and sex is an easy way to do that. (Like to clarify, not every man does this. Most probably don’t realise they might subconsciously, just talking about society as a whole) 4) Gender Norma’s and Transphocia: Transphobia and a phobia of men not being mainly enough is a really issue, that needs to be fixed, however I agree with the point that if a blog intends to show a particular message then using pre made societal “rules” helps that message get through to the majority of people. This is used constantly in media, not always for bad and not always for good, but as a way to give a message quickly to the audience. The fact that people who look at the blog can quickly pick up what the blog is about it because of those pre made social standards. Yes, those standers will change as life moves on, but for right now it’s a powerful message that highlights the issues they wished to highlight. 5) What the real issue is: it’s actually a fantastic sign that people are arguing about male sexuality as well. I believe strongly that you can have sexual characters in media, you can, as long that there are more or less equally non sexual characters too chose from. The problem tends to be that there aren’t enough unsexualised women in comics and not enough sexualised men in comics, especially for comic covers. As well as this, there aren’t enough women who prefer men’s clothes/ men who prefer women clothes in comics, as well as not enough LGBTQ+ people in comics ext, the fact that the discussion about what else is wrong with comics is amazing, but they shouldn’t get annoyed with the blog itself, they should get annoyed with comics and society together. Just because a blog is brave enough to highlight one issue in comics doesn’t mean that it’s the only issue in comics or should be the one that’s only discussed, if you have another issue with comics then yes certainly talk about it, don’t get annoyed with someone also trying to help.

So happy to see the Hawkeye Initiative getting its day of appreciation, especially a day that's supposed to completely change Tumblr. It was a great part of the MCU fandom. I loved following that blog. At the time, I was really into Hawkeye because he was such a blank slate in the first Avengers film yet we had a really awesome portrayal of him in the comics. I quickly happened upon the Hawkeye Initiative and had to keep following it.

It's always kind of sad when you miss moments in fandom like this. I love that you talk about things like this and explain so that those who were there can remember, while others can still - in a way - enjoy the history of these communities and nice moments as well as the stories behind them so that they don't get lost in the chaos (especially with the nsfw crisis going on on tumblr)! Thank you!

I was aware of the Hawkeye Initiative and I enjoyed it, I thought it was a fun way to discuss a more serious issue within the comics community. Hawkeye is my favorite Marvel hero, from both the movies and the comics, though more so the comics, given the MCU's treatment of his character.

Ooo! If we're doing fandom 2012/2013 moments are you going to do Misha Collins!?! Mishapocalypse 1 & 2 was a fun time!!!! -and led to the creation of a charity I believe?- And exposed me to Misha's scavenger hunt, GISHWHES, which is connected to a nonprofit or two!

I see this and all I can think of is: Oh you mean they placed Hawkeye in really sexual and suggestive positions... Like Dick Grayson has been over-sexualized... Since his Robin days? And still is to this date?

Can I just say I really appreciate your unbiased and balanced presentation, of taking both or more sides of an argument and letting us see and decide for ourselves. It's so hard, especially in geek/nerd culture to find this. So thank you and because of this video, I am happily subscribed

I think a good rule of thumb is “Do the pose or costume fit the character” Catwoman with a sexy custome and a sexy pose *Fine* Storm with a overly sexualize pose *No* She-Hulk with sexy clothing *Yes* Sue Storm, the wasp, Capitain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Supergirl *Big No*

OH, RIGHT, THAT WAS A THING THAT HAPPENED!!!! Damn that was a trippy time.

I've been a fan of the initiative since I heard about it years ago (possibly when it was just getting started? but I don't remember exactly). It's interesting that you bring up a transphobia argument, especially since 1) I've never seen that one lobbied at the Hawkeye Initiative, and 2) I'm trans and... don't see it? Well, I can see where people may be coming from, but it feels a little false to try and make this about transphobia when that's not what it's about. And it's not like women's rights/issues about women are separate from trans issues--they're extremely linked, really. It's complicated getting into sexuality, sexaulization, and trans identities, especially since it's pretty case-by-case of what people are comfortable with, find impowering, etc: just like you said. Tho this is just my opinion¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As for Hawkeye: it tends to depend on the depiction! Tho that's true for most comic characters lol. I tend to like his sense of humor, and how he plays dumber than he really is.

