The Women of Fandom

Geeky women.

We are amazing. Not to toot our horn too much, let's face it. We have been, in our unique quiet and not-so-quiet ways, invading the 'boy's club' of comics, video games and RPGs of all varieties. We come in all shapes and sizes, all flavors of fandom. We demand more from comic creators and game designers and have the strength of will to stick it out.

It isn't always easy being a geek female either. It's a lot more common now, with 'geek chic' currently trending and with more and more young woman proudly and loudly wearing their fandoms on their sleeves. And front and center on their shirts (I'm wearing Gir as I type this by the way and yes, I do still have a hug in me...). And on their bags. And jewelry. And tattoos... Have I mentioned that I think we're amazing? ;-)

I grew up without a lot of geekery in my life though, hindsight being 20-20 and all that, there were so many signs. I honestly can't count the number of times I slipped into comic book shops as a middle and high schooler, with my Mom tagging along behind. I kept flipping through the long boxes. In theory I was trying to find the Masters of the Universe comics (I never found any if you are wondering) but I used to look through them all. I had one Spider-Man comic that my Dad got me when I kept asking him for Spider-Man stories. Sadly, it wasn't a great issue and the employees of the stores never took any time to sit with me and help me comics that would appeal to a kid who knew she liked something about this stuff but didn't have a clue where to start.

If it was because I was a girl or because my Mom was hovering behind me, I'll never know but I do know that no one actually talked to me in a comic book shop and tried to help me figure out what I would like until I was at college. By that point, I'd kept poking at my geeky-ness, trying to figure it out. After the first Spider-Man movie (don't judge me too harshly, I was in high school then) I started dying my hair red for the first time. After the second, I turned to the Internet and became to track down every Spider-Man fact I could find. Through the course of that, I was introduced to Oracle though I don't remember exactly how. Gradually my web - bad pun! - of knowledge began to spread. So when I walked into a comic book shop in college, I had at least a vague idea of what I wanted. I wanted Spider-Man and Mary Jane and back issues of Birds of Prey.

I do remember, with distinct frustration, one of the employees looking over my comics and, in so many words, that he was pleasantly surprised by my choices. I felt more than a touch of patronization in his voice and couldn't help but wonder if he would have said the same thing to a male customer in his early twenties. My experience is, thankfully, not universal to geeky women but it isn't all that unusual either from what I have gathered.

I also won't forget my very first time cosplaying at Heroes Con - I was so very excited and I had a great time. It was amazing and I'm very thankful that I happened to run into Jeremy Dale at Free Comic Book Day to be told about it. (Check him out by the way:Yay fun stuff! ). I did have one truly weird experience that con though... I was wandering around artist's alley, where I can usually be found. A gentleman came up, made sure that I was indeed cosplaying (I get that a lot in my Mary Jane outfit) and then asked if I had been dragged here by my boyfriend, with a touch of sympathy in his voice. My response was more or less to blink in confusion and explain that no, I had dragged my boyfriend there. While his positive response to seeing a geek woman at a convention of her own free will was nice, the shock on his face did made me rather uncomfortable. There has also been a time or two when I had to pretty much jump up and down to get noticed at various branches of large scale video game stores.

Being a geeky female also means that sometimes you get followed around by very very... enthusiastic males. It is a bit off-putting at best and downright creepy or scary at worst.

http://creepyvans.info/creepy/just-a-creepy-guy.html

Not that it is all bad in the slightest. Once I got my feet under me, thank you Google, reading comics I was able to start talking and asking questions about the characters. And, thankfully, I had been just enough of a Star Wars and Indiana Jones geek as a kid without realizing it that I had some common ground. The trick was, and still is to a certain extent, showing that I'm here because I'm a 'real geek' not a bit of arm candy who doesn't know or care about anything going on.

It has always been easier with the women though and I'm not gonna lie. I'm not going to say that geek women are perfect and we all flock together like dice carrying doves. Things can be tense between female geeks, I think a lot of us have had the situations where we had to prove ourselves and our 'right' to be there. It can create stress. But despite that, it is always easier on me to start chatting with another woman at a con. We have certain shared experiences that make it easy to bond over. Never identical, each woman's story is her own not to should too corny. She may have never been teased at work for her comics but she may relate to my story of getting dumped over being too geeky. I haven't dealt with anyone ripping into my costume for not sewing it myself but I can completely relate to having to tell kids that no, really women read comics too.

I won't say that I become bosom buddies with every fellow female fan I meet. But I will say that it is wonderful to pass the time chatting with a woman who gets why I am there, in the comic shop or at the convention. And why, even when the creepers are creeping, I am not going to leave.

Geeky women.

We aren't perfect. But we are pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.

The Ray

Why I'm excited about The Ray... This is going to be a fun one.

