Ok, I'm a Nerd. A Geek. A complete and utter Dork. I own this. I collect comics. I play videogames. I read SF/F. I fix my own computer. I read manga. I watch anime. I have a tattoo of Nightcrawler from the X-men on my calf and purposely wear short skirts and capris to show it off at every opportunity. Not only can I tell you what red shift means in relation to quasars, but I can also tell you what completely nerdy show that quote comes from (Red Dwarf, in case you're interested). I can quote Monty Python's The Holy Grail, Highlander and Akira, pretty much in their entirety once you get me started.
Geek = Me.
I also hang out with a lot of awesome nerdy women. Who also play videogames, fix their own computers, collect comics, etc... Ok, none of them have a tattoo of Nightcrawler, but they do have their own assorted idiosyncratic tattoos. As a Stitch and Bitch group we have plans to knit a life-sized Dalek, specifically for sulking in (ok, I freely admit you have to be a TOTAL nerd to get this joke). Almost every woman I know is nerdy in some way, and I do not have a small circle of friends. A lot of women go to comic cons and SF/F cons and costume/cosplay cons and videogame cons, and help run them. A lot.
So why do these industries insist on treating us like we're either:
A. Rare creatures who rarely grace them with our presence, lest it be as if like a unicorn, glimpsed only fleetingly?
B. Like we're idiots?
C. Like we don't matter and don't really exist at all, except as A?
Exhibit A: A segment on the Today Show.
Ok, I know I'm dating myself, but I held the high score on Ms. Pac-Man,* Centipede and Galaga in every arcade in my town. My best friend had an Atari, and guess what? The only ones who played it were girls. All of us girls.
The fact that girls play videogames is neither news nor shocking to anyone with... a pulse or two braincells to rub together. All of the games they mention in that segment as girl games are cutesy, sappy games that if you go to Best Buy right now, you can find in the sale bin for less than half their original price. You know why? Because girls don't play those. And they interview a member of the FRAG DOLLS and never mention that their name is a reference to FPS games (First Person Shooters). Fragging someone means killing them. The Frag Dolls compete in HALO tournaments for fuck's sake! They couldn't mention that? Not once? AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Exhbit B: IGN and San Diego Comic Con
iO9's take on the IGN contest.
Comics Worth Reading Reports on it.
Tor.com and their two cents.
Ok, so IGN, in conjunction with the release of the new movie District 9 decides to run a contest, where the winner will go to the San Diego Comic Con and interview people related to the film. But opens it only to "males aged 18-24." Yup. Because women don't read SF, or watch SF films or any of that. Once called on their bullshit, IGN blamed the studio, which isn't that far-fetched given Hollywood's attitude toward women in general, and had initially started a second contest for the ladies. However, the last time I checked their site it was all one contest, with an extended date for women, in essence to make up for the time spent dithering around with sexist crap.
Exhibit C: San Diego Comic Con and the press leading up to it.
Seriously? I feel like I should just go through the whole thing a paragraph at a time and deconstruct it, because... Wow. I don't know how to tell them this, but they couldn't get me or any of my friends into a panel on the upcoming New Moon (sequel to Twilight) with a cattleprod behind me and a bucket of kittens inside. Panting over Jake Gyllenhaal may be cute, but begging to do his laundry? Puh-fucking-lease. And why is it that series or movies that are character and story driven are assumed to appeal only to women? Do men lack a desire for depth and plot in their movies/books/tv? Because that seems like an awfully low estimation of men.
Ok, this bit on "The Time Traveler's Wife" actually made me want to barf. "Picture the wonderful sappiness of "The Notebook," replace Ryan Gosling with equally appealing Eric Bana..." Seriously? Wonderful sappiness? Are you fucking kidding me?
And the fact that they seem to think that the upcoming "Where the Wild Things Are" will appeal only to women and girls? Why? Because it's a children's book? I really hate to break this to them, but my husband is the one who wants to see this movie. He loved the book as a child, and the minute we saw the preview, he grabbed my arm and made little "oo-ooo" noises while pointing at the screen.
I'd keep going, but I think I'm in danger of an aneurysm. You can always flip through the entire slideshow yourself. My brain hurts.
Exhibit D: Joe Quesada, Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics.
The Joe Quesada Drinking Game.
Just go read the posts I link to. I can't really say anything about Mr. Quesada I haven't said a million times before. I could pretty much fill up an Anti-Comics Feminist bingo card every time the man grants an interview. Really. It would be funny if it weren't so infuriating.
It's hard to be a Geek Girl. Not only do you have the stigma of being the complete dork who's into weird, wacky shit, but you catch crap from your male counterparts who are all too ready to assume you don't know anything about comics, can't fix a computer, wouldn't know Bones from Dr. Who, or Star Trek from Star Wars, etc... Now throw in when you do talk about these things, your opinion being blown off because you're a girl. And add a healthy dose of if you are at all attractive, no one talks to your face, and if you aren't you're a sexless freak, regardless of whether you are or not.
Now, add to that the fact that the very industries you love and want to support keep acting as if you don't exist, don't matter and they're just not that into you.
And I'll be honest, because Geek Girls generally exist in a world dominated by guys, an awful lot of us have serious issues with internalized misogyny. I spent years thinking I didn't like women, because the only people I could find who shared my hobbies were men. Later on, I realized that, no, an awful lot of the women I had previously discounted had shared my hobbies as well, but we were all so busy proving to the guys that we were one of the guys that we had alienated each other. That alienation plus the societally conditioned mistrust of other women that is ingrained in us from day one...
Now, I have a kickass group of female friends. Most of us game, many of us collect comic books, I think we all watch Dr. Who, Torchwood, Battlestar Galactica, etc... And we've all got each other's backs, as it should be. Because Geek Culture can be very female-hostile and we need all the support we can get.
*Ms. Pac-Man? Way harder than regular Pac-Man. I beat regular Pac-Man in short order.
Mickey Schulz is a guest author for the California NOW blog; her opinions are not necessarily those of California NOW. Copyright Mickey Schulz, with permission granted to California NOW for use on this site.
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