I was not aware of this. But it looks like a lighthearted way to address an complex issue in regards to comics. I personally think that both genders are drawn in ridiculous ways. Both in positions, body shapes and are oversexulised. ( the men as well) Things like this initiative sound like a good way to bring attention to theses issues and promote discussion. As for Hawkeye himself? I like him. But, i only know him form the movies and the cartoon Avengers: earth's mightiest heroes. In which he has an interesting arch involving Black Widow.

May this give the Hawkeye Initiative a boost and lots of new art!

I loved the initiative! Never did a drawing for it because honestly it felt like everything had been done. I like comic Hawkeye more than movie Hawkeye, Clint can be charming

oooh i was there gandalf! i loved the hawkeye initiative. great time. so many valid criticisms, but really, i think it was fun and harmless and has a good point. i'm not a comic book reader, but i hope nowadays those female characters (and males too!) get better poses. you gotta admit though, the females have always gotten the short end of the stick in that department...

I think the only think Hawkeye initiative help spread was the inspiration for gay artists to make male superheroes of different bodytypse in skimpy outfits doing provocative poses. That and probably help make normal artist to not overexagerate with the limb or column dislocative poses.

so with regards to Renner finding the hawkeye initiative "terrifying", i understand it even as a trans woman. because (god help our souls) being misgendered is kind of a terrifying experience regardless of cis or trans. granted, some folks develop a thicker skin towards it, but still.

I was aware of the Hawkeye initiative! It was a great way to bring attention to an issues that had been around for a long time. I do love Hawkeye but I don't know much about his character. Apparently Endgame is going to have some big changes to him that I think will be really interesting.

1. Am i a fan? Not really? I mean.. i guess it s cool now that i'm hearing about it? Somehow i find that it reminds me personally of some unpleadant times in fandom. 2012-2014 was not a good time for me. 2. Was i aware of it? I was not. But it really is cool now that i'm hearing about it. At leadt the initial message of it. I'm not very fond of the band wagon effect thst sometimes happens in fandom though. 3. How do i feel about it? I think the initial message was good but i feel like i've seen that issue before where the message might have been lost in the mass of content. I feel like a lot of the time people copy each other and try to do the thing that's hip and cool without really thinking about why?? It just personally makes me uncomfortable, what with my own experiences with people who don't like to discuss other viewpoints than the widely accepted one. And since it's what's popular and socially acceptable by someobe popular, that HAS to mean it's flawless right?? But i feel like that's more a personal hangup than anything. I think it's important to have discussions about media in constructive ways, so things like these are always very interesting. 4. Hawkeye?? He's neat i guess XDD

I love Hawkeye. He's one of my favorite characters. I love the Hawkeye Initiative. Also, Dick Grayson is the strongest female character out there

Oh right. The Hawkeye Initiative was a very interesting time. Very weird and trippy. Speaking of Marvel have you seen the Champions Issue 27? Its some real shipping fuel for Viv Vision and Riri Williams.

