Weekly Round Up #1

Hello and welcome to a new segment here on Geeky Femmes! I (Ari) will to do a weekly roundup of interesting/important things have hit the (or at least my) radar this week.

First up, Noelle Stevenson did this ace short comic about what it can be like going into comic shops as a lady. Luckily enough I’ve never had this happen, but I’m always guarded in case it does.

Images grabbed from Noelle's Tumblr.

Actress Ellen Page recently came out and delivered a gorgeous, inspiring speech about love.

She-Hulk #1 was released by Marvel, continuing the group of lady-led comic books coming out. I gave it a good review over on my other blog.

Apologies for the brevity of this, but if you feel I’ve missed anything, feel free to comment and share!

You can find me on Twitter (@ariellalphabet) and Gina (@HEXX_)

If you’d be interested in doing a guest post here, let one of us know! 

Ari: Female Superheroes in Film

Hello! Ari here, resident comic book geek, here to talk about female characters in films and TV programmes. "Why is this an important thing? At least there are female characters in the things you watch. That should be good enough." To which I respectfully reply, while having female characters in there is enough, oftentimes it is simply not good enough. The point of feminism and ultimately the point of this post is equality. The same for both genders, and for people who identify as either gender. What goes for one, goes for the other. This really isn't a hard concept to understand, even for the most unscholarly of us.  So, in this context, for every one male character/superhero I see in a comic book film, I want to see one superheroine. In the last thirteen years, there have been 48 comic book adaptation to the big screen (accounting for series from Marvel, DC and Dark Horse. For the sake of my argument, original scripts such as Super (2010), Chronicle (2012) and Hancock (2008) have been omitted) and I'll cheerfully (or cheerlessly if we're talking about Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) admit to having watched nearly all of them. However, out of those 48 films, only two of them, which is less than 5% have female characters as the lead. Frankly, that's an awful number and a rather dire representation of women in film and superhero fiction, and I for one want it to change. 
    
Let me preface this mini-rant by saying I LOVE COMIC  BOOK FILMS. I cannot get enough of them. Every time I get the news that another of my beloved characters is making the transition to the big screen, I shriek with glee and hunt down every single piece of information about the potential film that I can. Also, like a lot of other straight girls, I especially love watching attractive actors taking my characters and making them into something new, and I have absolutely no complaints about the gratuitous topless scenes featuring the aforementioned actors (Watch the TV series Arrow and you'll see what I mean!) or anything else, and view it as an interesting view on the 'female gaze' as opposed to the male gaze. 

Referring back to the 48 superhero films and the characters contained within them, the female characters tend to be one of of two extremes: powerful warrior women or weak little girls in need of being rescued. If we look at Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000) we can see the two extremes almost straight away. Storm/Ororo Munroe, played by Halle Berry is a powerful warrior woman. Jean Grey, played by Famke Janssen, is a powerful warrior woman. Then, we have Rogue, one of the most powerful mutants in the world reduced to be being a weak little girl who then goes onto be rescued by Marvel's fucking poster boy, Wolverine. Of course, we can't blame 100% of this on Wolverine, but the story itself shouldn't need such a cheap writing device to get the point across. At it's heart, X-Men is about social injustices and prejudices, a fascinating subject in itself, especially when you transfer the message to the attitudes for/against the gay community. However, all this said, the female characters in this film are successful and powerful and fairly positive representations of the characters that they're portraying. While it does (only just) fail the Bechdel Test (like many superhero films tend to) it's not one of the worst offenders within this group. 

Like many superhero films, the narrative is often derailed and deviates (in some cases very,

very far) from the original source material, and one of the worst offenders of this is Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). Funnily enough, it was these films that got me hooked on reading Marvel comics in the first place, but now I can wholeheartedly say that I hate them. Whether they were intended to be loose adaptations of the Ultimate universe Fantastic Four or whether they just lost track of the story somewhere down the line, I don't know. However, one problem I've always had with the film is the way Susan Storm is represented. I understand catering to a larger audience by using eye-candy or whatever reason they found for having Sue act/dress the way she did, but it just sat very uncomfortably with me. In the comics, Susan Storm/Richards is an intelligent, deadly, and modest woman who developed the use of her powers without a humiliating and unnecessary scene that left her wandering the streets of New York in her underwear. Call it humour, call it allowing for the male gaze, call it whatever you like, but I know the original Sue Storm would never be in that situation. Frankly, I could talk about how the Fantastic Four films have annoyed the crap out of me with their terrible character representations, weak narrative and ridiculous script, but for the sake of brevity, I won't. 

