There’s trouble a-brewing in the usually carefree world of cosplay and comic book conventions after well-known comic book artist Tony Harris (Iron Man, Starman, Ex Machina) went off on, of all things, women comic book fans. Take a look for yourself:
Source: The Bird & The Bat
Given that women make up a large and rapidly growing percentage of the comic book industry audience, perhaps Tony might want to keep those flagrantly sexist thoughts to himself.
To get another perspective on the matter, I interviewed cosplay superstar Becki Watts (see pic above, and below), who is also a skilled graphic artist, too, to see what she had to say about the matter. A Seattle resident, Becki is somewhat of a west coast cosplay legend and can be seen multiple conventions a year in a variety of impeccable costumes. She sent me this email after I asked her for a quote regarding Tony Harris’s outburst:
I’ve been to my fair share of cons. I have been shown only respect for the courage I have to cosplay some of their most beloved characters. To the trolls of the world, I have to say this: We. As women. Are allowed to a) Like comics. b) Like video games. c) Like sci-fi and fantasy. d) Like anime. and e) Like whatever the FUCK we want.
Just because cosplay girls make you uncomfortable, doesn’t mean you have to ostracize them: I love my costumes. I put the highest amount of love and detail into every costume I design, because I love the character, the person, the embodiment of female power that is so prevalent in the comics we all read, yet is seriously lacking when put into practice by the people that read them. We are allowed to be confident in ourselves, to make something we are fiercely proud of. We put the sweat, blood, tears, burns, pokes, jabs, stabs, ripped seams and each emergency last minute or showroom repair into our costumes because we LOVE. THE. CHARACTER. And we love it when other people love it too. Anyone who thinks we do it to inflate our own sad, already swollen ego should just shut up and put on a costume.
You will realize that the reason why we do it is not specifically for us: Like the artists that put the love into their character on paper and program, we do that too, but in real life. So, before you decide to go off on what WE should actually like or what our place is in the community, why don’t you make an actual conversation with one of these women?
I’ve seen girls out-trivia the shit out of men more often than not. We are not stupid. We’re not whores. We DO NOT need to live up to your one sided expectations of us, and you all can royally fuck off if that’s the case- I’ll still be the fabulous one with the catsuit. ~<3
She later added:
Are cosplay girls ruining people’s lives? We never hear anything about hot girls at football games being quizzed on their knowledge of the players or various other sports related stats. No one is suprised if they know everything about a certain player and no one is suprised if she doesnt know- they respect her enough to teach her and to inform, not to scoff at or be constantly harassed.
Becki makes some fantastic points: nobody in the sports world gets upset when women include themselves in fandom; why should comic book geeks? Perhaps it simply is a matter of men being afraid of women: when someone of Tony Harris’s stature (disclosure: even I had actually heard of him, and I’m barely versed in comics as it is) makes weird, angry remarks like that, it just furthers the image of sad nerds who don’t view women as equals.
If I may add one last thing: wouldn’t you want someone as passionate and gung-ho as Becki involved in your industry? I can barely put together a t-shirt and jeans combination without looking like a background extra from Seinfeld and here’s Becki as a flawless Catwoman on a regular weekend:
Your loss, Tony. Get with the times.
November 29, 2012 at 5:32 pm, Emi Antoinette said:
Wow~! I can't agree more Becki~! Also this was a good read~! You should keep it up~!
November 29, 2012 at 5:44 pm, Billy Bell said:
Good god that's retarded. The guy is entitled to whatever view he wants, and if that's what he's seeing consistently when he's a writer and thus at those events constantly, how can anyone possibly tell him he's wrong? He even specifically says there are exceptions and appreciates them. The small edges of a bell curve do nothing to change its overall shape however. This article just comes across as a woman – who admits she knows nearly dick all about comics – complaining that you shouldn't hate women who know nothing about comics but still try to force yourself into the hobby just for attention.
His view isn't sexist in the slightest either, which just makes it more retarded that they're falling back on the typically 'omg u sexist' defence.
Take any female dominated hobby. Now add in a guy who knows nothing about it, doesn't give a shit about it, but feigns interest and uses their looks to get attention from that crowd. It'd be exactly the same.
