Except, of course, that if you ignore the outraged stories and look at the actual submission page, It isn't nearly that bad....
First of all, the woman in question is Harley Quinn. For those of you not familiar with comics or Batman, Harley is the batshit-crazy counterpart to the joker. Really, properly, insane.
And entrants are not being asked to draw a single image; they are being asked to submit a 4-panel page for an upcoming issue.
The page entrants have to draw consists of her attempting to kill herself in 4 different ways; My guess is that this will presumably, be from a (day)dream montage.
The 4 Panels are:
Harley holding a lightning rod in a storm, taunting 'gators, attempting to be eaten by a whale, and preparing to cut a string that will drop electrical appliances into her bath.
Yes, she bathes naked. (The horror).
I mean, I'm not saying comics don't pander to their traditional audience (teenage boys) and, if course, the whole "contorting to get T and A in the same shot" thing is more than a little silly; I just think that in this instance it's a frame that seems like it's probably going to be justifiable by context.
It's not the biggest stretch ever made in the name of feminism to see "draw a naked woman about to be killed" as offence, I'll grant you; but if the same 4 panels were requested for a Joker comic, I guarantee we wouldn't be having this conversation.
They've also come under fire for launching this contest during Suicide Awareness Week... but to be brutally honest the only reason I even know that it is Suicide Awareness Week is because of people complaining about this, so I'd argue that its exactly what Suicide Awareness Week needed (either that or a "Suicide Awareness Week Awareness Week").
So yeah, maybe not the smartest move, butt not a demonic one either.
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