Fortunately for those who are supremely annoyed by this shit, there's slowly but surely been a difference in the way women are shown in superhero films. In Superman: Man of Steel (2013) Lois Lane (a character I talked about in my previous post, which you can read here) is a strong, female character who didn't fall prey to being damselled or otherwise incapacitated for whatever reason. While her romance with Superman did feel rather tacky and awkward at the end, her character still came out on top, which was an absolute delight to witness. Not only that, but in the promotional shots did an unspeakable justice to the characters, and instead of featuring Lois in either the stereotypical damsel pose (see here for an amusing parody) or any other ridiculousness, but Lois was at the forefront of the picture, and Superman was stood behind her, mirroring her pose. Here, we see a strong, confident woman who doesn't need to be saved by Superman. Here, we see a damn change. 

Credit to Kate Leth of Kate or Die. Taken from
 http://kateordiecomics.com/archive/xyz/

Another example of a female character who was surprisingly awesome was Catwoman/Selena Kyle, as played by Anne Hathaway in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012). One of many big complaints about Catwoman (aside from the film from 2004) is the sheer impracticality of her outfit, as illustrated in the strip by Kate Leth of Kate or Die! comics. Kyle's outfit/catsuit/whatever-the-hell-it-is remains zipped up and covered throughout the whole film, and the film itself doesn't rely on her cleavage as (if you'll forgive the pun) cheap titillation for the audiences. Admittedly, the fact she's wearing high heels to fight crime is rather redundant, but her characterisation and representation were certainly satisfactory. Again, like X-Men (2000) its passing of the Bechdel test is rather rocky. Lastly, we can't consider women in superhero films without considering one of the biggest superhero ensemble films of the decade- Avengers (Assemble) (2012) directed by Joss Whedon. While I (and many others) have problems with the way in which Whedon creates sympathy for female characters by frequently placing them in peril (see this post over on the Mary Sue for more details, and read the post on the Geek Feminism wiki for more information) it doesn't seem to happen in Avengers, prompting a celebration from this blogger. Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlet Johansson fights her way out of every situation she finds herself in without any problems, and ultimately, if it wasn't for her, the Avengers wouldn't have been able to save New York, as Romanoff was responsible for closing the portal that the Chitauri were pouring out of. Not only that, but Maria Hill, played by Cobie Smulders, member of S.H.I.E.L.D. was similarly kickass, and basically beat the crap out of anyone that dared to get in her way. If you wish to read more about Feminist readings of Avengers, read this article by the Opinioness of the World. 

So with all that said, why are there so few female-led superhero films? As I mentioned in my previous post, there are absolutely no shortage of awesome female characters who could easily hold a successful film. Sure, Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004) were absolutely dire. But not because of the characters in the film. Because of a series of creative decisions, directorial decisions, and generally bad writing. However, you can't place the success/failure of female-led superhero films on bad creative decisions, and with the correct writers, directors cast and so on, a female-led superhero film will be brilliant. Not even a film in necessary in this juncture; even just a TV series would be a start, such as the Birds of Prey series that shakily made its way onto screen and then off again after one paltry series several years ago. The last female-led superhero TV show that wasn't animated was Wonder Woman, from back in 1975-1979, so we're certainly due for a new one! Returning back to Joss Whedon for a moment, his newest series (premiering this autumn) Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. already features a strong, equal cast, but we'll ultimately have to wait for it to air before we can make assumptions or readings on it.  

A strong point I'm trying to make here is that in the original texts (the comics books) there is a never-ending, wonderful smorgasbord of strong, female characters, and yet they have little to no equal representation within the world of film and TV. You know what? That is awful. Why is there such a small fraction of female characters in the big screen adaptation? Because people haven't realised how flippin' awesome the ladies in comic books are, and this is wrong. 

"Now," I hear you say. "Ari, you've been waffling about female characters in superhero films for

a very long time. Why do you want them so badly?" Well it boils down to simply wanting an equal representation in the fiction and media I love. I want to see my favourite characters on screen. I want to see Carol Danvers on the big screen being sassy and beating the crap out of people that deserve it. "But it's not always that simple!" You say. Well sadly, I'm aware of that. Not everyone likes to see strong female characters (for whatever reason) and not everyone is interested in making films like that. I don't know why, but it is damn frustrating. All that I (and many others around the world) want is for both genders to be equally and fairly represented, and it really isn't a big ask. However, unless these films or TV programmes are to be made by the right people, there is that horrible possibility that the characters will fall into one of two camos: They'll be either hyper-sexualised, or frequently put into damsel-in-distress situations, both of which are boring, overused concepts and ultimately lazy writing. 

