Female roles in superhero movies are often portrayed by beautiful actresses in skin-tight leather suits that show off their slim figures. Female comic book characters are often sexualized and depicted as exaggerated versions of stereotypical beauty. One real-life teen is however using her own superpower – drawing – to inspire girls, illustrating that full-figured women are just as strong and beautiful.
This Tumblr teen creates curvy, stylized comic book-like characters that project positive body image across the Internet.
17-year-old Mikhaila Nodel is the young woman behind the blog Cosmic Cuties. Her characters resemble superheroes with their Wonder Woman high boots, and are featured in space among the stars and planets.
"I kind of invented them as a species. They're born from space dust and slow down the universe and fight sexist crime," she said in an interview with Proud2Bme. "They're these feminist goddesses that watch over all women and are there to protect them."
The curvy cartoons also include feminist messages such as "I am not an object for your sexual gratification," and "My body, my choice."
Nodel's cartoons promote body positivity with messages like "rolls are normal" and "stretch marks are like awesome little lighting bolts." The banners and word bubbles say it's okay to either shave your body hair or not, in addition to addressing gender identity and acceptance.
The teen created the Tumblr blog back in November 2014, after leaving the zines in girls' bathrooms to make them feel better about their bodies. She will start producing monthly print zines that will be up for purchase in the near future. In the meantime, her Tumblr blog continues to cause a stir with its positive messages.
"I follow a lot of body positivity blogs because if I'm having a bad day, it's nice to just see stuff on my feed that makes me feel better and I think that's true for most people," she said in the Proud2Bme intervew. "I think that social media is a really great way to show people things. Things are easier to circulate now with Tumblr and Facebook."
The Brooklyn native revealed that she wasn't always confident herself, and struggled with being bullied in the past. After finding her school's feminism club, Nodel wanted to continue spreading the message of self-love and acceptance of others with her Cosmic Cuties series, creating at least one new work of art a month.
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Photos: Mikhaila Nodel | Tumblr
