De-sexualized or De-gendered?

Tardis set out to write a female character who could rival her male comic counterparts for their usefulness and competence. Rather than create another hypersexualized Barbarella, he attempted to push his character beyond the boundaries of traditional female representation. He accomplishes this within Adele, a determined and harsh adventurer.  

The strength and prominence of Adele’s power is not left up to interpretation. She fights with weapons, chases horrific monsters and takes enormous risks in order to solve her cases. Her agency and her utility is emphasized even in small details. She is sarcastic, angry and generally impersonable. Her facial expression never changes, she seems to be emotionless and nonreactive. Tardis works hard in order to ensure that she is represented as an unstoppable force. Even in the moments where she is naked and her body on display, there is little to no sexualization. Her nakedness is used as a tool in the story, but it is not integral to the plot. In some ways, Tardis may even have used her nakedness to make a statement about creating a de-sexualized female character.

Tardis is successful in meeting his own goal; he created a female character who is comparable to male characters in the same time period. However, I question if Adele is really progressive. In order to make her competitive with her male counterparts she is divested of all traditionally feminine characteristics. Rather than allowed empathy, kindness or gentleness, she is weaponized and mechanized. In many ways the problem has never been female bodies in comics, there are many female figures, usually famous for their giant breasts and airhead personality. The problem is that they are rendered incompetent through their emotions and lack of intelligence. Thus, the commentary tends to be about the uselessness of feminine characteristics. Tardis does nothing to contradict that and instead seems to insist that in order for a women to be strong and competent, she must embody maleness. We see this carry over into much of the modern comics industry. In order to produce a strong female lead, she must turn herself into a male figure, three piece suit and all.

Adele is so highly de-sexualized (and in some ways even masculinized), I have to wonder if she is really a progressive representation of a woman, or merely another way of trivializing traditionally feminine qualities and glorifying traditionally masculine ones.