Feminism
DeConnick is a self-proclaimed feminist and uses her position in comics to promote feminism and feminist ideas. She started the #VisibleWomen movement on Twitter in March 2016 "to disabuse folks of the notion that women comic artists are rare, to get eyes on said artists & to get them work.".
In another effort to support new artists, DeConnick helped found Creators for Creators, a non-profit organization that provides grants and mentoring to new artists. When asked about handling sexism in the historically male-dominated comic industry, DeConnick advised, "Be terrifying."
DeConnick makes a point to break the "damsel in distress" trope in her work. She received backlash from comic fans for several of the changes made to Carol Danvers comics during her time as a writer for Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel, which resulted in accusations of being "an angry feminist" and taking "the character and [inserting] her feminist agenda." Regarding the opportunity to write Carol Danvers, DeConnick said, "Pretty much any chance I get to write female characters I'm going to write them because I want to see more of them." She received criticism over her approach of the character before the first issue was even published because of the worry that her feminist beliefs would become more important than good writing of the character. Using her family background in the Air Force, she was able to "add an extra dimension" to Danvers' character development and "gave it a personal angle." During this time, the character's codename and uniform were changed, although DeConnick noted that plans for these changes predated her involvement. With this new Carol Danvers, DeConnick influenced the story foundation for the 2019 Captain Marvel movie.
According to a 2014 study, the fastest growing demographic for comic readers was young adult women, crediting DeConnick's comic Pretty Deadly as one of the titles capturing this growing demographic's attention.
DeConnick also proposed the "Sexy Lamp Test" adjunct to the Bechdel test. In a 2012 interview, she said "If you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft. They have to be protagonists, not devices."
In response to male fans' criticism of Captain Marvel, DeConnick created her series Bitch Planet. She explained, "If you want to see 'angry feminist,' then I will show it to you." Bitch Planet is a dystopian series where "non-compliant" women are sent to a "correction facility" on another planet. DeConnick cites Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and RoboCop as influences in the creation of Bitch Planet. In Bitch Planet, women who do not follow the rules of the patriarchy and are put in jail are given “Non-Compliant” tattoos. Many fans of the comic have gotten these same symbols tattooed on their bodies because they connect with the women in the comic. She brought it up in a 99U talk and said "You don't get that tattoo to celebrate something in the book, you get that tattoo because the book celebrates something in you."
In 2012, DeConnick attended Dundrum International Comics Expo as a guest. When an associated Irish comic news site referred to her only in relation to her husband, fans and fellow professionals created a "not the wife of Matt Fraction" meme in response. Following the attention, the website amended their listings. In 2014, Graham Crackers, a Chicago-based comic shop jokingly referred to DeConnick as "Mrs. Matt Fraction" when reviewing her series Bitch Planet, referring to Matt Fraction as "Mr. Kelly Sue DeConnick" in the same set of reviews. Fans accused them of underestimating the complicated history of referring to a woman by her husband's name and demanded she receive proper recognition for her work. The comic shop later issued an apology and revised the names of the couple on the reviews.
At a 2013 convention panel, she stated that "I am willing to make people uncomfortable so that my daughter doesn't have to!" Following up in an interview the following year, she explained "I don't think it's a goal to make other people uncomfortable. It's something I'm willing to do. I do purposefully try to push myself out of my comfort zone. Which is fairly cliché, but one of those clichés that got there for a reason."
About using her full name Kelly Sue DeConnick, she said "I didn't grow up Kelly Sue. I was Kelly. I use Sue and I insist on using Sue so that when someone sees a book with my name on it, they know it was written by a woman. I want a little girl who sees that to know that that's something she can do."
