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Andrew Beitdashtoo
Professor Beadle
English 115
October 15, 2015
A Marvelous Gender
Comic books have been entertaining people of all ages ever since their creation. When
one thinks of superheroes, the first description that comes into mind is male; Muscular, strong,
and courageous. These traits are all considered to be masculine and therefore have created a
common mindset in society that most heroes must be extremely masculine men. Usually, there
are females in many comic books, but they are commonly portrayed as feminine sidekicks or
villains. Most of the time, these women are placed within comics in order to add sexual tension
and relief throughout the books. Ms. Marvel, on the other hand, is a comic that is written to
portray a woman as a superhero, rather than just a sidekick. Throughout the book, different
gender roles are found to be discussed and contradicted in order to create Ms. Marvel, a female
superhero. The various pieces of evidence that can be found in the book prove that Ms. Marvel
should be able to transgress between gender roles in order to keep equality, power, and social
ranking balanced. When one compares Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson to articles found in
Composing Gender such as Rethinking Womens Biology, and Hegemonic Masculinity and
Black Gender Ideology, the reader can find many similarities between gender roles that are
discussed between both books.
Equality is one of the biggest concerns when it comes to gender roles. Recently, society
has started to accept the fact that men and women should be treated equally, but fails to act
towards the subject. In Ms. Marvel, the reader is constantly aware of the matter of equality. The

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reason as to why this is so is because Kamala Khan, the main character of Ms. Marvel, is
constantly surrounded by both men and women. In fact, her two best friends, Nakia and Bruno,
differ in sex. It is quite interesting that Kamala has chosen these two as her friends considering
their characteristics. Nakia is an extremely feminine girl who strongly practices and lives by the
rules of Islam. Bruno on the other hand is an average joe white male who sticks to his
masculine traits. Compared to her two friends, Kamala seems to be influenced by both and stuck
in the middle of them. For instance, she is also a Muslim girl who is proud of her roots, but is
also tired of being treated like a young girl. Kamala wishes to be able to make her own choices
and relate to different gender roles which are considered masculine.
In the beginning of the book, there are a couple of scenes which occur that allow the
reader to view Kamala's contemplations about femininity and masculinity. Both of these scenes
lead to a party which identifies the different types of gender roles found in society. The first
scene occurs when Kamala is having dinner with her family and brings up the idea of going to a
party. She tells her dad about how it will include boys and that she would not do anything stupid,
but her father does not seem to care. Instead, he advises Kamala to invite Nakia over in order to
complete homework and watch movies; things that would typically be seen as feminine
activities. Kamala then tells her father that if I was a boy, youd let me go to the party. This
sentence led her father to yell at Kamala and excuse her out of the dining room (Wilson 7).
In the following scene, Kamala decides to step away from her parental advisory and
sneaks out to join the party (Wilson 8). By doing this, she begins to show the reader her thoughts
on gender identification by independently thinking and standing up for herself. Kamala then
arrives to the party and another gender role is portrayed. A boy named Josh tricks Kamala into
drinking alcohol by claiming that it was really orange juice. Once Kamala finds out the drink

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included vodka, Bruno steps in to help out (Wilson 10). This is seen as a masculine act because a
male is usually expected to stand up for the commonly misconcepted weaker female. Kamala
then reverses these roles around by saying I dont need your help. Im not some child (Wilson
11). This quotation leads to a strong build up of equality between both genders and sexes.
Deriving from the idea of equality comes power. Power can be seen in a sense of two
things; physical power and emotional power. Physical power is usually related to strength and
masculinity. This idea is contradicted in the book Ms. Marvel because Kamala gains the
attributes of physical superpowers. Once Kamala goes for a walk after the party, the scenery of
the book transforms into a smoky atmosphere. She then passes out and wakes up to see Ms.
Marvel, Iron Man, and Captain America, who are all represented as faith, standing above her
(Wilson 15). A couple of quotes can be extracted from the comic which can be used to compare
both physical and emotional strength which derive from masculinity and femininity. For
example, Ms. Marvel asks Kamala who she wants to be like. Kamala replies saying I want to be
beautiful and awesome and butt-kicking and less complicated. I want to be you. Except I would
wear the classic, politically incorrect costume and kick butt in giant wedge heels (Wilson 17). It
is quite interesting that Kamala describes what she wants to be like in such depth because she
explains her ideas of a perfect girl; one who has both feminine and masculine traits.
In order to be the perfect girl she wishes to be, Kamala must be able to change herself.
Once her superpowers come into full effect, she can fulfill her wishes. The beauty of her abilities
are that her powers are extremely flexible. The flexibility, however, is derived from a literal
sense. Kamala gains the ability to stretch and modify her body parts, also known as
shapeshifting. The power of shapeshifting could be related to the article Rethinking Womens
Biology from Composing Gender. Within the article, Ruth Hubbard, the author, states the norms

