Expertise, Comics, and Geekdom

The writers of this blog read/discussed comics last week, so I wanted to write something about them. I mulled it over for awhile. What should I talk about it? I’ve read a few things, like the new Batwoman and New X-Men. I’ve liked most of the things I’ve read so far but I wouldn’t consider myself an avid comic fan. I quickly decided to drop the comic book idea. It’s not that I dislike comics, I just didn’t feel like I was qualified to talk about them.

I explained this to a fellow blogger and they asked, “Why don’t you feel qualified to talk about comics? I think a man with the same amount of exposure to comics as you would not question his authority to speak on the topic.”  Touché. There’s my topic!

If I don’t feel like I know enough about comics to write about them, how many would I have to read to be an expert? Personally, I’d want to have a firm grasp on all the major superhero comics like Batman, Spider-Man, and the Avengers. I’d want to be up to date on their on all of their current plots and know their past histories. Essentially, I’d want to be an expert before I said anything.

Of course, I don’t have to be an expert to give my opinion about something but in the realm of comics I feel like my knowledge, as a woman, would be called into question. It’s not enough to generally like something. In order to be taken seriously, I need to know absolutely everything. If I don’t know everything, well, that would just make me a “faker.”  

There are others who have written about how women must qualify their background and display their credentials before talking about comics or games. Noah Berlatsky phrases it well in the article “‘Fake Geek Girls’ Paranoia is About Male Insecurity, Not Female Duplicity”, “Geekdom is built on cultural knowledge; on how much you've consumed; on what you've consumed; and on how long before everyone else you were able to consume it. That knowledge is—deliberately, essentially, intentionally—used, and meant to be used, as an identity, and, therefore, as power.” Unless I can field all types questions, my knowledge would potentially be challenged. This isn’t limited to geekdom but happens in other realms outside of housekeeping and child rearing (academia, sports, politics, to name a few). Women are just held under tighter scrutiny.

I wanted to bring this up because this fear of being challenged/not knowing enough actively dissuaded me from making a post about comics today. It dissuaded me from writing about something I like. For any girls or women who might find this post, I’d like to encourage you talk about the things you’re interested in. Anyone should be able to engage in a discussion about something they like regardless of if they’re new to it or a long-time fan.

- J. 

Volatile, Self-Obsessed, and Doesn't Play Well with Others: Post-Avengers Movie Fandom Backlash

Ladyvengers, fan art by _kreugan on DeviantArt

Geek, nerd, gaming and comic book culture have members who claim the culture is inclusive. They say that nerd culture is for outcasts, the bullied, the alone. While for some people this may be the case, for many others nerd culture is a hostile place. It is dominated largely by white males who are also heterosexual and cis. This privileged group not only has a lot of control of the content that is released in the gaming/comic/movie industries, but they are also the most vocal of the fans. This has caused many problems, where certain groups of people aren't regarded as "real fans".
After Joss Whedon's hugely popular The Avengers was released, many new folks wanted to join in on comic book superhero fun. Those who hadn't read comics before were intrigued by the movie and many decided to give comics a try. While this new surge of fans is good for the industry, and debatably the fandom, many new fans received huge backlash.

As a member of the Avengers fandom on various internet platforms, I watched as people were targeted for "not really being fans" because they were introduced through the movies. However, not all "fake fans" were targeted equally. One group that was specifically targeted was women. Women were first assumed to be heterosexual, and then accused of only liking the film because of all the hot men. The prevalence of "hot women" in comic book culture to attract heterosexual males was never questioned. I noticed that men frequently discussed the attractiveness of female comic book character, or in the case of the movie Black Widow, but they were never told they "only liked comics for the hot ladies". Even if a female fan had been reading comics for a long time, they were assumed to "only be fans because of the movies". Many times I saw women being grilled for information about the Avengers team, but men did not receive the same scrutiny. Women were assumed to be "fake fans" until proven otherwise.

Data comparing screen time in minutes to number of character toys at 5 major retailers, including the Disney Store.

Additionally, the idea that only men are fans of comics (and superhero movies) was perpetuated by the merchandise sold in affiliation with the film. While Black Widow, the only female superhero in the Avengers movie, was prominent in the plot she is often missing from t-shirts, backpacks, toys and other merchandising.

One member of tumblr, who created the butnotblackwidow blog, is in the middle of a study comparing screen-time to number of toys. Currently their data shows how drastically Black Widow is erased from the toy sales (see graph below). This also perpetuates the gendered ideas embedded in toy sales  in which certain toys are specifically made for boys and girls. In this case, toys that target boys don't include female characters, even important ones.


