Misogyny In Geek Culture - Introduction

Perhaps you remember this story. At San Diego Comic-Con 2011, DC editor Dan Didio was campaigning hard to get people excited about DCs new “52” relaunch. It did not go well. Most of you are probably aware of “SDCC Batgirl,” aka Kyrax2. A young woman, dressed as Batgirl made an attempt to attend every single panel discussion featuring Dan DiDio to make her voice heard. 

Take a bow, girl. You earned it.
[image from DCWKA]

And what she wanted to know was, where are the women? Why were there so few women involved in creating DC comics in the relaunch that, in theory, was aimed at bringing in new readers. Her question caught fire and others took up her cause. A man famously used his time before the microphone to ask “Why did you go from 12% in women [creators] to 1% on your creative teams?” Mr. DiDio infamously replied “What do those numbers mean to you? What do they mean to you? Who should we be hiring? Tell me now. Who should we be hiring right now? Tell me.”

A few days later, DC replied with a letter promising more female writers, artists, and characters in the coming months. They then began publishing their books and you must have been under a rock to miss what they did to Starfire and Catwoman. And if you missed this response to the new Starfire from a 7 year old TeenTitans fan, it is worth taking the time to check it out.

It would seem that Batgirl’s question was the pebble that started an avalanche. Perhaps you read this article by Joe Peacock, who professed to speak for all Geekdom when he proclaimed that Geek girls who cosplay are “poachers. They’re a pox on our culture. As a guy, I find it repugnant that, due to my interests in comic books, sci-fi, fantasy and role playing games, video games and toys, I am supposed to feel honored that a pretty girl is in my presence. It's insulting.” 

John Scalzi, president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, responded with a blog post that, while perhaps belonging in the hall of fame for all-time greatest take downs, was not nearly so widely read. Then there was the Felicia Day Incident. The Anita Sarkeesian Controvery. The controversy de jour is sexual harassment in video games.

It seems there is a story or a controversy every month. There is no reason to believe the behavior is new. What is new is the controversy. In short, it looks like women are beginning to fight back. I have no hard evidence to support my theory that SDCC Batgirl brought about a state change. Maybe it is just synchronicity. 

But ever since she spoke up, this has been on my radar. I knew that this was something I wanted to talk about. But I was worried. There are risks whenever a person tries to write about an experience that they cannot possibly ever fully understand-though I believe there is value in trying to cross that divide. I reached out to some of the other DC Geeks crew to see what their thoughts were and I found out that both Aine and Lauren were planning their own articles. They were really excited about me writing one, and it only made sense for the three of us to work together.

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.
[Image by Valentin Ottone]

The three of us have decided to embark on a yearlong project. Don’t worry. DC Geeks is still the place to go to get all your upcoming Geek community news and events. I promise, we are not changing the focus of the site. But with great power comes great responsibility and that maxim demands that we do more than just review conventions and Geek fashion choices. It requires that we try and do a little good within the community that has done so much for us. 

To that end, we will feature a once month blog post exploring questions of feminism or misogyny in Geek culture. This being DC Geeks, however, we do not like to tie ourselves down when the possibility of something better comes along. Therefore, we are leaving open the door for guest articles. I expect this project will try and explore the role of women in geek televised media and literature; female status in role-playing games, LARPing, and con-culture; and female tropes in video games and comic books.

Right now, the plan is that the three of us will collaborate quarterly on  a group article, and fill out the in-between months with individual written articles and thoughts. We will each bring our own ideas and perspectives, and it will likely create controversy. There are serious questions to be asked. 

For good or ill, trash-talk is an established part of online gamer culture. By agreeing to play online games do women necessarily consent to be the victims of such talk? If gamers are used to having "faggot," "nigger," and "jew" screamed at them over a headset as another player teabags their corpse, why does "Bitch, I hope you get breast cancer and die, you slut" cross the line? Are these all equally unacceptable?

What about cosplay? Would the women who marched for equal pay or universal suffrage, who burned their bras and demanded that they not merely be seen as pleasant office decorations but as serious and professional colleagues, really be proud that you use your hard won equality to prance around sci-fi conventions dressed as Cammy?

[copyright UDON Entertainment]

Or might Joe Peacock be right? Is cosplaying as scantily clad fantasy women a means for moderately attractive girls who want attention to exploit socially awkward geek males unaccustomed to women sharing their hobby? Or is this a way for women to explore their own identity and sexuality in an environment that is more accepting than mainstream society?

Science Fiction and Fantasy fall under the umbrella of “speculative fiction.” That is, they are concerned with ideas – asking “what if.” Naturally, Geeks have much to be proud of when it comes to breaking down barriers. Forget Princess Leah. Science Fiction gave America Ellen Ripley, the first true female action star, the first one who never needed to be rescued but instead rescued a whole damn platoon of marines.

Geeks can claim Buffy Summers, FemShep, Starbuck, Sarah Connor, Merida, and Katniss Everdeen. But when it comes to women, geekdom also has a dark side. We aim to explore it, shine a light on it, and ask what needs to change? How can it be changed? Where is the dividing line between fair harassment and over-sensitivity? What does geek culture owe the larger culture? What do we owe the next generation?

Go on. Say "Feminazi." I fucking dare you.
[copyright 20th Century Fox]

We know most of you are lurkers, but we want to hear from you. If you have a story or a thought you want to share, please email us. We want to talk to you.

And finally, if SDCC Batgirl ever reads this, I would just like to say:

“Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For indeed that's all who ever have. ”-- Margaret Mead, The World Ahead: An Anthropologist Anticipates the Future

Contributor Biographies

Aine is a writer, editor, and podcast host for DC Geeks. Having squandered a childhood on Tolkien and what are now all the hip, retro Nintendo games, she fell hard into nerdiness in college after discovering D&D. Her geekiness extends beyond gaming into costuming, brewing, Steampunk, the occasional episode of My Little Pony, and a dozen other interests. After a year of DC Geeks posts, she has become convinced of two things (1) there is no comprehensive definition of “geek” so it’s easier to let everyone self-identify, and (2) there are more geeky events going on every night in this area than any one geek could hope to attend.

A lifelong lover of mythopoetic narrative, Lauren is an artist who uses surrealism to discuss links between body, emotion, wilderness and architecture. In this discussion between person and place, she has collaborated often with environmental and community outreach programs, as well as being involved generally in wilderness studies and urban permaculture.  She currently teaches art at several colleges and universities in Northern Virginia. Her geekiness includes, among other things, consuming sci-fi and fantasy literature and media, gaming regularly in several table tops and LARPs, and board gaming.

Jeff is an attorney in the DC area who does not blog nearly as much as he promises Scooter he will and he is really, really sorry about that. His interests are diverse and his blog posts tend to meander semi-purposefully from reviews of geek fashion to roller-derby to jazz music to the intersection of Star Trek and the law of war. He can often be found sitting alone in the dark monitoring the click throughs on his DC Geeks blog posts, each one briefly perking up his ego before the monster that lives his head whispers “TL;DR.”

All images borrowed under the Fair Use Doctrine.