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and differences that society observes about women such as their height, weight, and strength
(Hubbard 47). She also states that what we do and how our bodies and minds function are
connected dialectically. Thus norms are self-fulfilling prophecies that do not merely describe
how we are but prescribe how we should be (Hubbard 47). This quote strongly relates to
Kamalas abilities to morph into whatever she pleases. For example. she morphs into a totally
different person who is blonde, white, and beautiful because she wishes to be perfect. Due to her
powers, she can also withdraw and complete tasks that are seen as masculine. This is proof that
Kamala is able to transgress through different gender roles depending on the situation she is
currently in. If a situation calls for a feminine approach, she can morph and transform herself
into a female and act like a proper woman. However, if a situation calls for a masculine
approach, Kamala can morph into whatever she pleases, whether it is a powerful and strongly
built body or a courageous mindset.
Some may say that Kamala cannot transgress into different gender roles as she is just an
average, teenage girl. Although Kamala has the ability to change into whatever and whoever she
desires, she returns to her natural self by the end of the day. Once she is back home, she finds
herself back in her average household surrounded by her strongly religious family. Kamala feels
tension strike her when she tries to compare and contrast her household lifestyle to her outdoor
lifestyle. The extremist ideals of her brother make it even harder for her to understand which
gender roles she should be placed in. She has the ability to change into whatever she would like
to be, however she remains stuck and critiqued by friends and family, making it hard for Kamala
to understand what she truly wants for herself. According to the article Hegemonic Masculinity
and Black Gender Ideology written by Patricia Hill Collins, Maintaining an appropriately
feminine demeanor constitutes another dimension of trying not to be like men (Collins 234).

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This quotation can relate to Kamala's struggles in many ways. Although she wishes to become
perfect, strong, and courageous, sometimes she feels she is not fit to play the part of a more
masculine figure. Collins also states that Women can also avoid the stigma of being judged too
masculine by avoiding so-called male characteristics. Women are expected to differ from men,
and those women who project a submissive demeanor allegedly received better treatment than
those who do not (Collins 234). This idea may be commonly accepted in society, however,
according to the book Ms. Marvel, the result of acting masculine is the opposite. In one scene,
Kamala uses her superpowers to stop an armed robbery that was being inflicted on her friend
Bruno (Wilson 61). She tried acting masculine and stopping the criminal activity from taking
place, but was shot as a result. Bruno quickly picks up the phone and calls the police as he
simultaneously tries to aid her. This contradicts Collins position, proving that both men and
women can receive equal treatment that is not dependent on one's gender roles.
To bind these two thoughts together, society must balance the ranking of gender roles. In
order to do this, gender roles must be interchangeable between sexes to create an equilibrium
within the thoughts and ideals of all in society. Relating to Kamala and her superhuman lifestyle,
it is possible to transgress between different gender roles. She can continue to transgress between
both masculine and feminine identities in order to do whatever she pleases. As a result, she is
highly looked upon by society, therefore she can change society's views of gender identities.
Works Cited
Hill Collins, Patricia Hegemonic Masculinity and Black Ideology Composing Gender 2014.
Print.
Hubbard, Ruth Rethinking Womens Biology Composing Gender 2014. Print
Wilson, G. Willow, Adrian Alphona, Ian Herring, Joe Caramagna, Sara Pichelli, Justin Ponsor,

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Jamie Mckelvie, and Matthew Wilson. Ms. Marvel. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print

Learning Resource Center Summary

On October 7, 2015 I visited the student Learning Resource Center in the CSUN Oviatt
Library. I had created an appointment a few days before, just to be safe and to make sure that I
would not forget to receive guidance. On the day of my visit, I arrived to the library about 15
minutes early and began filling out the general information section on the pink slip. I then was
escorted to the tutoring area and I met my tutor. Once I was seated, I introduced myself as well
as the Progression 2 assignment and began asking for guidance. First, I showed the tutor my
original thesis as well as my introduction. We both agreed that my introduction was way too long

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to be a proper intro, so we crossed out some sentences in order to keep it short and sweet. We
then discussed the subject matter of topic sentences. I began telling my tutor the different
thoughts and ideas I had in mind in order to keep the progression essay full of details and
information. At first, I had explained my ideas to the tutor but we felt that they were too general.
We then looked over the prompt again and understood that the actual information and topics
must be specifically related to Ms. Marvel, aka Kamala Khan. Once we understood the basics,
we fixed up my topic sentences and he taught me the quote sandwich. The quote sandwich
consists of three things: Introducing the quote, Stating the quote, and analyzing the quote. As a
result of learning this sandwich procedure, I began incorporating the idea into my actual essay
in order to keep credibility as well as detailed information. Overall, the tutor taught me ways to
significantly improve my rough draft of my essay in order to create a polished final draft.