Did Raven screw up when she got a tattoo?
I found some very eyebrow raising news that brought to mind two things that Raven of the Teen Titans did, when she first began, and more recently.
First, let's hark back to the time when Raven began her career as a crimefighter in the early 1980s. Whether or not she participated directly in the action, she was among the Titans who were investigating a mafia don who was running a drugs and prostitution racket in New York City, at the time when Terra first turned up. And later on, she was one of the Titans featured in the Keebler-sponsored TT special against drugs later in 1983 with an intro written by Nancy Reagan. The story featured Raven giving the following speech to a bunch of youngsters who almost got taken in by a drug cartel trying to gain a foothold in a slummier neighborhood in NYC:
Raven warned then about how drugs can do harm to pregnancy, both to the ability to bear children and to newborns.
Then, three years ago, when the current volume of Teen Titans began, Raven got a tattoo, as did at least one other member of the bunch (Bart Allen), in issue #13, on the lower end of her back, a style that seems to have become a recent fad.
And there is something wrong with that. Radioblogger Debbie Schlussel just found a health article in the Wall Street Journal that tells that women who get tattoos are putting pregnancy at risk:
This is one of a few examples of how, in the past few years, DC has been taking some very questionable steps with some of its teen protagonists that those who'd been around in the Bronze Age never did, even if they aren't affected by it. For example, there was Bart Allen also getting a tattoo the very same 13th issue, and even Supergirl may have smoked cigarrettes last year in her solo book. And in 52, Elongated Man, reduced to a humorless shadow of himself, carelessly offered Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark some alcohol, even if she's been portrayed as more sensible and shunned it.
Also in the story in Teen Titans #13 vol. 3, while Cyborg seemed glad that Impulse's healing cells caused the tattoo he got to burn out, he strangely had nothing to say about Raven getting one. Starfire, on the other hand, just simply applauded her and said, "perhaps we should all get tattoos." Cassie weighed in with some common sense when she said, "my mom would freak, Kory, and I don't think I'm a tattoo person." But Kory's been around earthlings long enough to know if tattoos are degrading, and I think Johns may have sloppily written her as being too tolerant of that.
Oddly enough, I think the problem with teens being portrayed as doing questionable things may have begun with a certain mutant grownup in the Marvel Universe named Wolverine, when he smoked cigarettes, and all because his power to heal made him largely immune to cancer. Sure, when Kitty Pryde tried it, so she was repelled, but what about the adult himself? Just because he's impervious to the effects is no excuse for smoking. Thus, it's ridiculous if Supergirl did the same just because she's immune to cancer altogether.
And if tattoo piercing is bad for pregnancy, then Raven shouldn't be doing that either, even if she, with her magics, is immune to the effects. I personally see this as but an example of how there's little to no true respect being shown today for the mastery of yesterday, when Marv Wolfman and George Perez did that anti-drug special together.
And now, DC stands with yet one more embarrassing stain on their shirt, by showing a woman doing something that's been revealed to be possibly harmful to health and pregnancy. It's also another clue to how they're not trying to appeal to younger readers, because they're not providing any positive messages for them.
First, let's hark back to the time when Raven began her career as a crimefighter in the early 1980s. Whether or not she participated directly in the action, she was among the Titans who were investigating a mafia don who was running a drugs and prostitution racket in New York City, at the time when Terra first turned up. And later on, she was one of the Titans featured in the Keebler-sponsored TT special against drugs later in 1983 with an intro written by Nancy Reagan. The story featured Raven giving the following speech to a bunch of youngsters who almost got taken in by a drug cartel trying to gain a foothold in a slummier neighborhood in NYC:
Raven warned then about how drugs can do harm to pregnancy, both to the ability to bear children and to newborns.
Then, three years ago, when the current volume of Teen Titans began, Raven got a tattoo, as did at least one other member of the bunch (Bart Allen), in issue #13, on the lower end of her back, a style that seems to have become a recent fad.And there is something wrong with that. Radioblogger Debbie Schlussel just found a health article in the Wall Street Journal that tells that women who get tattoos are putting pregnancy at risk:
Pregnant women already have plenty to worry about. But now some doctors are pointing to another potential problem: tattoos.Geoff Johns may have written that TT story three years ago before this info came up, but when looked upon in the light of these findings, it's still pretty embarrassing, since while there's no definite proof that tattoo piercings can cause serious harm, there's still a considerable risk involved. And while Raven may be a metahuman and possibly less vulnerable to harm than a real life woman, and the TT drug story may not be in-continuity, her recent tattoo stint seems pretty awkward after what she'd told in the earlier story - she warned about how drugs can harm pregnancy, then she's doing something that could lead to the same? It doesn't ring consistantly with her established character either.
