WWBGD? (What Would Batgirl Do?)

As I’m writing this, I’m wearing a T-shirt with a well-known bat logo on it.  It’s not my first such t-shirt, and it won’t be my last.  I tend to have one of these in my wardrobe, and I frequently wear it in public.  This is partly “letting my geek flag fly”, but it’s also because I happen to be a librarian with red(dish) hair.  As anyone who knows anything about comics will be able to tell you, the best known and most popular Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) was a librarian with red hair.

However, when I wear this shirt in public, if anyone comments on it at all, it’s invariably to say something like, “Hey, Batman!”

This is disheartening for two reasons.  Firstly, I am not a man.  Granted, I’m tall and androgynous, and I am occasionally mistaken for a man by complete strangers – but I’d like to think that the people I know are at least cognizant of my gender.  Calling a woman “Batman” is mildly insulting, even if she is wearing a shirt with Batman’s logo on it.*

Secondly, it shows complete and utter negligence regarding the existence of Batgirl.**  The fact that people can look at a girl wearing a bat logo and not even think to say “Hey, Batgirl!” shows that Batgirl doesn’t even register with them.  When you correct them, the look on their faces and the mumbling reply before changing the subject can be accurately translated thus:  “Oh, yeah, there was a Batgirl wasn’t there?  Oh, well, it’s not like anyone cares.”

This is a travesty.  It is unspeakably sad.  And it is unspeakably sad because Batgirl is unbelievably awesome and should be a cultural icon.  She is, arguably, one of the best characters in the DC Universe – and certainly one of the best female comic book characters of all time.

When talking about action-hero role-models for girls, Batgirl’s name should be mentioned in the same breath as Katniss Everdeen, Lara Croft and Buffy the Vampire Slayer – and all the more because she was around for decades before the others ever existed.

Let me tell you about Batgirl – or, more specifically, about Barbara Gordon (a name that should be as well known as Bruce Wayne).

Barbara Gordon’s father is Commissioner Gordon – but of course he wasn’t always the police commissioner.  For most of her upbringing he was just a cop.  Her mother died when she was young, so she was raised in a single parent household living off a policeman’s wages.  She worked to put herself through college, got a degree (a PhD, no less!) in information science and went to work in a public library.

Barbara Gordon was never rich.  She has always lived off a public servant’s wage, and she has always made the best fist of whatever was available to normal people.  This is because she is a normal person.  She doesn’t have any superpowers.  She isn’t an alien.  She wasn’t granted strength or speed by any gods or mysterious wizards.  She wasn’t exposed to any physiology-altering radiation or struck by lightening.  She doesn’t have a power ring – or a power anything.  And she doesn’t have a bucket of money.

She’s just a young woman who comes from the same background as thousand of other young women and has to work for a living.

And her origin story is basically a tale of cosplay gone wrong.  She was never chosen to be a hero, or driven by some dark tragedy.  She went to a costume party dressed as a female version of Batman as a joke (in a costume she made herself with her own bad-ass sewing skills).  It was meant to be a surprise, so no one knew who she was and no one recognised her when, in costume, she thwarted a crime (and saved Bruce Wayne in the process).  She was put on the spot, rose to the occasion and saved the day.

And then she thought, “You know what?  I could totally do this hero thing.”

And she did.  And she did it all without any of Bruce Wayne’s money.

She couldn’t afford to send herself to remote areas of Tibet to learn martial arts from a secret society of Master Assassins.  She just trained at local dojos and clubs.  She didn’t have a fleet of flash vehicles, she just had a motorbike.

She didn’t have a multinational company with an R&D department that could funnel specially fabricated parts from all over the world to her secret lair.  She bought all of her equipment at sporting goods shops and camping outfitters and altered it to fit her purposes (or just straight-up made it herself).

She didn’t have an extensive private gym and secret training facilities – she had to use local gyms and parks, or whatever she could do in her own small apartment.  Speaking of which, she didn’t have a mansion with an extensive subterranean cave network that could be turned into a secret lair.  She had a small apartment and a one-car garage.  And yet she managed to develop some seriously impressive storage systems, because no one ever noticed any of her Batgirl stuff when they came to visit her.

Oh, sure, eventually she teamed up with Batman and he started supplying her with equipment and training, but (depending on which era of comics you are reading) there were several years there where she was just doing it entirely on her own – off her own bat (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Barbara Gordon managed to do most of what Bruce Wayne did without any of his resources – all because she was resourceful.

Where Bruce Wayne had money, Barbara Gordon had resilience, ingenuity, hard graft and grit. 

She was willing to learn, willing to work, willing to train hard and willing to try.  She applied herself and she backed herself.  She always believed she could do it, she just had to work out how.  Then she would work out how, and do it.  And she kicked butt, thwarted the bad guys and saved the day.

That’s my idea of a superhero.

Batgirl is truly awesome, but it’s the girl behind the mask that is the true role model.  When Barbara Gordon was shot through the spine and “permanently” paralysed below the waist,*** she showed just how much hard graft and grit she really had.  She completely reinvented herself, using her skills as a librarian to fight crime with information.  As Oracle, she coordinated a superhero team from her wheelchair, and gave other heroes the information they needed to help them do their jobs.

Even when she could literally, physically no longer kick butt, she still thwarted the bad guys and saved the day.

Hell, yeah, Barbara Gordon!

I want the words “Batgirl” and “Barbara Gordon” to be synonymous with being resourceful and strong.  I want people to use this character as a way to compliment girls for being capable, independent, active and resilient.  For being powerful women with a power that comes from within.

I want this character and her characteristics to be such a part of the cultural cache that when someone does something amazing with whatever they could get on a budget, people say things like “She went totally Batgirl on this project”.  Or people refer to female athletes who mange to go really far in their chosen sport - even though they didn’t have the kind of sponsorship and support that their male counterparts were given - as being “just like Barbara Gordon”.

I want the idea of WWBGD? (What Would BatGirl/Barbara Gordon Do?) to take the world by storm.  Because what would she do?  BG would figure it out, because she’s smart.  BG would train hard and get fighting fit.  BG would work with what she has and make it work.  BG wouldn’t take anyone’s crap.  BG would kick butt.  BG would rescue herself – and anyone else who needed rescuing.

BG would step up, and show the world what happens when a perfectly ordinary woman applies herself and backs herself.

Will you help me?  If you read this, will you do what you can to make sure everyone knows who Batgirl is, and knows that she is a force to be reckoned with?

WWBGD?

*Yes, it is Batman’s logo.  Batgirl’s logo is slightly different.  The bat is more angular and is usually yellow on a black or grey background, rather than black on a yellow disc.  I’d buy t-shirts with the Batgirl logo on them, but they aren’t easy to find in normal clothing stores, and I’m on a budget, so I’m making the best fist of what’s readily available (WWBGD?).

**There were also a few characters called Batwoman in the comics, but they were never part of the permanent roster or in any of the film adaptations, so we’ll forgive people for not knowing much about her.

***Nothing is ever “permanent” in the comic book world – but she was in that wheelchair for an awfully long time.