I made it a Hawkeye essay and not an initiative essay. Just go along with it! :) I love almost all incarnations of Hawkeye. For me, the main draw is the same thing that made Xander in Buffy and later Stiles in Teen Wolf a thing: The guy who has no powers, or in this case, who'se powers are are minimal compared to others. Hawkeye isn't even a mutant, he's just a guy who made a decision to wear a mask and call himself a hero. Still, despite his questionable usefulness in fights, the comic Hawkeye never is the comic relief guy like Nightcrawler or Maddox sometimes were. I also love the movie Hawkeye. How did they make Jeremy Renner to do it? Too short, too dark and face that looks like a pug? I'll say "Hot as F." And what the original Avengers left out, the fans sure made up for it. He is, and this is the key; he's the perfect character to reflect all your emotional needs into. You want some feels? He got you covered! Angst? check. Childhood problems? Check. Loneliness? betrayal? Sometimes misguided loyalty? Situations where you are at the mercy of the circumstances? Sex? Love? Fear? Depression? Check check check. I love the Clint/Coulson safehouse fics, the abusive childhood fics, and mission fics. Do you remember that one fic where Clint has a reading disability and does everything he can to hide it from SHIELD and Coulson? Do you remember the fics where Clint makes it his mission to lure in the Black Widow when everyone else has given up for her to be anything but a brainwashed assassin? I loved Aja's Hawkeye comic. It was a bit slow for my taste, but there was moments of genious, like the silent issue. A hero might own a city, or a neighborhood, but he settled for one building. The Hawkeye-secret-family-man was a curve ball, but we are really good at substituting canon with our own when needed. I'll eagerly wait for the last installment of Avengers. For angst, what's better than a dead family? A family that were actually scrulls faking humans from the beginning (I hope)! In my ideal world, the movie Hawkeye's story goes along the line of Johnny Storm's in an old Fantastic Four story, where Johnny finds out that his girlfriend/wife was a (male) scrull, and he was ready to overlook these minor details (like his wife being an alien) but the wife dies anyway, leaving Johnny alone. Sads.

I was there! I love hawkeye~ and I love the movement

I appreciate the subject of this video. I notice there’s klance nods in your videos, like this one. Unless it’s somehow a coincidence? Judging from your past videos, I get a feeling you ship it.

I did a Psychology and Woman paper on this topic and used an article talking about this moment. Many of my classmates didn’t understand or didn’t know that the hyper sexualization of female characters was an issue in the comic book and comic book movie universes. My professor was happy to see a new look at a world that still doesn’t have much research being done, especially on the impact of women and how the female characters are designed. Seeing this video now after writing the paper is so interesting and I wish this was up at the time I was writing that paper. It would have been so helpful and would have added more context and substance to the issue I was addressing in my paper. Great job!

I love the Hawkeye initiative, and Barton himself is awesome! Underused in the movies, but awesome.

Hi! Can you please do a video on the ship of Bellamy and Clarke from the show ‘The 100’? Thank you!

I personally think one could also take a female superhero and replace male superheroposes, I am sure some of them would be making the exact same point.

Let's see... Yes, I knew of the Hawkeye Initiative. Yes, I enjoyed it and I still do, as it is a good memory and the discourse was a productive one at the time. Hawkeye is one of my favorite comic book heroes, especially in fanfiction. I still need to get my hands on those Hawkeye comics, I really like the style and I need to read them myself instead of just finding out about stuff in fanfiction.

I think intent always matters. Because if you don't, there are endless things to offend you. I could be offended by every green ugly witch Halloween decoration I see because they portray witches in a negative light. But I'd rather take the stuff in the spirit with which it was intended and enjoy my life. I don't want to put down anyone who feels they're being poorly treated, that's not my intention, but if intent doesn't matter then we're all just opening ourselves up to being hurt when no one wanted us to hurt.

Oooooo I loved this. I definetly feel the criticisms were very valid. I feel we've gotten abit better in recent years with new less sexualized costumes for certaim female charecters, of course we can always do better.

Finally some Clint luv

I remember this! My sister introduced me to the Hawkeye Initiative a few years ago.

I must have caught the Hawkeye Initiative in its tail end, somewhere in 2015 I think. But I stumbled across the blog, someone must have given me a link and I had a good laugh going through the pages. I hadn't seen Avengers but I sort of knew who Hawkeye was. I like him well enough in the MCU, but I have a friend who loves his 2012 (I think that's the year you said) run and so I've been schooled a bit more on his character through her.

Yesssss. I was waiting for you to talk about this!

Awesome video!

Ah the Hawkeye Initiative! What fond memories I have of it and him! What a great video for purge day!