In conclusion, I'd like to say that this isn't a losing battle. It's an uphill battle. There is a distinct possibility of there being more comic book films featuring female characters in the starring role. As the DC cinematic universe looks to be following in Marvel's footsteps by making an ensemble film (Justice League) it would be extremely hard to do it the correct justice (haha!) without having a standalone film featuring Wonder Woman, exactly in the way of Captain America or Thor. Furthermore, it is frequently rumoured that such a film will exist featuring everyone's favourite Amazon, so again, we'll have to wait and see. On the Marvel side of things,  there are two currently unnamed films coming in 2016, and there is the distinct possibility that one or both of these could have female characters in the lead, and there has been enough support from the Marvel cinematic and comic universe fandoms to make individual films starring Black Widow and/or Peggy Carter, which is a wonderful idea. With Black Widow, you could do a film about her origins, and for Peggy Carter, you could look at her character development post-Captain America. 

So, to sum up: Wonder Woman film? Yes please. Captain/Miss Marvel films? Yes please. Black Widow film? Yes please. Peggy Carter film? Yes please. We want superhero films led by women, and they are absolutely capable of leading them. However, if we so much as get the slightest whiff of damsel in distress or hyper-sexualisation, we will fuck your shit up. 

All we want is a fair representation in the media. It's not difficult. 

Gina: My Top Female Geek Bloggers and Vloggers!

Well hello there my fellow geekazoids! Happy 2013 from Geeky Femmes! 
As promised, here is our first real post to kick off our blog. Today I want to give you guys a heads up on some of my favourite female geek bloggers and vloggers, so sit back, turn off the games console and check out some of these fabulous femmes.

One would think that being a female geek on the internet wouldn't be so difficult- after all, aren't we at home in the land of ever-evolving technology? But computer technology is a constantly advancing field; with users all over the world connecting and sharing their lives via social networking websites, the net is no longer a hang out exclusively for geeks – that much is obvious when you find yourself purchasing a 'laptops for seniors' illustrated guidebook for a loved one. The sad truth is that being a female geek can be pretty tough online. This past year, female geeks have dealt with sexual assault at gaming tournaments, gender-based sexism rants by a professional comic book illustrator citing them as 'fakes' who 'don't know shit about comics' and even full-fledged hate campaigns, complete with threats of death and rape.

Despite all this unpleasantness which is an unfortunate burden of being a female geek, there are some awesome, kick-ass ladies out there who are proud and brave enough to express their inner-geek prowess! My directory to the (femme) crème de la geek is below. Ladies, we salute you!

Video gamers & Techies: 

 

The Frag Dolls

The Frag Dolls are an all-female team of gamers 'recruited by Ubisoft to represent their video games and promote the presence of women in the industry'. The Dolls have a YouTube channel where they upload videos of their game-play, interviews with important people in the gaming world, convention footage and give-aways. The Frag Dolls are a trailblazing, professional addition to the female geek YouTube community. 

Melonie86/ Melonie Mac

Melonie Mac is a popular self-proclaimed PC gamer extraordinaire; a title that is well-earned, with over 35,572 subscribers. She's having a positive impact in the community with her game-play videos and reviews. This super-talented gamer even built her own gaming rig!

Anita Sarkeesian 
Anita is primarily a pop culture critic on YouTube but is unabashedly into her video games. You may be familiar with Anita after she received the aforementioned slew of a sexism and a hate campaign upon her announcement of an upcoming video project studying women's representation in video games. Despite this disgusting show of gamer sexism, Anita remained strong and the plan is still in the works. Take a look at her informative videos.

     Adria Richards

A new discovery of mine who I was thrilled to unearth from YouTube, Adria describes herself as a 'technology evangelist'. Her videos cover a vast array of technology-related topics, featuring her 'first looks' and various pieces of software, tutorials on tech set ups, her experiences as a woman in the technology industry, and hell, even why it's important to learn how to code. What can't this woman do? For a fresh look at technology's finest, check out her YouTube channel, and her website butyou'reagirl.com!

      Video bloggers and Text Bloggers:

“The Flog” featuring Felicia Day 
Felicia day creates a weekly blog on the geek and sundry YouTube channel; a collaborative project focusing on the many aspects of geekdom by an assortment of quirky YouTubers. Felicia's blog is always witty and interesting with a wide variety of content. From Steampunk photo shoots to a day at comic con and yes, you guessed it, driving a bulldozer, The Flog is a great weekly series with adventure to boot. 