November 29, 2012 at 8:02 pm, Tayib Noor said:
or just stop seeing 'interests' and 'hobbies' as belonging to a gender class altogether, and none of it will be an issue, anyone can use their looks for attention in any situation, it really has NOTHING to do with gender
November 29, 2012 at 8:14 pm, Nolan Bensen said:
Of course he's entitled to it but that doesn't absolve him of being defensive, projecting his own sexual discomforts and/or inadequacies, and paying more attention to his preconception that women don't read or understand comics, than to the real women around him, even as he spends so much time at that booth.
The virginal males he is talking about – also probably mostly existing in his mind, in his assumptions – don't need to be protected from women that turn them on. They're not being victimized. Whether any woman knows anything about comics or not, she's as entitled to attend a con wearing anything or nothing, as Tony Harris is to say this dumb stuff.
PS the author's name is Ned dude so what makes you assume they're a woman?
November 29, 2012 at 8:45 pm, Ned Hepburn said:
Billy Bell hey dude, i wrote the article, and dont know dick about comics. not sure why you think im a lady. :C
November 29, 2012 at 10:02 pm, Jen Carl said:
I've been going to cons for over 10 years. I have dressed up at all of them. I am a reasonably attractive woman, I cosplay as other reasonably attractive women. I do it, as Becki said, because I admire the character and I love the fandom. I enjoy dressing up and being a superhero for a day and being around other people who appreciate the same things I do.
MY con experience would be greatly enhanced if I didn't have men and boys coming up to ME every five minutes while I am trying to have a good show, asking to hug me, pick me up, or in some cases, even touch my breasts or other parts of my body (seriously.) As in all life, no doubt there are some insecure women who do seek out this kind of harassment for attention. However the vast majority of female cosplayers, con-goers and citizens of the world agree, our con/life experience would be much better if the men who approached us genuinely enjoyed the fandom, who weren't putting us on a pedestal, sexualizing us or talking to us just to harass us as we try and enjoy the show for ourselves.
Men do not own cons. The world does not revolve around them and their sexual appetites and insecurities. This isn't Mormon or Sharia law, we don't need to cover ourselves because it makes men uncomfortable. Believe it or not women have interests, motivations, hobbies and sexual identities that do not involve men, even if what we are doing is appealing to them.
Not only is Mr. Harris sexist, he is tragically insecure and grammatically illiterate. "Boobies?" Seriously? It sounds like he's just pissed because he's exactly the kind of guy we avoid at shows.
November 29, 2012 at 6:29 pm, Tess Smith said:
This is stupid. He wasn't talking about people like Becki who ACTUALLY LIKE COMICS…. he's talking about those girls that do it just for attention (there is a HUGE difference people). I like comics, I like to dress up as characters, but I'm not getting my panties in a twist over what these people say because I too get annoyed at cons when there are massive crowds trying to take pictures with some scantily clad chick that probably spends more time at the gym than reading comics. C'mon fellow nerd girls, calm it down.
November 29, 2012 at 8:14 pm, Om Johari said:
i agree. complete misinterpretation of what he was pointing out. he even tried to pay respects to the women he knows are not fakers. too bad. this is a shit article!
November 29, 2012 at 8:22 pm, Cassie Teichroeb said:
No, I think the distinction he's making here are that some are more conventially attractive than others. In his world, the blander looking women shouldn't be allowed to participate and that's gross and wrong.
November 29, 2012 at 8:39 pm, Ned Hepburn said:
^^^ Om Johari is a shit commenter. (bows) (thank you)
November 29, 2012 at 9:48 pm, Becki Watts said:
The thing is is that HOW do you know the difference between ones that do it for attention and the "real" fans? You're obvious jumping to the same conclusion as this man is. Have a decent conversation instead of jumping to the conclusion "I know some who are pretty cool- and BIG shocker, acutally like comics." Thats not a defense for women like me, the sarcasm only just makes my loathing for him deeper. What point was he intending to make with that comment? That we can ACTUALLY be cool and, suprise suprise, ACTUALLY like comics? When will the day come where men undergo the same amount of scruitny as we do? Hell, fake cosplay girls should make people like me FAR MORE pissed off than him: I have to work THAT MUCH HARDER to gain respect from people who only try to back-up this stereotype. So what if there are fake geek girls? It doesn't make you any less of a geek.