First: Lucien spends most of the first issue naked. Not as in having sex. As in "oh G-d my clothes keep burning off, I gotta hold a guitar in front of my junk". I admit - it's nice to have some fan service thrown my way every once in awhile considering the overwhelming amount of female character designs who seem to be geared towards the teenage male. See I'm all for adult humor in comics aimed at adults. I just get tired of so rarely seeing the shoe on the other foot when it comes to how the genders are drawn and costumed. Panels after the jump that are not *entirely* work safe though all bits are covered.

Cosplay - Make love, not rage

A note on cosplay....

Many of us probably know that cosplay is high up there in my geeky addictions. I get a positive thrill from dressing up and running around 'on stage'. Now I am still quite new in my cosplay and there are so many people that have helped me in my, so far!, short experience with it. I'm not entirely sure it would be possible to name them all.

That is possibly the best part about cosplay - the sheer community factor of it. I've know complete strangers to be life-savers, giving out spirit gum, coming to aid unasked with heavy or difficult props - even bodily supporting each other to help get into that last great pose for that truly amazing special photo. I will, personally, never forget how embarrassed I was when I asked people to make this photo come true. And how thrilled I was when they agreed!

The only thing that frustrates me about cosplayers - and I accept that I'm going to make some people angry when I say this - are the ones who take it to such a level that they feel the need to be condescending or insulting to others. Part of me takes this view because, as someone who studied backstage theatre, I amazed at the snideness people can have regarding a hobby. I'm all for taking this hobby seriously - remember I'm the woman who won't get out of the Oracle wheelchair except make it easier on the people who actually need them. As a side note - it is really funny to watch people do a spit take when I do have to stand up...

I just don't get the contempt I see from certain players. I don't get the anger when I see cosplayers mocking those who take a different approach on a character, be it altering color scheme, time period, gender or something else. I don't understand because how many times have the comic creaters themselves explored what the characters would be like if X, Y, or Z conditions were changed? It seems far more in the spirit of the comics and, in particular cases, the characters themselves to explore different avenues.

In most cases though, I can write those off. I find my temper flaring when certain attacks are used as the words chosen are frequently quite insulting in regard to weight, gender, and other factors - attacks that seem totally out of character for the icons they want to embody. My temper usually grows hot regarding those factors though and I try to remind myself of the words spoken by a dear friend of mine, small minds wearing the outfits of great ones.

What I am really fabblergasted by is the hostility I have seen on a handful of occasions when one cosplayer turns to another and asks how they accomplished a particular effect.

This simply boggles me. To be clear, I realize that we owe each other nothing, there is no contract between us all. Yet the few individuals I have seen doing this have been rather rude about it. I could understand a polite "sorry man, I worked really hard on this and I just don't want to give out how I did it". Not a snide "figure it out yourself man". And, while others may have had a different experience, I have never experienced or witnessed a polite denial. Just the two extremes of people being incredibly willing to help and a handful of people who seem to feel their costumes elavate them over others.

The vast majority of cosplayers I have met are not profressional costumers. I understand and support guarding a trade secret and count myself fortunate that my best friend is a professional costumer. I have drawn on her knowledge many times and likely will continue to do so in the future.

While others disagree with me, and they are more than free to do so, I draw a line between professional costuming and cosplaying. I also draw a line between what cosplays I wear for fun and what costumes I wear when I'm being paid for the appearance - I will wear a costume out and about for fun and play that I wouldn't consider wearing for a paying event unless the people I was working with knew ahead of time the quality/style of the costume.

Now, for me, a costumer is someone who makes their living making and selling costumes and a cosplayer is anyone who assembles their costumes as a hobby. This is a similar difference to the one I saw in historical reenacting. One may make their own garb - the favored term, at least at the time and location when I was doing it - and may make garb for friends but that didn't make one a sulter. That title was reserved for those who set up shop selling their wares.

Now... All that said... There are people I have run into at events who set up booths and sell merchandise for a living that I do not regard as professionals, either because of the quality of the merchandise they sell or because of their customer service or other factors entirely. There are also the amateur prop makers and costumers who are amateur solely because they have no wish to be professional but whose work is positively-breath taking.

Yet while the lines can blur, I do still see there as being a difference and regard costumer as a profession, not a hobby. I do not draw this difference to insult those who are not making a living off their efforts - many, many, many people in historical reenacting, ren fairs, and cosplay could make their creations professionally if they wanted to. I draw this line to give respect to those who do - because it is a hell of a lot harder to make a stock of ball gowns, corsets, and costumes in various materials and sizes and figure what will sell and what won't than it is to create one every now and again for a friend who makes their tastes clearly known. Costumers attached to a theatre don't have it any easier - theatre hours are hell for everyone and theatre companies everywhere are making intense budget cuts. The theatre costumer doesn't have the option of charging more to make a better creation, they have to create amazing out of nothing.

I draw this line to pay respect to a profession that, in my humble opinion, is frequently overlooked and undervalued. So, for me anyway, remember... love your fellow cosplayer. Love to your fellow geeks.