Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Respect the Cock, Woman

Soooo... tell me what's funny about this comment written in response to this rather tame and reasonable post about the importance of creating strong female comic book characters:

Nice piece. Of course, the two main things that would need to change is there to be more female leads (either in their own book or another series) and more female creators (not always working on female characters, either).

But the thing feminist comic fans need to remeber, is that it's going to take time. Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was the comic industry. Things are changing to the better for women in comics (both in the books and in real life), but there is still more to be done. Guys understand that. But it seems that a good bit (not all, because not everyone is the same) of comic book feminists are a VERY impatient lot (and concidering the patience of "regular" comic fans, that's saying something).

We know you want to make things better. We even want to help where we can (because, I'm sure it wasn't just feminist comic fans who wrote in and saved Manhuter and Spider-Girl). But when you get impatient, you really hurt the cause more than help it. This is just a little something you should keep in mind, when you want to go off on rants about something you don't like. Normal comic book fans look stupid when they do it, having a "cause" behind you doesn't make you look any less so.

Let's keep making those strides to make better comics for men and women (has anyone here been reading Witchblade lately? Man, that is some good stuff.). But don't let the passion you feel for the issues, cause you to turn people sour to your points, simply bacause of your tone and attitude in expressing them.

When someone is screaming in your ears, the reflex is to cover your ears. Not listen more intently.

Just a little something to think about... :)


You poor little impatient feminist girls! You're soooo cute when you try and talk to "us," the men who make up the "real world"! You silly fems are just hurting your cause by engaging in intelligent discussion, don't you see??

Read the whole exchange. It's classic! Women are too angry, and don't respect the cock!

Really! Read it!

And, a response.

(thanks, Jenn!)

4 comments so far. What are your thoughts?

Jeremy said...

This is a common argument against activism of any sort. It gets trotted out in liberal blogs all the time. "If you people weren't so shrill, maybe moderates would listen to what you have to say."

I hate that argument _so_ much.

Kameron Hurley said...

Because what it really means is, "Shut up about things that you feel passionately about. They don't really matter."

It's the ultimate brush-off.

Perpetual Beginner said...

It's the insane, but remarkably prevelant idea that only people who lack passion can actually be trusted on any given issue.

Oh yeah, I really want to live in a world completely run by the apathetic.

Jeff Pollet said...

Not a direct reply to that comment, but this is a pretty good satire regarding the sort of argument that it's supposed to be making:
http://remix17.livejournal.com/9141.html

An experpt:
"While no one could certainly blame Martin Luthor King, Jr. if he were to express his anger over racism, or blame gay people for being angry towards the way American society treats their lifestyle, feminists would do well to never show their righteous indignation no matter how much it is warranted. Anger is unbecoming, and thanks to society we know very well to despise angry women, especially when they yell things like "women are degraded in the media!" and "women are still not treated equally!" and other stuff like that. It makes feminists look uppity. So lose the anger. Sure, you have every right to be angry, but society doesn't want to hear it. And isn't it important for a woman to do as society says?"