Spider-Man has taught readers many valuable things throughout his time as Marvel's premier hero. Some of his most important lessons include doing the right thing, every life is worth saving and most famously, "with great power comes great responsibility." However, one Spider-Man moment people shouldn't emulate is the time he was extremely sexist to Medusa.
One of Spider-Man's personality traits is his ability to quip and joke during serious situations. Peter Parker finds the levity in dangerous situations and uses his humor as a defense mechanism. But, one of Spider-Man's quips from the late 1960s hasn't aged very well.
In Amazing Spider-Man #62, the Inhuman Medusa visits Spidey's neck of the woods as a part of a goodwill mission to learn more about humans. After briefly encountering Spider-Man, she walks among humans and is immediately offered a job as "the Heavenly Hair-Spray Girl" as a part of an advertising campaign thanks to her long red hair. Medusa quickly grows tired of the demands of the campaign and leaves. The Hair-Spray company owner decides to tell Spider-Man Medusa wants to destroy the city and needs to be stopped.
Spider-Man catches up with Medusa and takes a walloping. As pointed out on Reddit, When Medusa throws him into a pile of bricks, Spidey quips "don't they ever tell you not to broadcast your plans," and unfortunately follows that up by explaining "that's the trouble with women... they just can't keep their mouths shut!"
The moment immediately dates the comics. While Spider-Man and series writer Stan Lee have always been progressive when it comes to gender and race, this type of remark was unfortunately commonplace during the '60s. It wasn't viewed as inherently problematic at the time. There's absolutely no way Spider-Man would ever say this in comics today. The moment has aged very poorly and would not be slightly acceptable in today's day and age.
Rereading most golden age and silver age books will lead to unfortunate discoveries and remarks from popular and progressive characters. The issue isn't exclusive to Stan Lee or Spider-Man. For example, Robin once quipped "nabbing crooks is man's work!" Clearly, that's not the case then or now, but that kind of macho thinking dominated discussion. Thankfully, as a society, we've progressed to abandon that kind of rhetoric - although, there's still plenty of work to be done.
In and out of context, Spider-Man telling a female hero that women "can't keep their mouths shut!" is not a great look. Peter Parker was raised by a strong female influence in Aunt May, so he should know better. s like this one is a great reminder of how things have changed for the better in comics and real life. Over time, Spidey's powers (like his weirdest) and personality have changed significantly. Remarks like this were smartly erased from Spider-Man's lexicon - but serve as a reminder of how much things have evolved.
