supershero

English

Etymology

Blend of superhero +‎ she. By surface analysis, super- +‎ shero.

Noun

supershero (plural supersheroes)

  1. (feminism) A female superhero (especially in the sense of a remarkable human).
    Synonym: superheroine
    • 1998, Ventura, Varla, 1958-, Sheroes : bold, brash, and absolutely unabashed superwomen from Susan B. Anthony to Xena[1], page 231:
      Sandee's polar opposite in every way is real life supershero supermodel Waris Dirie, a resplendent Somali native who has come out of the closet about a horrific secret from her childhood — a female circumcision performed on her at the age of six.
    • 1998, York, Stacey, 1957-, Big as life : the everyday inclusive curriculum[2], page 126:
      Add action figures to the block area to encourage superhero and supershero play.
    • 2005, Prothrow-Stith, Deborah, 1954-, Sugar and spice and no longer nice : how we can stop girls' violence[3], page 36:
      It isn’t just that the entertainment media are feminizing the superhero. It’s that today’s superheroes and the more recently emerging supersheroes almost always and exclusively use violence to solve problems, and enjoy beating up the bad guy to boot.
    • 2008, Lisa Alcalay Klug, Cool Jew[4], page 233:
      She holds the position of Senior Professor of Kabba Lah Lah Yoga at the Jewlicious Festival, teaches classes on Jewish women supersheroes at retreats in Maui, and serves on the advisory board for Schmooze, the Sidney Krum Jewish Culture Conference.
    • 2019, Women and Migration - Responses in Art and History[5], page 331:
      I created an avatar, supershero, and alter-ego named Amrita Simla. Via my immigrant supershero, I retaliate against labels of exotic, submissive, or compliant women, stereotypes we encounter as South Asian Americans.
    • 2023, Keogh, Brendan, The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist: Why We Should Think Beyond Commercial Game Production[6], page 66:
      In 1992, VNS Matrix, a feminist artist collective based out of Adelaide, launched All New Gen, a new media artwork using the language and aesthetic of videogames to “disrupt the machismo world of video games with a female non binary centric computer game” where “an omnipresent supershero collaborates with her band of DNA Sluts to bring down Big Daddy Mainframe” (VNS Matrix 1992).