November 30, 2012 at 12:07 am, Kelly Jean said:
The problem was he directly stated that the few cool "cosplay-chiks" he knew were the minority, when in fact genuine cosplayers of both genders are the overwhelming majority.
You will get the odd person in any fandom doing things for the wrong reasons but they are NOT as common as he is making them out to be. It's a gross exaggeration based on his skewed world view.
But obviously the particularly uncool part is where he reduces female cosplayers to objects, because they're not attractive to his normal world standards that must mean they're trying to garner attention for sticking on a costume for a weekend.. rather than, ya know. Having fun, like everyone else at cons.
November 30, 2012 at 3:12 am, Becki Watts said:
Your Poision and Juri cosplays in your profile pic make me very happy
November 30, 2012 at 3:41 pm, Kelly Jean said:
haha! I'm the Poison, my friend is the Juri. We say thank you! :3
November 29, 2012 at 7:13 pm, Dave Palmacci said:
So why is it only at comic conventions that this is a problem? What about the girls who are at ballparks and stadiums doing it for attention? The pink Red Sox (..they're a sports team) hat girls at Fenway? (…it's a baseball park) Concerts? You see no one is complaining about them and there are FAR more of these kinds of girls who know nothing about baseball or the team or the band but you know why no one complains about them? Because they're there to have a good time. They aren't there for you and the skank at the comic convention isn't there for you either. There are so many really hot girls who might claim to be a musician, artist, cosplayer, astronaut, etc. who get loads of attention for simply being hot and nothing else, get over it. If I were an attractive woman I'd exploit the sheer weakness of men too because it's that easy, but in the mean time I still have my twig n berries. So instead of making whiney rants about hot girls who can't draw so well but get way more "likes" than I do I'll continue instead to practice my art that much harder. Don't like the skank in the Slave Leia outfit? Then make a more creative cosplay outfit that over shadows her. What the hell do you expect at a mass gathering of virgin boys who get anxiety attacks at the thought of even talking to a girl? Of course they're going to be like starving sheep to french fries when they see any skin exposed by a girl.
November 29, 2012 at 7:16 pm, Jen-Jen Elise said:
have ya done a search seeing if its actually out there?
November 29, 2012 at 7:20 pm, Dave Palmacci said:
ohh yes
I've been to many ball games, concerts with chicks flashing every 3 seconds, yeah we get the grunts of; "bet she yells touchdown at the first home-run, or she proly doesn't know who's on stage." but it's no where near this raging ball of controversy and frustration that is the skank at the convention topic lol. I don't dig the skank outfit thing either, it's cheating, but I'm not going to waste my time complaining about it I'm going to hang with the cool cosplayers like you guys <3
November 29, 2012 at 7:34 pm, Jen-Jen Elise said:
i would love to give my theory but it would seem terribly judgmental and probably not even nearly accurate haha
November 29, 2012 at 7:37 pm, Dave Palmacci said:
lol well I'd say go for it but this is coming from a guy who puts his foot in his mouth all too often :p I'll just leave it at: to me, you and bethany are a great example of two very attractive women (HOTTIES!!!) that make their own creative cosplay outfits, know their source material (comics, games, etc.) and to me that is far more compelling to interview and take notice of.
November 29, 2012 at 7:38 pm, Shana Cuddy said:
Plus I love how what a whiney hipster wanna be he is: "Oh, I bet none of you even read the comics, you only know who that character is because they're mainstream now – posers!" I mean, I AM a huge comic geek who reads the comics, but what on earth is wrong with people who don't, but just have a good time geeking out to characters they like and want to go to comic cons even if they don't have an encyclopediac knowledge of comics? Us comic book geeks wouldn't even have much by way of comics if it weren't for all the merchandizing money the industry is able to pull in from fans of characters but don't read the source material. We depend on them to keep the industry afloat, and here Tony goes calling them pathetic.
November 29, 2012 at 7:38 pm, Dave Palmacci said:
most girls know more about comics now than I do :p
November 29, 2012 at 7:59 pm, Jen-Jen Elise said:
Awww thanks Dave!!!! <3 He needs to remember its not always comics, its video games, memes, anime. Some don't require encyclopedias worth of research . . .