Abinwonderland

Albinwonderland is an intelligent, articulate femme and feminist YouTuber whose videos share her opinions on topics such as self-acceptance, and discrimination of those with unusual body modifications. A quick scroll through her Tumblr affirms her love for many things geeky, and her videos of both Slut Walk and Zombie Walk proclaim her enjoyment of feminist and nerdy interests. Check her out putting Tony Harris in his place on her “fake geek girls” video!

Two Nerdy History Girls

Loretta Chase and Susan Holloway Scott write a blog about all things historical, from books with a historical slant to information on old customs of historical society, these ladies are not ashamed to geek out about history. I suggest you grab a cup of tea before sitting down to the antique delights of Two Nerdy History Girls!

So there you have it! A selection of the interwebz' finest female geeks, nerding out about video games

Welcome to Geeky Femmes!

Welcome to Geeky Femmes! 

Left:Ari  Right: Gina

Geeky Femmes is a new blog run by two nerdy friends, Ari and Gina; two aspiring writers who are proud of their interest in Geekdom! The blog will be our platform to express our views and opinions on various aspects of Geek culture; from comics to video games, science to computers, we plan to cover it all in our regular posts. The blog will be officially 'open' in 2013, but for now, here is a little bit of info on the two Geeky Femmes who will be your guide to all things nerdy!

Gina's quiz!

 

What are your personal favourite aspects of geekdom?

I'm interested primarily in video games, books and science. The first two have been passions of mine from an early age, and in the last few years I've enjoyed studying books which focus on scientific aspects of different topics, such as neuroscience, environmentalism and how it ties in with scientific findings, and other more wacky subjects!

What is your video gaming history?

I've been gaming since I was little. My first video games were 'Road Rash' (looking back, attacking motorcyclists with nun chucks, cattle prods and chains at 6 years old is pretty shocking!) and Sonic for the Sega Megadrive. Eventually we got a computer and my days were spent playing the very square Tomb Raider, G-police and Motorcross Madness. On vacations and long journies, my trusty GameBoy provided my entertainment, later to be replaced by it's coloured successor. Fast forward a couple of years to the PlayStation 1, and  Tekken 3 became my new favourite game (and still is one of my favourite series today!). I also enjoyed the Spyro and Crash Bandicoot games at that age, too. After a few years collecting games for the PlayStation 2, I received an Xbox 360 one Christmas and started playing FPS'. Fallout 3 quickly became my favourite, while I also ventured into the button mashing madness of Halo and Borderlands. I enjoy most other genres of video games as well, including adventure games. My game collection is ever-expanding, and with a history of playing games it's no surprise that they have become such an intregal part of my life.

And your video gaming platform of choice?

Currently the Xbox 360, but if I'm craving nostalgia I have no qualms with returning to my Sony roots!

What is your favourite video game and comic book?

It's so tough to choose one favourite game, so I'll choose one from the previous period of my gaming history and a more up-to-date one. Tekken 3, and nowadays, Fallout 3.

I'm not huge on comic books (that's more of Ari's thing!) but I have always admired the artwork and concept of Tank Girl. I think she's a kick-ass heroine.

What are the hardest aspects of being a geek for a female?

I think the fact that society encourages this idea that anything geek is an exclusive boy's club, because it's eye-poppingly infuriating when I go into a game store or comic book store and get stared at with such baffled intensity purely because I'm female. There's also the tirade of harassment female geeks get online and on Xbox LIVE. I think it's tougher to be a female geek than a male one because not only do geeks in general get branded 'weird anti-social hermits' by society outside of the culture, but you get the male geeks who are skeptical of your interests just because you have boobs. You have to go through two layers of judgement, and it is ironic that some people within geek culture aren't hesitant to ostracise others.

What sections of geek culture are you going to explore in your part of the blog?

I plan to cover video games, book reviews, science related titbits and internet related goings on. A nice mixed bag of nerdy goodness!

Why do you think it is important to address the problems and difficulties faced by female lovers of nerdy culture?

It's important because so many are either put off joining the culture due to the exclusion of females, or they receive abuse for being brave enough to do so. The sheer amount of women who report receiving abuse from other players on internet-based gaming platforms like Xbox LIVE is atrocious, as is the cultural negative view of female geeks as somehow being less likely to enjoy nerdy interests.

Who is your favourite nerdy fictional female character?

This is definitely a tough one (and I have plans to cover my favourite fictional nerd girls in an upcoming blog post), but I'd have to say that my all-time favourite is probably Daria. Being equal parts implicit and sarcastic- well, she reminds me of myself!

What do you hope to accomplish with this blog?

