Wow, I’m never buying anything Tony Harris does again. Disgusting.
(Ex Machina, Starman artist: his wikipedia page. Click the image to be taken to the Facebook thread where he posted this.)
Since somebody sent this to me, because it fits some of the themes this blog has touched on in the past, here are my thoughts:
1) I like how he thinks he’s stumbled upon our secret plan, and also that this is some sort of amazing new idea. I’ve heard this accusation from my geek guy friends going back a decade. The “you’re just there to get attention because you want to be the big fish in a small pond” accusation to femalef geeks they find attractive, is not new.
2) I like how he’s a mind reader. Maybe it’s true of some girls, maybe it’s not, how do you know by looking at them? The only thing you know is how YOU’RE attracted to us, and therefore it must be our plan.
3) Yay body shaming! Your boobs are ugly! I bet you’re just here because you think you’re thin!
4) Insulting “real” geek girls by implying that he thinks they’re ugly and fat.
5) This still doesn’t make sense. So any woman he thinks is semi-attractive, but not model hot, is a fake geek girl SIMPLY because there’s no other reason she’d be there? He can tell just because she falls into some definition of attractiveness for him that’s in the middle?
6) Maybe they’re in skimpy costumes because a lot of heroines in video games and comics are in skimpy costumes? Even the ones who aren’t are in skin tight costumes. If they were in non-accurate costumes, they’d probably be accused of being not real geeks because the costumes weren’t accurate.
7) More mind reading. IT PISSES ME OFF THAT I AM SO SURE THAT THIS TERRIBLE THING IS THE THOUGHT PROCESS GOING THROUGH THEIR MIND AND THAT THEY SECRETLY WANT TO JUST FEEL LIKE A CHEERLEADER AROUND A BUNCH OF MALE GEEKS WHO HAVE NEVER TALKED TO A WOMAN BEFORE. I KNOW IT. Again, even if this were true of some people (women, *gasp* are not a homogenous group), he seems to “know” this only because he thinks the woman is semi-attractive to him. And also, you can’t disprove his theory, since he’s already said if we talk to guys at cons, we’re just lying liars who lie, and would never do it outside, so that’s not even proof we’re just there to have fun. I guess the only proof is he’d have to follow us home and make sure we’re sleeping with a guy he considers geeky enough to count to our cred?
8) Male geeks are apparently all the same, and they are completely pathetic lonely guys who need protection from evil geek girls who wear costumes. Do male geeks actually like white knights like this guy “standing up” for them? -_-
9) Who cares even if people are in cons just to get attention? People go to baseball games just to get attention and get on TV. Are cons some sort of “pure” place now where people’s money to attend is only accepted if the purity of our soul is weighed against a roc feather to see if we’re true geeks?
10) Why does it matter how “geeky” one is anyway? I thought these things were supposed to be fun. Miss Martian is my favourite character and I cosplay her, but I have never seen the TV show. I’ve read a few of the comics when she debuted. Should I turn in my geek card? I’ve been accused of being a “fake geek” SIMPLY for being Asian, because “Asian girls know white men want them”. Should I strip off my skin now?
11) What’s wrong with wanting to feel attractive anyway? Is he saying some women aren’t ALLOWED to feel attractive? Only women who look like models are allowed? This reminds me of a guy I knew in high school who literally said that any woman with stomach pudge shouldn’t be allowed to wear tight clothes. Like government banned, because he felt that “fat” girls shouldn’t be allowed to feel sexy.
Nitpicking aside, I think the big issue here is how guys like Harris seem to think women exist entirely for men, and our entire world and thought process is all about them. If I walk into a comic book store wearing clothes that they think make me attractive, I must be there to seduce them. My hair must be done to attract them. My glasses are probably a front to make me more of a sexy geek girl. I’m Asian so I must be thinking “I’m a sexy exotic Asian girl lalalalala look at me boys!” constantly, and I can’t just be thinking “I wonder if they have All Hail Megatron in yet?” If THEY like me, then everything I do has to be meant for them, and my thought process is all tailored to them. Because THEY want me, and THEY don’t feel they can “have” me, this is my fault. I’m a temptress, I’m a Jezebel.
It’s very similar to other attitudes in which society views certain groups of people and their bodies. Fat people are accused of flaunting their fatness to disgust others. Gay couples are accused of “shoving” their sexuality in people’s faces simply for holding hands. Trans people are accused of trying to “trap” cis people who are attracted to them. (We can add this to the above scenario, where if a guy in a comic shop is attracted to me and finds out I’m trans, it’s my fault if he freaks out.) How OTHER people react to our bodies is not something they are told to take responsibility for, instead we get told it’s OUR fault. If a man assaults a woman, it’s her fault for what she wears. If a guy at a con is bitter that he’s attracted to a girl who he’s afraid to talk to, it’s HER fault. She MUST have known this, and MUST be trying to make him miserable. If she talks to him she’s leading him on, if she ignores him, she’s being cruel to him.
Ultimately, I think this is really insulting to everybody. Geek girls are all fakers who just want to be the sexy fish in the small pond, and we have active evil thoughts in our brain, and geek guys are all agency-less children who can’t have an attractive woman near them without having a brain aneurysm, and need Harris to protect them. How about, people go to cons to have fun. Some people go to get attention (including the guys), and good for them. What’s wrong with that? It’s a place where people can feel free to dress up in ways they normally could not. Who cares their motivation? If them being attractive to you bothers you, then stop looking at them. Go do something else. Talk to somebody else. Go have fun, and let us have fun. :)
