They are not separable and inherently different from sexist thoughts and behaviors in the”real world.” They are part and parcel of regular ole sexism, not a special geek dude brand invented outside of patriarchy. We’ll get to that in a minute.)Īs I’ve argued before, the sexisms that persist in geek communities are not special. (A little unsurprisingly, the Comic-Con panel was apparently sort of terrible. And until we start having an intelligent conversation about it (preferably a conversation that starts with the assumption that it is a problem), it’s not one that geek communities will ever be rid of. This is not just a cosplay problem, but a geek problem. I’ve been researching and thinking about cosplay for a while now, and one of the most distressing trends I’ve been grappling with is how women will choose characters, costumes, or costume constructions based on how “sexy” the costume will appear on them. From the online program :ĭoes displaying the sexiness of fangirls benefit or demean them? When geek girls show off, are they liberating themselves or pandering to men? Do some “fake fangirls” blend sex appeal with nerdiness just to appeal to the growing geek/nerd market, or is that question itself unfair? And what’s up with all the Slave Leias? Comic-Con actually had a panel this year called “Oh, You Sexy Geek!,” in which they were to discuss the implications of sexy women in geek culture. ) And while feminist geeks have been addressing this issue for a while now, it seems that more mainstream geek culture has caught up with us. There is a difficult conversation to be had about self-objectifying geeks. (Also, hello WisCon 36 attendees! I wish I was there!)
You can read the updated version of this article here. UPDATE: I have written a better and more developed version of this article as a presentation for the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association conference in 2012.
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