Go Team ...Very Girly Smarties!

I am not the girliest person out there, but I have my moments. I don't know how to use a curling iron, put on eye-liner (still!) and I don't often wear make-up. I wear jeans, carry a wallet, and prefer dark colors with the splash of purple or teal every now and then.

For years and years I rejected girl culture as irrelevant and problematic for women and men because strict gender roles are cultural constructs that unfairly restrict people, both men and women.

I still don't have a lot of female friends, but I have learned over the years to not stereotype or reject other women based on their girliness.

Some women like very feminine things and using the American cultural standard of what is "male" to define things like science, gaming, comic books, etc hurts all parties involved. Why can't a calculator be pink or a textbook have cute drawings in it? Making the Western concept of "male" as the default or even neutral is unfair. For women like me it makes us feel that we should be masculine if we like certain pursuits that are "manly" and cut us off from other women. In fact, the things we are into are not just for men, but are MARKETED to men, and men spread their love for those things to other men. That's the problem.

We need to market these things to all flavors of men and women. By doing so we increase by 50% the number of people reached, meaning increased sales and meaning a larger pool of intelligent people to step forward and become innovators.

To that end I am happy to see things like Computer Engineer Barbie and I plan to buy one.

I am also happy to see things like this video of a group of Cheerleaders who are also scientists.



Things like this let those little girls who are actually girly see that they can retain who they are and want to be and still go into the math and sciences. A lot of little girls like me got into math and science because we were "tomboyish" and attracted to the spaces and things that were stereotypically male. It wasn't because we were inherently masculine, but just that we liked those things.

"I'm Here to Game"

Last Thursday I attended two seminars about women and gaming at Gen Con. The seminars at Gen Con were really one of the best aspects of being there. I don't often get to sit in with a group of people who know games and discuss issues inherent to the culture and,or process of gaming.

Girls Just Want to Get Their Game On

The panel for this seminar included women with a wide range of gaming experience. There was a panel member who works for Wizards of the Coast, a woman from Game Salute, All Games Considered, Married Gamers, and Geek's Dream Girl. They recorded the panel for Game Salute and handled the session as an open Q&A.

From this panel I learned that there's a trend for librarians to run RP's for kids. That's pretty exciting news for me. We heard stories ranging from playing Magic in the back of chemistry class to women feeling free to be ultra-violent in games to reduce stress in life. One interesting story came from a woman who played a female character back in the early days of D&D. During a session the DM brought out a male NPC who was from a culture that controlled women. From then on while this NPC was present her character was not allowed to look at him. Those are all the details I know, but wow, there is a lot to unpack with a story like that.

One last tidbit. I was excited to hear that the man sitting in front of me had written his dissertation on women, sexism and gaming.

Best Quote of the Seminar: "I'm here to Game".

Women in Gaming

I had to hurry to get to the next panel and was glad to see some friends had arrived as well. This panel again included women with a wide range of gaming experience. There was someone from Gaming Angels present, a PhD student, and several other professionals. My notes on this panel are a little patchier because we got there late enough that we had to sit in the back of a huge room and I couldn't always hear what was going on. (My hearing issue, not the fault of the staff).

This panel covered everything from gender issues in cross-play during LARPS to defining the hard core nature of those who play casual games.

Something that came up again and again was women being demanded to prove themselves both as competent gamers and even as women. Why do women have the burden of having to prove themselves to be as good or better at things? What makes men the default? These gender issues are not unique to games, but are prevalent in American culture.

Many women reported that Geek Culture was more accepting of people who are different than wider American culture. I was delighted to hear one panelist compare it to the Metal community. When I got into the metal scene I found the people to be the nicest people I had ever been around. Geek culture can be the same way.

This panel also discussed the phenomena of industries that look for gamers. One of the panelists had secured her position because of her experience with online gaming. The issues of management and technical skill that gaming takes can translate in the right industry to valuable skills as an employee.

Ultimately we seemed to agree that everyone had stereotypes that they needed to confront. I heard several women critiquing the appearance of other women and wondering how to relate to them. This is a hard issue. Hopefully, the internet and events like Gen Con are helping women connect with others. I argue that the internet is our greatest cultural potential for furthering true equality.

Conclusion

I hope panels like these happen again next year. It was eye-opening to hear from other people and get a variety of experiences and opinions discussed.

Rosie the Retrogamer

That's right. The image that has been co-opted for numerous causes now finds itself a place in the heart of this original 80's gamer.

Head to Shirt Woot if you want to buy one for $10 and perhaps accidentally run into me sometime while I'm wearing it and you're wearing it and BOOM we'll be TWINS! (Anne of Distilled Geek Commentary knows about this and even my arch-nemesis Osmotic Ricardo has found himself wearing a black shirt and dark green pants on the same day as myself).

What's even more perfect is that it's T-Shirt Tuesday around these parts! Woot! Indeed.

Women, Comics, and Sexism

Is the representation of women in comics sexist, destructive, or even just off? Does this representation contribute to negative views or the mistreatment of women?

Jezebel has an article up that seeks to refute any possible argument that says the depiction of women in mainstream comics is NOT sexist. I understand the use of hyperbole, but this is an extreme view. It also assumes that to be feminist means that there is one right way to be feminist. Furthermore, it basically claims that there are only some right ways to depict women in art and in comics.

