Fantasy Author Imitates Women's Poses on the Covers of Fantasy Novels

This is truly absurd. The authors of these books, MANY of them women, love the covers. As do many of the fans. And this is no more ludicrous than some of the ones featuring bare chested males in various poses. Do some of these covers irritate me? Some. Not all. What bothers me is the ones that feature a an allegedly kickass heroine with arms like supermodels. They look like they'd get whooped by Dorothy's scarecrow. THAT bothers me. This? Not so much.

I found this amusing, and I in fact did not groan. Good job, high five.

@Tomfoolery -- what would his superhero name be?

What has been seen cannot be unseen :(

A crusader of this caliber needs a cape.

At the end of his post he lists three books which 'do a pretty good job of conveying strong, capable female characters'. Clicking the links, I imagined him striking the poses for those books too, and the mental images were equally disastrous. So what exactly is the point he's making?

Possibly this one: balding bearded man discovers he doesn't have the physique to be a cover model.

The chic on the right looks hot. I have no idea what that dude on the left is getting at.

I cannot groan any louder at this never ending stream of "creators" seeking publicity by obsequious means. Simply google image search for fantasy novel covers and you'll see a wide variety of depictions of men and women in various equivalent poses. Furthermore - examine this old web page. http://www.orbitbooks.net/2010/08/17/the-chart-of-fantasy-art-part-2-urban-fantasy/ now please, self-publicists of the Internet, when drawing attention to an issue please make sure it is actually on the rise. You are hindering the cause you think you help by stirring dying embers.

So the guy is making a statement against sexism by implying that the male body is the standard a woman's body should be measured against? Hmmm. Logic much? How about just trying to pose real women in these poses and take pictures that show how unnatural they are. But I guess that wouldn't get him the kind of free publicity for his books that he is obviously going for.