Trisha’s Take: How to depict female characters in webcomics

Who says feminism and genre works can't be fun and forward-thinking? © Danielle Henderson
Who says feminism and genre works can’t be fun and forward-thinking? © Danielle Henderson

At this most recent CONvergence Con (a sci-fi/fantasy-based convention in Minneapolis, Minn.), I was one of the panelists on two different panels that sought to speak about where and how women can exist in formerly male-dominated genres and spaces.

In The Smurfette Principle in Marketing panel, we tackled the idea that there isn’t often a lot of merchandise available for girls and women because there is often only one woman or girl in a group of men or boys in any given genre show, book, or movie. In the Genre Feminism panel, we spoke about why it was important to increase the visibility of women or girls in a genre show, book, or movie (along with other visible minorities as well) and how people as creators and consumers can promote these ideas.

Specifically to creators, I talked about Geena Davis (whose name I couldn’t remember at the time; apologies, Ms. Davis!) and how back in December 2013, she wrote a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter about how easy it can be for screenwriters to increase the number of roles in film and on TV for women and girls:

Step 1: Go through the projects you’re already working on and change a bunch of the characters’ first names to women’s names. With one stroke you’ve created some colorful unstereotypical female characters that might turn out to be even more interesting now that they’ve had a gender switch. What if the plumber or pilot or construction foreman is a woman? What if the taxi driver or the scheming politician is a woman? What if both police officers that arrive on the scene are women — and it’s not a big deal?

Step 2: When describing a crowd scene, write in the script, “A crowd gathers, which is half female.” That may seem weird, but I promise you, somehow or other on the set that day the crowd will turn out to be 17 percent female otherwise. Maybe first ADs think women don’t gather, I don’t know.

It’s not often that I get to see the fruits of efforts like these so soon after I talk about them, and from a formerly problematic source as well. Continue reading “Trisha’s Take: How to depict female characters in webcomics”

Trisha’s Take: Analysis of a rape allegation

[Editor’s Note: Before I start, I’d like to preface this by saying that I was acquainted and friendly with both the accuser and the accused while I was first a guest relations, then publicity staffer at an East Coast anime convention from about 2004 to 2008. Until recently, I had not spoken or corresponded with either of them since I left New York City in 2012. Any and all opinions are my own unless otherwise stated, and all anonymous sources shall remain confidential.]

A question I never want to need to ask ever again. © Geeking Out About
A question I never want to need to ask ever again. © Geeking Out About

If you’re into geek feminism and women’s issues, it’s been an interesting couple of years. Recently, we had the debacle at the TechCrunch awards ceremony, the Gamergate saga in the video game world, the first-person account of how to report sexual harassment at a science fiction convention, and the reveal that a prominent sci-fi/fantasy author participated in abusing her own child.

Each time I read another report, I thought to myself, “Well, that’s truly horrifying, but I don’t think things like that have happened in my anime fandom.”

That is, until now. Continue reading “Trisha’s Take: Analysis of a rape allegation”

Trisha’s Take: How Jean Rabe screwed the pooch for the SFWA Bulletin and how the SFWA can make things better going forward

[Editor’s Note: This article has been partially revised from its original form at the request of the SFWA to remove material which may have infringed on a copyright.]

ETA: For some links and commentary on this issue, check out this list which Jim Hines compiled.

Considering that I’m not a member of the SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), anyone reading this article can take it with so much salt that they go into a self-induced hypertensive shock. But rather than add my name to the list of voices condemning writer-members Mike Resnick and Barry Malzberg for their ill-written rebuttal to critiques of their anti-feminism in the organization’s most recent quarterly newsletter, I’m going to instead talk about how the entire mess could have been avoided in the first place. And to do that, I have to throw Bulletin writer/editor Jean Rabe under a bus.

Continue reading “Trisha’s Take: How Jean Rabe screwed the pooch for the SFWA Bulletin and how the SFWA can make things better going forward”

Trisha’s Take: When feminism and male webcomics artists collide

When it comes to reading webcomics, I have a set list of nine “dailies” I read and a few that I read which update less frequently. And while I’ve definitely settled on these few, that doesn’t mean that I haven’t read other webcomics or aren’t familiar with their work. Also, my love of comics and comics strips isn’t exactly a casual one; hell, my high school Extended Essay was about the role of women in comic books from the 1940s to the 1990s.

So when I saw a friend’s Facebook update decrying how Sinfest has become a den of “ludicrous feminist mediocrity,” I had to check out today’s strip:

Click to embiggen! (c) Tatusya Ishida
Click to embiggen! (c) Tatusya Ishida

Continue reading “Trisha’s Take: When feminism and male webcomics artists collide”

Geekly Speaking About… “The Resonance of Commander Shepard”

He was the best of commanders, she was the worst of commanders...
Meet my Commanders Shepard! (c) Bioware

Thanks to a confluence of events, I finally finished playing the original Mass Effect as both a male and female Commander Shepard in July… which means it’s podcast time! After a bit of juggling and some technical difficulties, I sat down to check in with co-editor Jill Pullara, and writers Jonathan Cherlin and Lowell Greenblatt on how their summer has been going, to do a review of an indie game called Resonance, and to answer a very important question which we asked previously: Does the gender of your Commander Shepard really have an influence on how you play the game? Show notes after the jump.

Continue reading “Geekly Speaking About… “The Resonance of Commander Shepard””

Trisha’s Quote of the Day: Of magical ponies and the women who love them

Rainbow Dash and Rarity could not be more different, and yet they are both girls. Rainbow Dash is not presented as wrong for being athletic and having no interest in fashion, nor is Rarity presented as wrong for being more stereotypically girly and interested in cats, clothes, and jewelry.

This was a revelation to me, as sad as that may be! Think of the variety of male presentations in those shows that have a Smurfette: little boys can watch them and learn to be a strong, silent leader, a brave hero, or a witty intellectual. Girls watch themselves be summarized down to a single word whose presentation might not fit. But in [My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic], there are a half-dozen main girls who are all distinct, all respected, and all work together after they move past the natural friction caused by their differences.

World of Warcraft guildmaster and Glee fanfic author Miggy explains why Ponies aren’t just for Bronies.

Geekly Speaking About… “The Geek Chick Backlash”

Behind the scenes, co-editor Jill Pullara and I have been recording podcasts while we work on something fun for our upcoming vidcast series, the first installment of which will be up in an hour. This particular one was recorded on May 7, 2011, and thanks to us finally getting some technical details worked out, it’s ready for public consumption. After the jump, I’ll give you the show notes:

Continue reading “Geekly Speaking About… “The Geek Chick Backlash””

Trisha’s Take: How to desegregate the World Series of Poker

Shaun Deeb says: "I support women poker players. Poker is a gender-neutral game. I am here to promote abolishment of gender-specific or segregationist events at the WSOP."

Back when Secretary of Geek Affairs Wil Wheaton was writing a lot about poker in his blog, I took it upon myself to learn more about the modern game and why Wheaton liked it. My Internet meanderings eventually lead me to the Tiltboys, a group of friends and poker players in the California Bay Area who had been regaling the online poker community for years with their outrageous exploits, prop bets, and antics which surrounded their weekly home game.

Eventually, they gathered these writings into a book called Tales from the Tiltboys, the cover of which features former “Celebrity Poker Showdown” commentator Phil Gordon in drag. The reason why he was in drag was that back in 2006, he and and four of the other Tiltboys crashed a Bay101 ladies only tournament (please excuse the bright pink background); the reason written by Bruce “Bruscilla” Hayek is here: Continue reading “Trisha’s Take: How to desegregate the World Series of Poker”