Saturday, January 10, 2009

Girls hate comics. I know because a guy told me!


After Thera Pitt's post on why we need female superheroes, I was thrown into confusion. But...but...girls don't like comics! They're for BOYS, everyone knows that! Women all are supposed to watch Sex and the City like good little girls, never looking beyond or wanting anything different. Obviously, all women think EXACTLY the same way! I bet you didn't know.


So thank goodness for Josh Tyler! In his infinite wisdom, he posted this article, titled “Why We Don't Need Female Superheroes”. Phew!

Thank you, Josh! All this time we wimminfolk were thinking WE knew what we wanted. And THEN we had the gall to think that we're, y'know, individual people with varieties of interest. Fortunately, Josh has told me that I am not in fact a man (because I have no acquaintance with my own body, obviously!) and that I should only be interested in romance.

I love romance. But...but...I fantasize about kicking ass all the time! Occasionally in costume! And...oh God, so do nearly all of my female friends! Every girlfriend on my comics forum! Oh Josh, please help! What's wrong with me??? Why oh why am I continually drawn to the creations of Joss Whedon? Why am I obsessed with the 'magical girl' genre of manga? Why do I own the Underworld movies and fantasize about owning my very own leather duster and Berettas? And most importantly, why am I dying for the Wonder Woman movie to get made already???

I am so grateful to you, Josh! As we all know, we women are an impossible-to-understand gender. Thusly, only men are capable of speaking for us! I'm really surprised that you even had to write this article—isn't it common knowledge?

Back off, girls! Josh Tyler is MINE! :D

...............

/end sarcasm>

I know. I am evil incarnate, but damn if it isn't fun.

....this guy is a sexist asshole. “Women aren't interested”? How the fuck would he know? Check your pants, Tyler. Do you see a vagina? Then the phrase “Women aren't interested” should never, ever leave your lips.

Women are not considered the majority of comic book readers because we are not an acknowledged part of the demographic. This has never made sense to me, but seems to make perfect sense to all of those 18-34 menfolk IN the demographic, who are puzzled as to my anger at having nothing to read.

Hey, guys? Can you look beyond your own privilege for just a second here? That would be juuuust greeaaaaaat.

The fact that women are not the demographic, gents, is a lazy-ass argument. And I have no intention of tolerating it anymore. I've heard it so often I'm considering making a drinking game out of it. (Sorta like this game of Anti-Feminist Comics Bingo. Hey, don't knock it! Bingo is badass, yo.)

What I wonder is why women are not widely considered as even part of the demographic. It's pretty stupid—women embraced Wonder Woman with open arms during the feminist movement of the 1970s. That she was created by and essentially for men didn't matter. We made her our own, and still consider her to be so. The reason that Wonder Woman is so crazy popular even today is because her appeal was universal—both men and women alike adored her.

That said, why aren't there more like her? I really don't get it---if comic book writers worked harder at making their creations more unisex, they'd make twice the money! And if they marketed creations for and by women, why, they'd appeal to the 'invisible' demographic of women, aged 18-34, who are willing to eat up anything sent their way. They could be making like twenty times the money they do, even in the middle of a fucking recession. Thus, the argument that female comic fans don't exist or are a minority is rendered officially stupid. Just because you don't acknowledge somthing doesn't mean they don't exist.

If I refuse to acknowledge Tyler and his moronic views, do they cease to exist? Based on my attempts, the answer is probably not.

As has been noted in the past, I don't handle stupidity well. Or Josh Tyler's amazing condescension. Nothing annoys me more than stupid people who act like they're smarter than me. Hey Josh—you're not all that smart. A truly smart person has the ability to pull their head out of their ass and see beyond their own interests.

So Josh, you just keep using your head as a buttplug. Once you wash the santorum from your hair, you might try taking some other points of view into consideration, rather than just dismissing them as you have been doing, based on the responses to your article.

Please note the success of Buffy—not just the TV show, which was hugely popular in its heyday—but the spinoff comic books. Guess who that appeals to?

Our pal Josh claims that Buffy isn't a superhero. I guess because her powers aren't the result of radiation? (Oh, sorry—genetic engineering?) Or because she doesn't wear a costume, maybe?

Buffy isn't a superhero to Josh because he did not deem her as such. It is only a fact if it comes from HIS mouth. His responses to the comments under his article are testament to that.

A note to Josh and all his ilk—if you want to express your privileged position as the target audience, fine. But don't EVER tell me—or any other woman who craves a female superhero to relate to—that it's because we don't know ourselves
or what we want.

You don't know us. You don't speak for us. You have absolutely no right to claim that you do.

Fuck you.

7 comments:

snobographer said...

I was a girl who spent all her years aged 2-5 leaping off the coffee table with a towel safety-pinned around her neck. I worshipped Underdog. I was crushed by the Sesame Street announcer who used male pronouns to refer to Super Grover. I wanted superheroes. I wanted 'em bad. I just never found any that looked like me. In all the comics I ever saw, people who looked like me were passive obstacles and prizes. So I turned to Barbie, who did me few favors.
I watched Wonder Woman and The Bionic Woman religiously though.
And I could give a flying fuck on a rolling donut about Rom Coms. Rom Coms suck. All the mainstream ones are made by dudes. Stupid dudes who don't listen to women yet presume to know what women want. Like this asshole.

Chai Latte said...

*snugs you* Huzzah, a comment!

I hear ya! I used to pretend to be She-Ra when I was little, in addition to Disney princesses. Even then, I had a variety of interests.

And yes, I also share your frustration in not being able to find heroines that looked like me. They made me wonder if any of these artists knew what naked women looked like. (Answer: ALL DIFFERENT).

Some rom coms are fun. Most of them do suck, though. The only one I liked was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". Nia Vardalos is my homegirl. :D

You know what's hilarious? Even guys are embarrassed by Josh Tyler. Only a couple of them actually profess agreement with his sentiments. All my guy friends did a collective facepalm when I told them about this debacle. ;)

snobographer said...

I never got around to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." The hype turned me off at the time. I'm going to have to rectify this. I think that one was made by women (didn't Vardalos write and direct it?), in which case, it's probably not the usual stalking-is-a-compliment fare.
Lesbian indie rom coms like "Chutney Popcorn," "Better Than Chocolate," and "Puccini for Beginners" also don't make me want to hurl, but I doubt they're the sort of thing this Tyler douchebag has in mind.

Speaking of female superheroes, you know who else was awesome in the seventies? Isis!

amarillion said...

Readign this brought to mind the lind of T-Shirt for the ocassion...
On a Hot Pink t-Shirt, "Female Geeks, We're in ur demographics, Fucking up ur dudez!"
Complete with a pretty princess image wearing a sodding big black strap on.

Rachel Cotterill said...

I'm all for a mass moron-ignoring attempt to see if they go away... not holding out much hope though :S

Anya D. Night said...

THANK YOU! I loved Spiderman and the X-men for awhile, but let's face it-- a lot of female super heros are girly spin-offs of the guys and nowhere near as badass. I just stopped reading comic books after awhile. I WANTED to, but the industry didn't care, they didn't write for me. They wrote for my brothers.

Hannah said...

'Check your pants, Tyler. Do you see a vagina? Then the phrase “Women aren't interested” should never, ever leave your lips.'

Heh, I can't seem to get the image out of my head of this guy actually checking down his trousers and muttering to himself 'Women aren't interested...'