quelyn

February 23, 2012 4:09 pm I have some counter points to this article, as a whole, but this is not one of them. Showing her as a cosplayer is completely relevant to the article. If she was wearing clubbing clothes or something maybe. But she's dressed as a fantasy character in cosplay. That's exactly what she's talking about, being a geek. Pretty awesome cosplay too!

February 23, 2012 4:07 pm Thanks, j206. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. Most of the time people assume girls don't *care* about comics, not that they're too stupid for comics. There's a difference in my mind. bansidhewail agreed.

February 23, 2012 2:51 pm agreed. Totally possible.

February 23, 2012 1:59 pm I don't see anything in here that's insinuating any of the staff. I believe the person who said this to her was just another patron

February 23, 2012 1:23 pm For the most part I agree with you. The guy at the con who is telling you that you're only doing this for esteem is definitely off the mark. However, a few things to consider before criticizing your friendly neighborhood and surprised nerd in a comic book store... 1) Don't always assume it's because you're a girl: People in comic book stores often ruffle their own geek feathers much as you described. They see a newcomer in the store and in their own way attempt to be helpful. It's not that common for the casual comic fan to know artists by name. Most of my friends into comics cannot identify artists for the most part. So, for one to be impressed once you identify an "Adam Hughes" isn't so crazy. And it might just have NOTHING to do with the fact that you're a girl and more to do with the fact that they had never before seen you in the store. 2) Stereotypes exist for a reason. Booth babes. MOST of them are paid performers. One time my husband got paid to dress up as Batman for an event. Yes, he happens to like batman so that's cool. But they don't care if he did or did not. Entertainment companies will pay people to dress up in fantasy costumes to sell their products. A LOT of women dressed in "Cosplay" at conventions don't know squat about what they are dressing up as. So to assume all girls in comic costumes are geeks that know their stuff isn't always going to be accurate. 3) A lot of girls are haters. A lot of girls/girlfriends etc. are haters to nerdy things. "My girlfriend wants me to stop playing MMO's". "I had to stop buying action figures because my Girlfriend says they are a waste of money". "My girlfriend made me put all my toys in the basement". I still hear this shit. I hear it all the time. A lot of guys I know are going through this. Some express their jealousy for my house with my husband for our action figures and display cases are out proudly. It's a bummer, but a large majority of guys are exposed to this. 4) Being a geek is cool now, there's a lot of posers So, now it's kind of cool to be a nerd, or something? Girls running around now talking about how much they <3 geeks, and omg they WUBS Doctor Who. But it's all surface level trending that will go away when the next big things come out. They're ruining the assumptions and stereotypes as well. All in all, I don't really get upset when someone is surprised or even confused that I happen to know more about comics than they do, or at least as much. It makes a lot of sense, really. If someone is a jerk about it, or tries to make me feel stupid with obscure questions that it doesn't matter if I know, then yeah screw them. Although since I got a Silver Surfer tattoo on my arm, people just kind of assume that yeah I'm a nerd now. Just playing devil's advocate. I agree that there should be gender neutrality in all things. But unfortunately, we live in a much more complicated world.