In addition, many new fans began to actively ship characters into gay relationships. These ships were attacked with homophobia, and many men in the fandom complained about these members "ruining their characters" with by making them potentially gay. This backlash is also gendered because queer women as superheros are more accepted, like Batwoman.
There are many fans of the Avengers who are not men, who are not heterosexual and who are not white. These fans produce amazing fan art, fan stories and contribute everyday to the fandom in positive ways. But the backlash following the Avengers film demonstrates how geek culture is not always welcoming to everyone. In fact, the industry and members of the culture often actively attempts to remove women, queer folks and people of color from geek circles.

-H.

Fake Geek Girls, Fake Geek Problems

It is difficult to have a valid discussion on a concept that is so hotly debated. The idea of the Fake Geek Girl exists in a multitude of discussions. Do they exist at all? Does the idea of a Fake Geek Girl have a spectrum? Is one a Fake Geek Girl to the complete exclusion of being an actual geek?  Does the debate of the Fake Geek Girl expand to booth babes, or even just a geek culture naïf? What stressors over the last few years of the geek and gaming community has led to the explosion of negative energy towards the communities female participants?  When the first postings about the Fake Geek Girl hit the Internet it ushered in a flood of reactions both condemning the idea and expanding upon it.

The Fake Geek Girl has a vague definition. Articles by CNN, The Atlantic, and Forbes (several times) contributors explain that FGGs are “pretty girls pretending to be geeks for attention”. One article even drew the FGG infiltration as parallel to the Communist sleeper agent uncertainty of the 1950s. Jokes are cracked and comics and advertisements are drawn about how these FGGs are here to prey on the male geeks as unfeeling huntresses. These comics or short films, while made in jest as a manner to dismiss the FGG, can actually get across some important points. One short film has a humorous depiction of the FGG as a murderer. In it, the detective makes a comment stating that: “Maybe there is no fake geek girl. Maybe it is just a product of the deeply rooted sexism of geek culture. Maybe she is just a manifestation of the insecurities about the opposite sex”.  This is the only somewhat serious part of the film, and it is quickly laughed off and forgotten. Yet, Dr. Andrea Letamendi, who writes for The Mary Sue, explains that this may be the case as well as several other factors.

Pulp Scifi style seems perfect for the silly idea.

Dr. Letamendi explains the situation on both sides: why the male geek population reacted to viciously, and why the female geek population reacted so defensively. She lays it out in three very clear lines. Geeks are afraid of imposters and false infiltrators because: 1) There is a false notion of limited resources within the community, 2) The community has a misinterpreted sense of ownership, and 3) There is resentment for the change that ‘geek’ culture is undergoing. These negative ideas are supported by the fact that, every once in a blue moon, there is a girl just looking to get some attention in a skimpy cosplay, there are still booth babes in many conventions, and fledgling geeks are not given enough positive reinforcement to pursue the culture before being turned away.

Dr. Letamendi also states that female ‘geeks’ become defensive at the idea of the FGG because of long-seated “insults, indignities, and demeaning messages from other members of the comics community”.  She brings up the subtle ways in which female members of the community are belittled, stating the use of microaggressions, to plant a disparaging seed in the female geek’s mind. She also elaborates on the ways women are made to feel invisible within the community, as well as pointing out that female geeks are constantly told that they cannot keep up intellectually with their male counterparts.

There may be a little more to it though.  The introduction of the idea of the FGG to the popular community mindset led to the creation of a new wall.  This barrier, arbitrary in its subject or depth, has to be hurdled every time a female geek wants to participate in the community’s conversations. Every time the wall is faced, the qualifications to be an ‘authentic geek’ changes. Many of the articles about FGGs written by females who consider themselves part of the community start their articles with their geek justifications; a list of how and why they can be considered part of the community. They have to prove themselves, establish their geek credentials, in fear of not being taken seriously.

The itching idea of attractive female non-geeks invading the geek-space for attention without an actual interest in the geek subset of cultural material has been growing for a while. Bans on the use of Booth Babes (another term for a promotional model), female models hired to attract attention to products and product tables at conventions, has been on the scene for a while.  But for them it is different, while they may be at the con for the attention, they are also there for the money, for them it is a job. But the main worry is that this condescending attitude towards ‘pretty invaders’ is now being applied to attractive female geek community members who have, for a long time, felt like a part of the community and are now faced with requests of justification.

-K.