November 29, 2012 at 9:47 pm, Keith Gleason said:
One of the things Tony Harris hints at that I hate is the need for attention some cos players have. I watched this guy sitting accross from my booth at the CT Comic Con show dressed as the Hulk who literally sat there all day and growled at people as they walked by. All I wanted to do was beat the shit out of him because he's only there for attention and did not buy or support anything while he was there or the people who think their the character that always bothers me too. otherwise I don't have a problem with cos players most of them are fun people
November 29, 2012 at 7:50 pm, August Hahn said:
Man, I am glad he's an artist, because he sure as hell can't write worth a damn.
November 29, 2012 at 8:04 pm, Amanda Anastasia Paniagua said:
Women's lives have always been under public policing and scrutinty. How dare they have interests without asking men for permission! Please. Get over your sense of entitlement, dude. You don't OWN interests.
November 29, 2012 at 8:05 pm, Elizabeth Elle-Lynn Franks said:
Did a girl take his toys while he was playing in the sandbox or something?
November 29, 2012 at 8:12 pm, Connie Guzman said:
So it's apparently ok to slut-shame and categorize women who cosplay since he's a comic book artist. What a standup guy. -_-
November 29, 2012 at 9:01 pm, Brittany Morello said:
Yup! As a rule, the female must always be forced to justify her interests and right to occupy a space. This is because it's impossible to conceive of females being anything besides wanton harlot temptresses
November 29, 2012 at 8:16 pm, Bobbie Pahl said:
Love this… appreciate you!
November 29, 2012 at 8:25 pm, Andrea Goldman said:
Wow. That fellow has a lot of hate for these women. I'm not exactly sure why he's chosen to unleash his venom on them in particular. I've been to many, many Comic Cons and I've seen these women too. And honestly, they often irk me, but not because I'm judging them personally, it's more an irritation with the sexist culture of comics and the sexual exploitation of women that is so prevalent in them.
Also, a lot of these scantily-clad women seem to be working at booths at the conventions. And I thought this eye candy was part of the draw for men? They sure have a lot of posters and comics full of scantily-clad women all over the convention as well. It seems to be the only way women are represented in most comic books. So why is it surprising that women are going to come in there and try to get attention and be socially powerful in the only way they've found to get noticed? They obviously won't be recognized for being a great artist or writer in this boys club.
His hatred is a tad ironic given that artists like him are the reason nearly all of the female cosplay outfits are so slutty. Stop drawing women like they're hyper-sexualized objects, encourage more female participation in the creation of the comics, and then you'll see less women dressed that way!
November 30, 2012 at 12:12 pm, Jonathan Venner said:
It was a rant at a type of person – not "women"". He's not bagging out all girls who like comics, he's shouting because he's fed up of the girls who go there and have no idea, just doing it so they can have a few guys who – and he's right on the money here – usually wouldn't give the time of day to the guys they're talking to.
December 01, 2012 at 7:00 pm, Amanda Anastasia Paniagua said:
That sounds like personal socializing problem and a fear/distrust of women.
November 29, 2012 at 9:30 pm, Randi Barretto said:
Read his statement carefully–he is NOT downing the chicks that KNOW their shit–he's stating his opinion towards those (and they know who they are) that know nothing about comic books but are merely there to get noticed and make nerd boys drool…that's cool and all and I'm as feminist as they come–but hey it's an opinion-not the end of the world… or cosplay in that matter. Breathe everyone..the man is human
.
November 29, 2012 at 9:35 pm, Spencer Toyama said:
Yeah, I think Tony Harriss' comments were taking largely out of context, and became a poopstorm of epic proportions. I think he's actually against the exploitation of sexuality in general, but maybe not worded in the clearest way. God, if people only knew what Frank Miller thought about women….
November 29, 2012 at 10:44 pm, Lyn Circuland said:
The mere fact that women have to "prove" they deserve to be in the community instead of simply being accepted is the problem. I don't see people running around calling guys posers if they don't fit the "geek mold" or quizzing them to make sure they aren't 'fakes'.
November 30, 2012 at 12:20 am, Randi Barretto said:
You make an excellent point, Lyn. It appears we as women unfortunately as whole are"expected" to prove our rightful place in a male-dominated world. However, in this situation,Who's proving anything to who? Our defensiveness towards one man's opinion is the catalyst and reinforcement of this very thought of "proving" acceptance. Why feed into it? My mom always says to pick and choose your battles..this in one man's vent and not my problem or "our" battle, right?! Enjoy your day and drink a beer!
