About
Why am I writing this?
I'm rather nerdy--not excessively nerdy, but I like comics, I like games, I participate in geeky hobbies. So, considering the things that can engulf childhood, I was (am) thrilled that my daughter is into superheroes. Superhero Squad, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Woman, she loves them all.
So, now that she's old enough to understand 'stuff' she keeps asking where the girl superheroes are. Why a shows that have between 0% and 20% female main characters (rather dismal, considering women are 50% of the population) have merchandise that shows 0%-5% of the characters as female.
When we were getting bedding, she was told we would get her what she wanted--and she wanted a girl-superhero (like her)--and started by asking if we could find Ms. Marvel (doesn't exist), so she wanted Scarlet Witch (doesn't exist), so she wanted Wonder Woman (doesn't exist), so she wanted the whole Superhero Squad (exists, after all the female characters are removed) or Avengers (exists, after all the female characters are removed)...eventually I decided to make/quilt something--to discover that all of the fabric sold had all the female characters removed.
This problem repeated in coloring books, on t-shirts, and in candy. It repeated in Star Wars products, in DC products, and in all of Marvel's products.
When I pointed it out to male geeks, I was told "surely it can't be that bad..." and then they started looking and had the response of "wow, it really IS that bad. It really DOES look like they are purposely scrubbing girls out of the pictures and leaving them on cutting room floors". I am annoyed that companies are trying to push me out of the clubhouse and I'm annoyed that companies are setting up the clubhouse to make my daughter feel unwelcome.
So I wrote a letter, which was ignored. So I wrote more letters, which were ignored. (and eventually I got a small response. And then went back to being ignored) So I started a blog to post my letters openly and wrote more. And I'm still writing.
There have been some improvements (Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Thor, addressing things at NYCC, to name a few--but when it comes to things that appeal to the masses (blockbusters, items it sells [including the kids items] and things that 'gatekeeper' girls out of comics) there hasn't been any change. Things take time, but we haven't even been given the nod that the industry acknowledges change is needed--because only things starring cis-white-males-named-Chris isn't good for any of us.
So I'll keep writing, they'll continue to not answer, and we can hope that tilting at windmills results in some far reaching changes. Because we all loose when girls are cut out of the picture.
I'm rather nerdy--not excessively nerdy, but I like comics, I like games, I participate in geeky hobbies. So, considering the things that can engulf childhood, I was (am) thrilled that my daughter is into superheroes. Superhero Squad, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Woman, she loves them all.
So, now that she's old enough to understand 'stuff' she keeps asking where the girl superheroes are. Why a shows that have between 0% and 20% female main characters (rather dismal, considering women are 50% of the population) have merchandise that shows 0%-5% of the characters as female.
When we were getting bedding, she was told we would get her what she wanted--and she wanted a girl-superhero (like her)--and started by asking if we could find Ms. Marvel (doesn't exist), so she wanted Scarlet Witch (doesn't exist), so she wanted Wonder Woman (doesn't exist), so she wanted the whole Superhero Squad (exists, after all the female characters are removed) or Avengers (exists, after all the female characters are removed)...eventually I decided to make/quilt something--to discover that all of the fabric sold had all the female characters removed.
This problem repeated in coloring books, on t-shirts, and in candy. It repeated in Star Wars products, in DC products, and in all of Marvel's products.
When I pointed it out to male geeks, I was told "surely it can't be that bad..." and then they started looking and had the response of "wow, it really IS that bad. It really DOES look like they are purposely scrubbing girls out of the pictures and leaving them on cutting room floors". I am annoyed that companies are trying to push me out of the clubhouse and I'm annoyed that companies are setting up the clubhouse to make my daughter feel unwelcome.
So I wrote a letter, which was ignored. So I wrote more letters, which were ignored. (and eventually I got a small response. And then went back to being ignored) So I started a blog to post my letters openly and wrote more. And I'm still writing.
There have been some improvements (Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Thor, addressing things at NYCC, to name a few--but when it comes to things that appeal to the masses (blockbusters, items it sells [including the kids items] and things that 'gatekeeper' girls out of comics) there hasn't been any change. Things take time, but we haven't even been given the nod that the industry acknowledges change is needed--because only things starring cis-white-males-named-Chris isn't good for any of us.
So I'll keep writing, they'll continue to not answer, and we can hope that tilting at windmills results in some far reaching changes. Because we all loose when girls are cut out of the picture.