Misogynist Trolls Don’t Get It, We’re Here To Stay

Remember when all those man babies threw a fit when they learned that Thor would be recast as a female in the new reboot of the series? Trolls lined up to spread their hate filled bile across the internet but it looks like it was all for not. The sales reports are in and Feminist Thor is outselling dudebro Thor by a mile.

It’s an encouraging sign of the times and how they are changing. Much like how indie game developers and certain brave women in the tech world are winning the war against the harassment campaign known as Gamergate, the forces of change are winning against the intrenched misogyny of the comic world one step at a time.

Some are even going so far as to call the label these recent changes under the tag “comicgate” as it to make it sound like a vast Feminist conspiracy to make the world a better place. Which, come to think of it, wouldn’t actually even be that bad of an idea.

I’ll be tackling more of this “comicgate” stuff and the books involved in it in another update, but for now I leave you to bask in the man-boy salt that is their tears over so many kick ass women taking over geekdom.

Oh, and if you’d like to help donate to the Feminist conspiracy to make the world a better place, you can visit my project here.

My #FirstHarrassed Story and Why This Project Is So Important

Right now #firstharassed is trending and is a way for woman to speak out about how they have been harassed as early as they can remember. Lots of men in the tag are refusing to believe it’s up to them to take responsibility for a “few”, failing to realize that the problem is not the individual but how society trains them to believe that these kinds of actions are ok. The stories contained in #FirstHarrassed are proof that all women have had to live through this at some point and unfortunately for most it happens before they are of legal age.

I was a twelve year old teenager hanging out with an older crowd, my best friend invited several guys over to my house late one night while my mother was away and we were left to babysit my younger brother. I remember a guy, 21 years old at the time that kept asking me inappropriate questions. He followed me to the bathroom repeatedly asking me for oral sex and then asking me to explain to him why I would not when I objected his advances, never taking my no as a legitimate answer. Later in the night I was cornered by one of the other guys and repeatedly asked similar questions. When I tried to walk away he put his arm up and blocked me from leaving. I was able to snake out of the awkward block he put up and immediately ran to my friend and waited locked in my room until they left. While I had experienced childhood playmates trying to kiss me even before I was 6, this was the first conscious act of harassment I experienced and it was in my own house. Two guys both tried to make me perform a sexual act that I had not experienced and was not comfortable with and both kept verbally pressuring me even to the point where one tried to physically contain me. What would have happened if I could have not gotten away? Why isn’t no ever a good enough answer?

These stories on Twitter exemplify why safe spaces are so important when so many woman face this everyday from men. Yes, all men.

The New Point Break Already Fails Where Other Reboots Have Succeeded

Kathryn Bigelow, known Faux-Feminist and macho movie sell out (Anyone remember Hurt Locker? I do) is probably best known for her piece of cult film known as Point Break. While itself was a piece of problematic cinema, it undoubtedly nailed the forumla for being so bad that it circled around to being good. Among all the other problems in the film and how it’s characters interact with the female set pieces,Tyler Endicott played by Lori Petty is nothing more than a way to connect Johnny Utah to the criminals and to help the story along with a sprinkling of your standard cut and paste love interest/damsel troupe. Never does this character stand alone or act under her own agency.

This is where the the new Point Break really dropped the ball. In the midst of an amazing Feminist revolution in media, they again take two steps back by failing to acknowledge gender diversity in character roles. Like other recent pop culture hits such as the new Mad Max and the gender swapped Thor, the new Point Break could have followed in their brave the brave footsteps of progressive film by tweaking it’s story to fall in line with the modern world instead of being a a direct copy of a story for a more misogynistic time. Why have a Johnny Utah when we could have a Jane Utah? Why have an all male cast of bank robbers instead of a band of hardened women who love surfing? Is it really so unbelievable that these could have been reversed to make the film something more than just a lame cash grab?

One thing is for sure, when this comes out I think I’ll pass seeing it and others will too. If movie producers can’t hang with the times, then their movies won’t make waves at the box office.

Thoughts on how men react when women defend themselves

This video has of a waitress being repeatedly grabbed and assaulted by a male customer has been making it’s rounds on the internet while meeting mixed reactions from it’s viewers. The video is unquestionably an inspiring display against the physical manifestation of the larger male dominated power structures at work in today’s world, however the real disservice here is that most of the viewers and bloggers have been describing this as “funny” or “hilarious.”

The humiliation and sexual assault of any woman in a setting such as this does not make for a “humorous” piece of viral media. Is the idea of an under-privileged class punching up so funny to the mainstream animals in control that even when one of us fight back we’re still treated like nothing more than objects for amusement? In a depraved world where defending yourself is something for other men to watch for amusement, how long will it be until we see these people host videos of rape trials? Would that make it on the top funny videos on the internet?

Sorry Marvel, Not Good Enough. Again.

In a recent display of faux-concern by the biggest offenders in comic heroine sexualization, Marvel has edited one of it’s cover’s art to reflect a more conservative tone. The costume in question belongs to the character Madelyne Pryor of X-men fame, a costume that is frequently subjected to the objectifying male gaze of it’s readers due to her gratuitous amounts of showing “underboob”.

Predictably though, their attempts to correct their blatant sexism falls short of it’s goals by allowing the other female, Magik, to be modeled into a fighting fuck toy troupe dressed up with excessive sideboob, which is deemed “not offensive” by it’s creators because it’s hidden behind skin tight, lightly colored latex which might as well have been drawn as her naked. If Marvel thinks that by quietly changing her costume they will make the years of underboob sexualization go away, they’re heavily mistaken. A system of sexual oppression like this just does not disappear over night. The only way Marvel could work toward scaling back it’s unfair sexualization of Women in comics would be to diversify it’s artists and allow only female gendered people to draw these characters from a place of experience in dealing with being constantly objectified.

This all serves as a fitting reminder that the realm of comic fandom is making progress but still not a safe space for Women interested in exploring fantastic tales of empowerment and fantasy, at least not while it’s controlled by the oppressive power structures of the men behind the ink and pen.