November 30, 2012 at 12:24 am, Randi Barretto said:
sorry "accepted."
December 05, 2012 at 1:41 am, Tess Smith said:
THANK YOU RANDI… good god I was beginning to think I was the only girl who could read properly anymore. All the girls getting all irritated over this are obviously not the ones he's talking about…. UGH
November 29, 2012 at 11:50 pm, Jack Conway said:
All in all, I'm just disappointed that an artist I genuinely like simply CAN NOT correctly use any form of "your". Dealbreaker.
November 29, 2012 at 11:53 pm, Aaron Pruner said:
My best friend is an artist, a rather successful one, and he can't either
November 30, 2012 at 12:11 am, Jason Alexander said:
As a writer who CAN NOT correctly distinguish between the uses of "to" and "too" even though I completely and utterly know the uses and understand which way they should be used, I simply CAN NOT get my brain to properly put them in the correct sentence placement. But I'm not DRAWING about it…
November 30, 2012 at 12:31 am, Lisa Sanchelo said:
I think all of this is incredibly stupid. There's no need for me or any other girl to "defend" why we like comics/games/etc or even give a shit what someone else thinks about it. I've never had to "defend my nerdom" at all…I've had plenty of people tell me to my face I'm a giant nerd…if thats not enough for someone I couldn't care less. The only reason why someone would complain about "attention whores" or a girl thats "not a real nerd' is because they feel like being a creepy anti social nerd is THEIR thing and anyone attractive, female, or worse an attractive female (gasp) makes them feel ostracized so they complain about it. Those girls aren't doing anything TO them, but they do point out you CAN be a normal human that likes comics…and that threatens some people. In my opinion its a pretty small number of people that this applies to anyway so why worry about it?
November 30, 2012 at 12:51 am, Heather Jyuichi said:
That's such a huge bucket of fail, I don't even know where to start. What I actually read in his rant was, "Wahhhh, I'm a white male and therefore entitled to have you, and since you're not giving me what I want, I'm going to pitch a hissy fit and call you a whore." I wonder if he realizes or cares that this exact attitude is what perpetuates violence against women in general, but specifically at cons. (And I think Sarah just recently made a post about this issue, didn't she?)
And I'm sure his male fans (former fans?) appreciate being told that they're mostly inept virgins who can't talk to pretty girls.
November 30, 2012 at 1:44 am, Lisa Sanchelo said:
I"m sure he also hates "Jocks" that like comics too because they aren't "real" fans… the problem is just him
November 30, 2012 at 1:55 am, Kate N Evans said:
I think I get what he is actually saying, but he just couldn't manage to get the words out right. It's like, I go to Blizzcon every year, and there's always two types. The people who put the effort and love into their costumes, and then there are girls who just throw on a skimpy blood elf costume and get aaaaall the attention for it when they don't even play the game, their boyfriend does and they thought the outfit looked cool. Which, the latter of, is sadly a true story I found out.
I think he could have worded it much better than he did though, that's for sure.
November 30, 2012 at 3:29 am, Steve Tasteslikedoom Fable said:
I truly hope he realises that not all girls fit into that category. I know plenty of men and women who love comics and I ALSO know plenty of men and women who pretend to like comics despite only liking the select imagery google provides. I would like to assume he realises the difference and that looks never overly fit into the equation either way
November 30, 2012 at 12:53 am, Melissa Åar said:
I can't believe no one has pointed out the obvious facts that 1) It can be hard to come up with not-slutty female con costumes do to the fact that (shocker) many female comic/sci-fi/video game characters are drawn that way and 2) he is being equally as big of an asshole to most of the men at cons as he is to women.
November 30, 2012 at 4:56 am, Mit Trommelwirbel der Linkspam said:
[...] schnellst möglichst auf allerlei No-Go-Liste. Auf deathandtaxes wird dokumentiert wie er gegen weibliche Comic-Fans rantet, ihnen abspricht überhaupt Ahnung zu haben. Ihr wisst schon, wir kennen das. Cosplayerin Becki [...]
December 05, 2012 at 2:28 pm, Cosplay, quadrinhos e misoginia | Quadrinheiros said:
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