*On the Hawkeye Initiative:* Yes, I remember it. I had mixed feelings about it. For the original version, where it was specifically commenting on Black Widow's pose verses all the male Avengers, I was absolutely for it, found it funny and agreed with its point. But there are some Hawkeye Initiative pictures where I don't think the original pose was particularly sexualized. At some point, women do just tend to dress and pose differently than men. However, there were others that were clearly over-sexualized, and those Hawkeye Initiative parodies, I was all for. *On Hawkeye:* For the most part I had no opinion on him, until "Civil War." He... made me angry then. I was not happy with the way he peer-pressured Wanda into doing something so highly illegal when she was legally and mentally at her most vulnerable, and then called it "rescuing." And then taunting Tony about Rhodey's back.... well I better just stop. Everyone was OOC to some degree in that movie, so I can forgive Hawkeye if he's himself again in "Endgame." *On the claims of transphobia:* I respect transgendered men and women, but this is one area where political correctness is going too far in my opinion. I'm tired of people accusing drag shows or drag-jokes as being "transphobic." The trans community does not have a copyright on dressing in drag. In any case, a trans woman will not even look like a man in drag; sure, she may have a more "manish" body after her transition, but she will still have breasts and lack facial hair and overall look like a woman. Now, if a cartoon had an exaggerated caricature of a trans person, like a muscular bearded man with breasts waving a rainbow flag, then yes that would be offensive and tasteless. But I see no female body parts or indications of being trans in these Hawkeye Initiative poses. *On male characters being sexualized:* It clearly doesn't happen as often as it does with female characters, but it does still happen. The idea that every random male lead must have a six-pack, regardless of his lifestyle, is just as stupid as the idea of every female lead needing DD breasts. (And just as many men aren't attracted to DD breasts, many women are not attracted to six-packs.) Fan art is particularly an area where this happens to male characters. Just as fan artists often take female characters and give them inflated breasts, many also warp the male characters' bodies into porn-stars. Tony Stark, Han Solo, Star Lord, or some other guy who is a sexy, unique human being in canon will be essentially decapitated and have his head spliced onto the body of a 6-ft, six-pack toting porn body. It's not only demeaning to men and boys who look up to these characters, but extremely frustrating for us fangirls who are actually attracted to these characters as they are, specifically because they *don't* look like porn stars. We have "real beauty" campaigns for girls, and I think it's time we have one for guys as well.

That was way more complicated than I realised it was. Yay for fandom history class!

Even though there were multiple arguments and some vitrial, I think there was some good discussion being had. Maybe it was just a momemt, but it's gotten me to think.

Hooray for that Fraction's Hawkeye mention~

I remember the Hawkeye initiative and I liked it. I thought it had a simple point and it made it clear in a humorous way, though I prefered the escher girls. I didn't know there had been discourse about it, I just thought people forgot about it with time.

I love the nuances.

When I first heard of this trend I was so happy!!

Oh I definitely contributed my own art to this movement. Good times.

How about a video on Bakugou x Kirishima from BnHA?

I used this as a subtopic for my assignment this sem, good times

Aware of the movement? yes, I don't really use tumblr anymore, but the movement was during a time where I was on quite often. Thoughts on it? I love it. I love seeing men in sexual positions that are typically for "woman" only, and with clothes that match that sexual energy/reference image. I love it. It's awesome. I didn't ever find them funny though... I understood the critic it was trying to make, and again since I enjoy seeing men in typically "female" clothing it's fanart I love to see.

Jermey renner need to see this XD

My feelings about Stevenson as a creator put aside, I was vaguely aware of the initiative, but I don't really read comics so I mostly forgot it existed. I can see both sides of the arguments surrounding it. I think it would have been better to have more variety in male characters than just Hawkeye if they wanted to point out how overly sexualized the variety of female characters were. I also think the pictures of real people trying to mimic the poses does a better job of pointing out how broken the anatomy in the art actually is. Those are things that definitely need to be addressed and I think the initiative did address that those issues fairly well through the parody. But at the same time the male characters are also put into unrealistic poses, wear costumes that are meant to show off their ridiculously idealized bodies and this doesn't really address many of the other factors that are at play here. Like target audience or the ever changing views of what it really means to be a strong woman and, more importantly for this topic, a strong character. I think the initiative had it's place and time, but that time has past.

