Not to them, obviously. It wouldn't do a damn bit of good and besides - there's plenty of women who are more than capable of giving these boys the Internet equivalent of a verbal bloody nose.
So I figure... rather than write another angry rant and preach to the converted about how women have every bit as much right to read comics they enjoy as men (or sad little boys) do, why not do some good this morning?
Like, say, help promote an artist whose work I like and respect and who - oddly enough - pointed out Problem Number One with girls and comics in her own comic several years ago, in what is easily my favorite strip out of all of her work.
The comic is The Devil's Panties. The artist is Jennie Breeden. If you're not reading it now, you should be.
And on a personal note - I had this exact same scene play out when I was working in a comic shop several years ago. Mom trying to force her son who had no interest in anything but game cards to read a comic. Discouraging her daughter from doing the same. Never mind that we had two female employees in the store at that time.
And yes, make no mistake about it, I did correct Mom's presumptions and send her daughter on her way out the door with Teen Titans Go!.
It's not much, but it's a start.
I'm guessing the misogynistic AND racist Madman and Mr. "I have meaningless stats that prove nothing " 360Scott? Both were pretty heavy in the latest link dump. I've given up on even trying on both. Scott puts me to sleep AND fails to even come close to proving his points. And RMM is someone I can't punch in the face for an hour, so I don't need the increased blood pressure...
ReplyDeleteGood guess. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd you're exactly right. It isn't worth it.
It's not worth my time being angry. Anger is too precious to waste on the likes of them.
It's not worth my time trying to correct them. Others - wiser than me - have tried, with reason and fire and neither have worked.
It's certainly not worth my time to apologize for them. All the other feminist comic bloggers I know that most of the male-comic reading population aren't like them.
Hell, it's barely worth my time to crack wise about them. But I do so love mocking the stupid and ignorant.
Excellent point about not wasting your energy. I find it interesting that RMM can take the time to swoop in and call me names with no basis for them but can not take the time to respond to a rational response. Of course, as I didn't immediately fall to my knees, weep, and promise to get back in the kitchen, I'm sure he saw me as just as much a lost cause as we see him.
ReplyDeleteI originally had a whole bit where I pretened to be a big redneck and complain about how first women want to read comics and next thing you know, the world will end. But even I can't make it fly as a joke.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is thank god for geek girls. I only wish more of them were around when I was in school.
Indeed.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know what you mean. Even for two sick and twisted scoundrels like us, there are some things that are too sad to be made fun of.
Yeah. I look forward to RMM's review of The Gor Omnibus, though.
ReplyDeleteI shudder at the mere thought of the Omnibus. i shudder moreso at all the people who will consider it some sort of opus.
ReplyDeleteWell, cold comfort though this may be...
ReplyDelete1. They tried reprinting the first few Gor novels a few years ago, made them avaialable through Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com and they never did a second-printing nor tried to publish the rest of the series, the sales were that bad. I can't imagine Dark Horse, doing an edition aimed at comic shop sales, doing any better.
2. Having read more than a few of them myself, I agree with the assessment of my girlfriend, who found transcriptions of the whole series on-line somewhere and introduced me to the series. Namely, the books are too hillariously bad to be worth taking seriously as an afront to women.
Never could get into The Devil's Panties. Which is... on reflection... not really the way I wanted to right that. But we'll let that pass.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the strip you show here makes me wanna try again. Which is... on reflection... not a good thought to follow with.
I also think your brief comments on those delights of the Blogsphere serves about as well (if not better) as a 2000+ word screed on a similar matter by a writer I shan't name here, save that it was me with a lot of free time on my hands. I only disagree with one point, though. I don't think their nonsense is just a problem for the female comic fan to deal with. Too often silence is seen as consent and approval, and I don't want to be lumped in with those guys.
On this, I'm of the opinion that any writing done is good writing. But that's me.
Enough of me cluttering your blog. I'm off to try out The Devil's Panties aga... damn it!
I only disagree with one point, though. I don't think their nonsense is just a problem for the female comic fan to deal with. Too often silence is seen as consent and approval, and I don't want to be lumped in with those guys.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm a deep believer in the idea that all that is needed for evil to trumph is for good to do nothing. In this particular case though, with these particular idiots - my saying anything would be outright dismissed as a) something written by a woman pretending to be a man or b) something written by the p-whipped.
I don't see any reason why I should waste my time trying to save the unsavable when I can accomplish more good by being the good example, so to speak.
Fair enough. I'm still dumb enough to respond though (it's been fun so far.)
ReplyDeleteI'm also of the opinion that, as a writer, writing anything is always better than writing nothing.
But, again, your way is probably better.
Well, as a writer, I think that the words you don't write are just as important as the ones you do.
ReplyDeleteI also think Nietzsche was onto something with the bit about "battle not with monsters, lest you become a monster". I've seen too many reasonable people (myself included) get far too worked up and do too many bad things in response to Internet jackassery.
I pick and choose my battles. Confront your enemies but avoid them when you can. Walk away but never run. Worked pretty well so far.
That's a very good point.
ReplyDelete