I want to begin looking at women's portrayal as the villan who attempts to corrupt the hero from the path of righteousness. Female characters such as Poison Ivy are frequently intelligent women who are making a statement for something the believe in through semi-violent means.
Dr. Pamela Lillian Isley (alterego Poison Ivy) was modeled after Betty Paige who came from a "fragmented family that landed her and her sister in an orphanage. Betty Paige graduated at the top of her high school class and graduated from Peabody College"(http://www.biography.com/people/bettie-page-162972).
When Poison Ivy first appeared in DC comics in 1966 she was a beautiful siren luring men away from their crime fighting desires. In later series she appears as a love interest for Batman who can kill with one kiss and cure with two. Though she uses her powers to create chaos her portrayal as dangerous comes from a male dominated fear of powerful and intelligent woman. Her origin story comes at the hand of a man (her college professor) who experimented on her with plant toxins and after an overdose, Poison Ivy was created as a plant human hybrid. Though her acts injure people, her form of crime is a method of eco-terrorism trying to protect the natural environment around her from the encroachment of Gotham City.
Fear of women who are intelligent, well-spoken, and independent has caused men to created characters like Poison Ivy as a caricature of the modern woman. Women defying gender norms that relegate them to roles of caretaker, housewife, and property are feared and called names like bitch, whore, lesbian, and other vile inventions. Our culture is behind in realizing that women are meant to be educated, hard-working, and can do the same things men can do (sometimes even better).
Comics may present us as forces to be feared and in some ways we should be respected enough to have the choice of fear or love. We should not fear walking down a dark street at night. We should not need a man to walk with us, but rather one that walks with us because he enjoys our intelligence and our company. We deserve better than a man who will mistreat us and use us as an outlet for his anger as my ex-step-father did to me and my mother. We deserve equality in all sense of the word. We deserve to be treated like people as we are and in every form we choose to appear. Our minds are rational enough to vote, handle money, be the head of our own households, and much more.
I ask you to encourage the men in your life to support you in your endeavors and encourage you in all of your aspirations. Progress is coming but only at our hand.