Wait! Do you mean the interviewer didn't properly explain it to him and let him guess! What the hell! That makes me angry, it's like saying "Part of your car is broken." When you actually blew it up! Maybe I just need to see this in context. Smh. *I looked it up she does properly explain it :)*

This has nothing to do with this video, but for one of the fan fic Friday can you examine the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom if you haven't already? I've been in and out of the fandom and have seen the steady decline in the art, fics, and other media of it especially of the original. Some think the newer versions have been to blame or the lacking of Connection to the original. Strangely the game itself is still thriving with world tournaments occurring every year. Sorry this was so long, just some thought. P.s. sorry ive been away from the streams college takes more time from me then I originally thought it would.

Nice ^^

Should have been the Nightwing initiative tbh.

this is awesome omg!!!

"It's empowering! She chose to dress like that!" Says pervy man about his drawing of a fictional character. I think it's very telling that a lot of these dudes will share the kinds of covers and panels the HI was parodying next to an image of an actual human woman who has dressed in something "sexy" (depending on what one finds sexy, as there is, if you'll forgive the cliche, a lid for every pot) and will go "Why is this okay, but this not okay? COMPLETELY unaware that they are telling the world they literally can't see the difference between fictional and real women.

Love both.

I didn't know about the Hawkeye initiative, but I'm Tumblr illiterate. I knew people drew sexy images of Dick (you could not pay me to call him Rick) Grayson. Oooo, I feel the hell that Tumblr has wrought on the horizon. It's coming. I need to go put on my Rorschach cosplay and hold up a "The end is Nigh" sign. It's blogs like these that will make a fan go off the deep end if they get deleted.

I REMEMBER OMG IM DYIN

*sigh* I miss old tumblr

LMAO, out of all the characters why Hawkeye? I don't really care about all this I'm just curious.

ive never heard of the hawkeye initiative, i can see its intentions and i do like them as some female poses in comic can be a little ridiculous and that parody is the best way to talk about such an issue. i dont actually care for hawkeye at all, he dosent interest me

I actually enjoy the sexual designs women have in comics, I get disinterested in comics when women are not pin up models and when men are not muscular. I just like exaggerated designs, I do still enjoy sexy hawkeye

The problem isn’t that the women in comics are sexually expressive, the problem is that A MAN DREW THEM LIKE THAT!!!!! ✨The male gaze✨ Their clothing and positioning is unrealistic. It’s ALWAYS degrading if the man is the one depicting all woman like that all the damn time and not because the individual woman wanted to be sexy in that moment

The over sexualization of female characters is probably just them catering to their primarily male fan base. I don't really see an issue honestly. If someone does see an issue, okay, we're all entitled to our opinions, just don't come at me for mine.

The Hawkeye Initiative was dumb and only proved that men look stupid in poses and costumes meant for women which of course they do. It was peak tumblr. But I guess we got some funny pictures out of it. Edit: That's not to say that some poses women in comics are put in are ridiculous or anything, just that it's still pretty pointless critique it that way. Why not try doing poses that work for what's sexy with a man or something? Also, it's not entirely 100% true that all the poses Escher Girls mocked are impossible to achieve. Sure there were a few from bad artists that legitimately were, but quite a few of them are mid-action poses an athletic person could pull off but aren't really meant to be held for more than a second or two. The problem there is that some people forget comics are an unanimated visual medium. That said, some comic artists do have a habit of using poses that are a bit silly in the context of certain comics on women and that is a problem even if it isn't as widespread an issue as some think it is (only a few artists do that, like Lefield, the guy who can't seem to not trace his women from playboy covers).