It feels trite and cliché to be talking about this in 2016, on Women’s History Month, but we digress. What is it with the sexual objectification of female characters on covers of books where women are the target audience? This isn’t new, there is an overwhelming amount of covers that follow the same formula, especially in the Urban Fantasy genre. It’s always the same: a sexy woman with a tramp stamp, striking a “come get me” pose, holding a weapon. We can’t deny that sex sells but why is it portrayed as the main theme of a story when there is actually very little sexual content inside? We’re going to use the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs as the an example for this subject.
We picked this series to talk about today because we are familiar with the story, having read the first four books. We were in denial about reading these books for the longest time (because the cover made us roll our eyes), until one day we ran into a video of a BookTuber we follow who was recommending it, so we thought we would give it a try. Once we actually got into the story, we thought it was such a shame that the cover was portraying something that doesn’t reflect what we were reading.
So why do we have a problem with our main character being over-sexualized? Well, because Mercy is not a sexual character. In fact, she is often described as the least sexy person ever, especially when she wakes up and smells all the dirty shirts on the floor to figure out what she is going to wear. Yet somehow, based on the cover, you’d think she walks around in low-cut jeans with her lace thong showing and she just can’t get enough male attention. Our point here, is that - while there is nothing wrong for a woman to be comfortable with showing off her body - this image does not fit this character at all, nor does it fit the events of the story; but because it is featured on the cover, it creates a preconceived notion for potential readers. You’re either going to be pleasantly surprised (like we were) or you’re going to be wildly disappointed when you actually read the book.
Just for a moment, let’s talk about the fact that Mercy doesn’t ever wear a crop-top. We went back and tried to find any description of her wearing anything other than simple jeans and a normal t-shirt with grease stains on it, and we couldn’t come up with anything. And what about the tattoos? We know she has some and we can’t confirm is she actually has a “tramp stamp” but we can confirm that the coyote paw one featured on the covers is actually hidden at all times. She doesn’t have it on display, ever. In fact, it is only ever discovered and explained during a scene where she is taking off her clothes in order to shape-shift.
On that note, the Mercy Thompson series is about shape-shifters and the paranormal. Why not feature those themes on the cover instead? In fact, each book focuses on a different type of “creature” (wolves, vampires, fae, demons, etc), so why not explore that idea to be highlighted as the main element of the cover design? Maybe that way, this book would be put in the correct category of Adult Fantasy and Urban Fantasy instead of Paranormal Romance.
We have nothing against the artist who created the actual illustrations for the cover. We actually think the art is very well done. It’s just targeting the wrong audience, in the wrong way. We can’t speak for everyone, but personally for us, as women who are very much into the geek culture, we don’t like feeling excluded by designs that feature the objectification of female leads for stories that don’t have anything to do with the subject of sex.
This isn’t a feminist rant. We are all about equality. We also don’t think that male leads should be overly-sexualized on the cover of a book either when the subject doesn't call for it. We just used Mercy Thompson as an example because we aren’t familiar with any books with an objectified male character on its cover.
What do you guys think about this topic? Have you read any books where the main character (male of female) is wrongly being objectified on the cover? Does that approach make you want to buy the book or shy away from it? Let us know in the comments below!
What do you guys think about this topic? Have you read any books where the main character (male of female) is wrongly being objectified on the cover? Does that approach make you want to buy the book or shy away from it? Let us know in the comments below!
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