The issue is whether it's safe to stick a needle through a tattoo in the lower back for an epidural -- an injection of painkilling medicine that can ease the discomfort of labor.
There has been an explosion in recent years in women's lower-back tattoos -- often ornate designs that take up a lot of surface area near the vertebrae where epidural needles are typically inserted.
In 2002, a pair of Canadian anesthesiologists published a report that questioned whether administering an epidural through such a tattoo could be risky. The doctors speculated that complications like inflammation or nerve damage may arise if the needle pulled a bit of dyed skin along with it, and then deposited it into the nerve-rich region outside the spinal column.
[...]
Tattoos, of course, can be risky. Infection and diseases such as hepatitis due to unsterile equipment are known complications. Recently, scattered reports of tattooed patients getting burned during magnetic resonance imaging have surfaced. (Inks may contain metals, which could react during an MRI.)
A 2006 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that nearly one-quarter of Americans ages 18 to 50 are tattooed. Among them, nearly 20% of the women have tattoos on their lower back, researchers reported.
The national epidural rate is nearly 65% of the four million births a year in the U.S.
[...]
The Food and Drug Administration says tattoo inks and pigments fall into categories that the agency regulates, but due to other health priorities, the agency hasn't specifically approved any inks. Two FDA-backed studies are under way to evaluate possible adverse reactions to the ink, and ways to test it for toxicity.
Krzysztof Kuczkowski, chief of obstetric anesthesia at the University of California San Diego Medical Center, published an account in 2004 of a 34-year-old patient with tattoos covering her mid-lumbar area who received an epidural. Afterward she experienced unusual burning, tenderness and swelling where the epidural catheter had been placed. Dr. Kuczkowski believes the tattoo was the culprit. "It's possible there's a release of small particles that could contain metals or toxic compounds," he says.
Anesthesiologist Mark Kostash, clinical professor at the University of Calgary in Alberta, says, "Nerves are so delicate and can be injured so easily, we want to minimize the risk that anything we do might cause damage." He adds: "If it was me, and I had a tattoo, I'd say, 'Go around it.' "
Anesthesiologists should try to avoid the tattoo. Or they can create a nick in the skin before the needle is stuck in, minimizing the chance of some skin getting pulled down with the injection. Finally, Dr. Douglas says, women should be told that while there is no proof complications will arise, there remains a potential risk.
This is one of a few examples of how, in the past few years, DC has been taking some very questionable steps with some of its teen protagonists that those who'd been around in the Bronze Age never did, even if they aren't affected by it. For example, there was Bart Allen also getting a tattoo the very same 13th issue, and even Supergirl may have smoked cigarrettes last year in her solo book. And in 52, Elongated Man, reduced to a humorless shadow of himself, carelessly offered Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark some alcohol, even if she's been portrayed as more sensible and shunned it.
Also in the story in Teen Titans #13 vol. 3, while Cyborg seemed glad that Impulse's healing cells caused the tattoo he got to burn out, he strangely had nothing to say about Raven getting one. Starfire, on the other hand, just simply applauded her and said, "perhaps we should all get tattoos." Cassie weighed in with some common sense when she said, "my mom would freak, Kory, and I don't think I'm a tattoo person." But Kory's been around earthlings long enough to know if tattoos are degrading, and I think Johns may have sloppily written her as being too tolerant of that.
Oddly enough, I think the problem with teens being portrayed as doing questionable things may have begun with a certain mutant grownup in the Marvel Universe named Wolverine, when he smoked cigarettes, and all because his power to heal made him largely immune to cancer. Sure, when Kitty Pryde tried it, so she was repelled, but what about the adult himself? Just because he's impervious to the effects is no excuse for smoking. Thus, it's ridiculous if Supergirl did the same just because she's immune to cancer altogether.
And if tattoo piercing is bad for pregnancy, then Raven shouldn't be doing that either, even if she, with her magics, is immune to the effects. I personally see this as but an example of how there's little to no true respect being shown today for the mastery of yesterday, when Marv Wolfman and George Perez did that anti-drug special together.
And now, DC stands with yet one more embarrassing stain on their shirt, by showing a woman doing something that's been revealed to be possibly harmful to health and pregnancy. It's also another clue to how they're not trying to appeal to younger readers, because they're not providing any positive messages for them.
Labels: dc comics, women of dc