Is this true? The article brings up the images of characters like Lady Death and of course depicts Star Sapphire's notorious costume. It then goes through and discusses how the usual arguments against the sexism inherent in these images, such as female characters have always looked like that and male characters wear tight clothing too, etc are invalid. The one problem I have with this is that the author compares comic book women with images of female actresses in street clothes. Then, the author compares her earlier example of Star Sapphire to Wolverine and the Blob. It just doesn't compute. Where are the gray areas in this article?

I realize that I don't live in a world where I can walk around in a leotard and tights and not get offensive comments, but I want to live in a world where I could do that and I want to imbibe a world of comics and art where women do that and then kick ass and tell off the men that ogle them. And they do. The author and some of the commenters bring up some excellent titles by women and I enjoy those. I have read Trina Robbin's book about women in comics. I have read many of those titles, and I like them, but you cannot assume (as some commenters do) that that's what women want in comics. I grew up reading Batman. I identified with some of his traits and the stories. I wanted to be a superhero and I have always loved big, fantastic stories. I also enjoy comics about everyday life like the works of Jeffrey Brown, but at the end of the day I am reading superhero stories because that's what I like and that's what gets me through the awful qualities of life.

What I would argue is that the author ignores the story aspect of comic books. Sure these women have obvious breasts and often don't wear pants, but is that the whole story? No. Take for example the issue of Zatanna that I discussed yesterday. In the issue she is often in civilian clothes. It's the same with other comics like Power Girl or Birds of Prey. When these women are in costume if characters say anything negative to them it is addressed. They get into costume to signal that they have changed and are now in power. Hell, in the graphic novels of Wonder Woman I have been reading Wonder Woman rescues a girl who then tells her all about a paper she wrote for her Feminist Theory class.

I want to go into this issue more deeply and I think I will as time goes on and I review other books.

The bottom line is that women's bodies are often sexualized in our culture and certain parts, like their legs and breasts are often a part of this objectification. However, just because that can be true does not mean we should limit comic art to fully clothed people of any gender. Athletes dress in tight, often skimpy clothes: runners, ice skaters, swimmers, etc. Why shouldn't a superhero?

Who is reading these comics anyway? It's really not mostly children anymore, who will grow up as some think to have issues about women. No, I think the staunch gender stratification of television and marketing will do that nicely. I would much rather associate with a man whose been reading Wonder Woman than watching Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus. Today's comic book readers are men and women from my generation or a little younger/little older who would often identify as feminist or at least open-minded. I understand you get the vocal group of a*holes who try to ruin it for everyone, but that's on them. What about comic book fans like Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon? What about me? I saw plenty of boobs growing up and yet here I am, a confident person who does not let gender limit or define me.

Are there problems with some of the art? I would argue that the problem is in the story. If the story is sexist then the art supports it. IF the story is not sexist (see many DC imprints) then it's spectacular art of a woman who can show her body and use it's strength as a weapon.

So there is no simple answer to this question, nor is there one certain standard in comic art, just like I, as a feminist, do not have a set standard of how I want to see women dressed or depicted. We all know when it's wrong. It's easy to just look at a piece of art out of context and dismiss it as sexist. The better solution is to truly engage with these titles on a critical level and discover what is actually going on.

Fishnets and Female Characters!

Here it is, the inaugural issue of Zatanna.

Tub woh si ti?

Maybe we often miss or overlook the layout of the panels and the gutter in comic books, but they are crucial to the story. I really got into reading manga because of way the panels moved in many of the titles.

DC Comics has not disappointed me in its creative layouts. For example in Zatanna the panels sometimes have a clear, white gutter between scenes that then switches to floating over other panels. When Zatanna reads someone's mind in the story each panel is surrounded by a smoky looking and messy frame that really emphsizes the action and what Zatanna is doing with her powers.


Ok, what about the fishnets? They come out when Zatanna has to confront the story's villain. Gl

For a first issue of a series I thought this book worked rather well. There wasn't a lot of back-story exposition and yet we still got comfortably situated into Zatanna's reality.

The ending promises much more to come.

Finally, I had an observation about the two big American comic book publishers that came out of my pulls for this week. A few years ago I passed the time in my life that I happily read media that contained mostly male driven plots and played games with only male PC's. It had never bothered me, but I also don't believe in gender roles aside from the social constructs of individual cultures. I don't fit into what the American female gender role is and I don't care.

At some point in my mid to late twenties I realized that I wanted to see more female characters just being people and doing things like any one else. I realized that male was the default in almost anything I liked and I started to realize that maybe that's what kept so many other women away from the media I liked. Maybe the media saturation of our culture with traditional, outdated ideas about gender is a contributing factor to staunch gender divides and all those related problems. I've always just felt like a "person" and not one particular gender, although due to what I liked I often found myself cast in the role of being masculine.

Well, Marvel Comics declared 2010 their year of women and have done several things to spotlight women artists and have put out some good one-shot titles with female characters. I think drawing attention to the issue and writing about is important. Meanwhile, DC is just releasing a bevy of great comic books with female leads. Both approaches are awesome.