I don't have delivery confirmation on the letter yet, so, whichever intern has the extraordinarily dull job of sifting through mail may not have even gotten to sign yet. But here's a copy for the rest of the world until then.
Please don't worry to much about what to do with the letter; I fully expect a lip-service response, which assures me Marvel will be responsive to letters in the future and that they're aware they're sexist and are working on it--you know, rather like last response I got from Marvel, when I sent things that required a signature.
But I hope the rest of the day at work isn't as soul-sucking-ly depressing as tossing heartfelt fan mail in the circular file.
Dear Marvel,
I should start by congratulating Marvel, the company hasn't done anything majorly offensive that I have seen in two weeks! More than that, they’ve done some cool stuff: Thor, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, allegedly awesome stuff at NYCC, etc. Impressive stuff!
On the flip side, Marvel hasn’t convinced me that they’re actually going to make any effort to work on the sexism in the merch they aim directly at kids and they’ve decided once again that my letters (yes, plural, multiple copies sent in August, multiple copies sent in September) should be ignored—that or the assurance that you were looking into the problems and would try to respond better was supposed to be a ‘once in a fan’s lifetime they will get a response to every 10th letter’ thing.
I wrote an entire long letter this week, that I had printed and ready to send (and to send so it required signature, since, apparently, that is the only mail anyone at Marvel reads)—but I decided that I was just creating more paper that said the same thing (instead I’ll enclose the previous 2 here (and, of course, unanswered mail goes on the dearmarvel.weebly.com website)—that I’d love to see something, even unofficial, that looks like a plan or a timeline to address this, because, given the lack of response from Marvel, I’m not entirely convinced that there is a plan.
Please don’t think that the positives Marvel is are going un-noticed—they’re noticed and appreciated. I’m celebrating the progress, but Marvel can (and should) do MORE, so much more, than what it is doing—because a lot of what it’s doing is still sexist (50% of the population is female. 20% of the various teams are female, 0% of the merchandise is female. Hard to argue with numbers)—especially when it comes to the ‘mass appeal’ positives (the things Marvel has done to address sexism are happening in the ‘geek-o-sphere’—they’re things apparent to people immersed in comics and the like; they’re not things that are apparent to the casual fan/movie-goer. They’re not things trickling down to the kid products and t-shirts.
I know product development takes time, but I think it’s disingenuous for Marvel not to take steps in the interim. Marvel doesn’t have any playable female characters in the Superhero Marvel Chutes & Ladders game; there’s no way to issue an apology and a printable female (Scarlett Witch) replacement piece? Marvel neglected to put any female characters in their coloring books; there’s no way to issue an apology and a printable sheet to color? Marvel’s own website lists 3 categories for Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise-- Men, Women, and Boys. No Girls items. That’s a moment by a web-design person to ‘fix’ so it says ‘kids’—so why hasn’t that happened?
(And yes, some of these things, I can do these things myself—and I have. But it would mean a lot for Marvel to publicly take steps that means they’re taking this seriously and want to fix it. And, if this is what I can come up with, as a parent with access to nothing but the internet and a printer, surely Marvel’s media teams can do much better)
I look forward to a response.
Thanks
Me
Please don't worry to much about what to do with the letter; I fully expect a lip-service response, which assures me Marvel will be responsive to letters in the future and that they're aware they're sexist and are working on it--you know, rather like last response I got from Marvel, when I sent things that required a signature.
But I hope the rest of the day at work isn't as soul-sucking-ly depressing as tossing heartfelt fan mail in the circular file.
Dear Marvel,
I should start by congratulating Marvel, the company hasn't done anything majorly offensive that I have seen in two weeks! More than that, they’ve done some cool stuff: Thor, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, allegedly awesome stuff at NYCC, etc. Impressive stuff!
On the flip side, Marvel hasn’t convinced me that they’re actually going to make any effort to work on the sexism in the merch they aim directly at kids and they’ve decided once again that my letters (yes, plural, multiple copies sent in August, multiple copies sent in September) should be ignored—that or the assurance that you were looking into the problems and would try to respond better was supposed to be a ‘once in a fan’s lifetime they will get a response to every 10th letter’ thing.
I wrote an entire long letter this week, that I had printed and ready to send (and to send so it required signature, since, apparently, that is the only mail anyone at Marvel reads)—but I decided that I was just creating more paper that said the same thing (instead I’ll enclose the previous 2 here (and, of course, unanswered mail goes on the dearmarvel.weebly.com website)—that I’d love to see something, even unofficial, that looks like a plan or a timeline to address this, because, given the lack of response from Marvel, I’m not entirely convinced that there is a plan.
Please don’t think that the positives Marvel is are going un-noticed—they’re noticed and appreciated. I’m celebrating the progress, but Marvel can (and should) do MORE, so much more, than what it is doing—because a lot of what it’s doing is still sexist (50% of the population is female. 20% of the various teams are female, 0% of the merchandise is female. Hard to argue with numbers)—especially when it comes to the ‘mass appeal’ positives (the things Marvel has done to address sexism are happening in the ‘geek-o-sphere’—they’re things apparent to people immersed in comics and the like; they’re not things that are apparent to the casual fan/movie-goer. They’re not things trickling down to the kid products and t-shirts.
I know product development takes time, but I think it’s disingenuous for Marvel not to take steps in the interim. Marvel doesn’t have any playable female characters in the Superhero Marvel Chutes & Ladders game; there’s no way to issue an apology and a printable female (Scarlett Witch) replacement piece? Marvel neglected to put any female characters in their coloring books; there’s no way to issue an apology and a printable sheet to color? Marvel’s own website lists 3 categories for Guardians of the Galaxy merchandise-- Men, Women, and Boys. No Girls items. That’s a moment by a web-design person to ‘fix’ so it says ‘kids’—so why hasn’t that happened?
(And yes, some of these things, I can do these things myself—and I have. But it would mean a lot for Marvel to publicly take steps that means they’re taking this seriously and want to fix it. And, if this is what I can come up with, as a parent with access to nothing but the internet and a printer, surely Marvel’s media teams can do much better)
I look forward to a response.
Thanks
Me