FIERCE EYEROLL
This article is as ridiculous as you can imagine: Fangirl Invasion, pt. 1. It somehow cannot separate "geek" and "fan culture" from "comic book geek" (from "fanboy") in its thinking, even though it's talking about Twilight fans. And it can't separate "fangirl" from "Twilight fan" even though at least one of the sources quoted mentions that there are girls who are geeks, and not just for Twilight!
It actually mentions that 40% of attendants at Comic Con were women, and yet still is in SHOCK, SHOCK and seems to assume all these women fans are only into Twilight (and maybe Harry Potter). At least it didn't try to claim we were all there as someone's mother/girlfriend/wife.
They even managed to find a woman supposedly studying fandom who says this: According to Krasniewicz, that growth in online communities of female fans is something that comic book fans should understand, since they've been doing it for years. "There's definitely this sense of the 'comic book community.' We hear that term all the time as comic readers," she said. "And now women are discovering they can be part of that. They can have that same sense of community through fan culture." [bolding mine]
However, the author does find one sane voice, from DC comics. This must have something to do with the fact that every current title I'm buying is from DC:
What a difference from that fucker Joey Q. at Marvel.
The inability to acknowledge that women aren't new to comics or fandom by any stretch of the imagination is kind of par for the course, lazy, and mind boggling. To sum up: We're invisible unless/until we show up in screaming pre-teen hordes for something the fanboys loathe, apparently.
It actually mentions that 40% of attendants at Comic Con were women, and yet still is in SHOCK, SHOCK and seems to assume all these women fans are only into Twilight (and maybe Harry Potter). At least it didn't try to claim we were all there as someone's mother/girlfriend/wife.
They even managed to find a woman supposedly studying fandom who says this: According to Krasniewicz, that growth in online communities of female fans is something that comic book fans should understand, since they've been doing it for years. "There's definitely this sense of the 'comic book community.' We hear that term all the time as comic readers," she said. "And now women are discovering they can be part of that. They can have that same sense of community through fan culture." [bolding mine]
However, the author does find one sane voice, from DC comics. This must have something to do with the fact that every current title I'm buying is from DC:
Paul Levitz, publisher at DC Comics, attributes much of the growth in the female audience to the fact that, as women have become part of the workplace and therefore the creative marketplace, more writers and artists are female.
"I think if you look at the history pattern – Joss' work aside, which is wonderful but unusual – the success of things capable of attracting women in pop culture had women in a more significant creative role. Gene Roddenberry, although male, was very heavily influenced by Majel Barrett, his wife, during the creation process of 'Star Trek'," Levitz said, pointing out the female fans of that franchise.
"With the whole emergence of Vertigo, which became the first modern comics line to have serious women readers very actively involved, it's not a coincidence that the editorial staff was led by a woman and included many women. Yes, the same story can reach both, but the odds are a little bit better to tell a story that interests a group if it's by a person who's in it."What a difference from that fucker Joey Q. at Marvel.
The inability to acknowledge that women aren't new to comics or fandom by any stretch of the imagination is kind of par for the course, lazy, and mind boggling. To sum up: We're invisible unless/until we show up in screaming pre-teen hordes for something the fanboys loathe, apparently.