I hope that between us, me and Ari help to increase visibility of female geeks who enjoy games, comics, books, science and other stuff within this male-dominated culture. I hope we can both entertain and educate people and give a female viewpoint on some of the topics usually buried in male opinion.  

Ari's Quiz!

What are your personal favourite aspects of geekdom?
I adore comic books with pretty much every fibre of my being. Every day I can’t help but read new comic books, think about them, talk about them… Pretty much everything! Comic books have long become a world I can escape to if the real world gets too much for me, and knowing this has become an integral part of my life. Aside from comic books, I play video games quite a lot, favouring the terrifying survival horror antics of the Resident Evil series to most FPS. I am also a budding/noobie cosplayer, and hope to debut a lot of new outfits in the new year! When I’m not busy in university or scribbling up posts for my blog I devour all kinds of literature. My book taste has ranged from the teen-drama series Gossip Girl to dystopian classic 1984 and further. I’m currently reading ‘X-Men and Philosophy’ which is a collection of academic essays detailing various philosophical aspects of the X-Men universe, and it’s been a very good read so far! 

What is your video gaming history?
I’ve been gaming for as long as I can remember! My first game console was the Playstation 1, and I spent hours upon hours playing Spyro The Dragon, Resident Evil 1 & 2, Tekken, Crash Bandicoot, Final Fantasy 8 and a whole range of other games when I was a kid. When I wasn’t gaming at home or at my best friend’s house, I was playing Pokémon Blue Version, Tetris and Wacky Races on my purple GameBoy Colour (a relic I still have to this day!) at every chance I got! As time passed on, the PlayStation 2 was released, and I added a new bunch of games to my favourites. Some of my best memories centre around playing Resident Evil Four with one of my best friends, or playing Final Fantasy Ten and facing off against the dark aeon… But now, I’ve been sticking to the Xbox 360. I’m a huge fan of the Bethesda game Fallout 3, and I play Resident Evil 5 on a pretty regular basis. 

And your video gaming platform of choice?
That would have to be either the PlayStation 2 or the Xbox 360! 

What is your favourite video game and comic book?
Like Gina said, it is super difficult to pick just one game, and for me it’ll be even harder to pick on favourite comic book! If I’m looking at retro games, it would probably have to be Spyro The Dragon. Who doesn’t love running around as a diminutive purple dragon? As for newer games, like Gina, I’d have to pick Fallout 3 for the amazing gameplay and storyline. My favourite comic book is incredibly hard to pin down, since I tend to change my mind every other month as new titles come out, or I revisit my old graphic novels. In my top favourites list however, is Transmetropolitan, a futuristic tale of politics, scandals and madbastardry; Morning Glories, a ‘cross between Gossip Girl, Avengers Runaways and Lost’; and Peter David’s X-Factor. 

What are the hardest aspects of being a geek for a female?
I often find that one of the hardest aspects is people not believing I’m a geek, or not believing I read comic books.  It’s not entirely un-common for women in this subculture to be looked down, and people only believing that they’re interested to their boyfriends, male friends and so on when it’s not always like that.  Not just that, but many people believe that the geek subculture is purely a ‘boyz-only’ club, but I know dozens of talented, amazing women who are just as devoted to geekdom as I am, and we're not all out to 'prey on geeky guys' like asshole supreme Tony Harris would believe.  Women in geekdom are here to stay, and yes, we brought cupcakes. 

What sections of geek culture are you going to explore in your part of the blog?
I will be exploring the comic book side of geek culture, as well as talking about any conventions I go to, and maybe a few bits of cosplay thrown in there too! 

Why do you think it is important to address the problems and difficulties faced by female lovers of nerdy culture?
Because this culture is not just for men. There are lots of geeky girls out there who love the subculture just as much as men, if not more, and they deserve an equal voice in this. Also the representations that women tend to get within comic books are often absolutely dire, and I am sick to death with them, almost as much as the spangly, completely impractical outfits. Equality is an important thing in our society on the whole, and I don’t see why it shouldn’t stretch to subcultures as well.

Who is your favourite nerdy fictional female character?
“Hi. I’m Layla Miller. I know stuff.” Layla Miller, one of the female protagonists of Marvel’s X-Factor has been one of my favourite nerdy fictional characters ever since I read her first appearance during the events of M-Day. Smart, quirky and sarcastic, Layla is everything I aim to be! 

What do you hope to accomplish with this blog?
I hope that I (along with Gina) can raise more awareness for girl geeks, and girls who love geeky things. I will hopefully be raising more awareness for the amazing women in comics, and hopefully we’ll be able to entertain people along the way!