Gail Simone's Blog, page 938
August 28, 2012
Better Than You: gailsimone: Better Than You: Cosplayersgailsimone: I can’t believe...
I can’t believe this still needs to be said.
Cosplayers are not there to be your pets, your sex workers, your pretend girlfriend/boyfriend, or your creepy grope fantasy.
Don’t put your hands on them without permission, don’t take photos without permission, don’t bully them,…
Fair enough, I’ll remove it. But these complaints were in no order whatsoever, nor were they prioritized, they are complaints I have been hearing from many cosplayers over the past few years. Also, specifically speaking, no one on that list (barring pets) should be groped without permission, either, not just sex workers.
Well… maybe you and cosplayers need to think that it’s pretty fucking fucked up to complain about people groping them if the complaint is ‘what do they think I am, a WHORE?’ It’s all just more whorephobic BS, this idea that sex workers can be optioned for non-consensual groping and other bad behaviour, that it’s part of our jobs and we should accept it - it feeds into attitudes that cause us to actually be treated that way. You should be critiquing that and not letting it slide with a ‘well it’s what cosplayers have said to me’. That’s a cop out. And if cosplayers are saying that people being fucked about boundaries makes them feel like hookers, then those cosplayers are whorephobic and should learn a thing.
And pretend boyfriends/girlfriends and grope fantasies AREN’T REAL. I’m way more opposed to pets being groped without permission (I think we can all tell when our animal companions don’t want to be touched and it’s pretty fucked up to try and make them) than figments of imagination which don’t exist and so actually cannot ever be subjected to non-consensual behaviour.
It’s not acceptable for people to use cosplayers as proxies for those fantasy objects, and so transgress boundaries EVER, but the way sex workers as solidly real people in any context were listed alongside fantasy objects in the original post was hella probbo.
I appreciate you removing it but your response also feels grudging and dismissive and I find that disappointing. :(
I did remove it but just moved it, to be frank, to a different query.
Truthfully, I think you’re right.
I think it’s a problem if people assume people are sex workers if they AREN’T sex workers, I’m sure you can agree that that’s a bad assumption to make just because someone is dressed as Lara Croft or whomever. I think it’s okay to condemn that. The post was about cosplayers being harassed.
But I get that putting sex workers in a list with the other stuff is a mess. I’m happy to remove it and you have my apologies. I don’t feel any stigma whatsoever to sex workers, probably because I know so many and they have kindly and patiently made me less ignorant on the topic, bless them.
Anyway, it’s removed, my apologies for a hasty reply that seemed grumpy.
Sex workers are people too. Don’t put your hands on them without permission, don’t take photos without permission, don’t bully them, don’t push them into corners, and if they tell you to back off, you BACK THE HELL OFF. And don't compare them to PETS.
Of course sex workers are people, too. None of the people on that list should be groped without permission, ever. And I most certainly didn’t meant to compare them to pets. I was repeating complaints I’ve been hearing from cosplayers for the past several years about preconceived notions fans have of them at conventions.
I apologize for stating it completely incorrectly.
Better Than You: Cosplayers
I can’t believe this still needs to be said.
Cosplayers are not there to be your pets, your sex workers, your pretend girlfriend/boyfriend, or your creepy grope fantasy.
Don’t put your hands on them without permission, don’t take photos without permission, don’t bully them,…
Fair enough, I’ll remove it.
No offense intended to sex workers, sorry if the context was poorly chosen.
womenreadcomicsinpublicagain:
@dreamyeyed reading The Punisher...
@dreamyeyed reading The Punisher with Alice!
You look gorgeous as always!
I love Women Reading Comics In Public Day!
ceebee-eebee:
gailsimone:
deliciouskaek:
dcwomenkickingass:
w...
Gail Simone reads a hair-raising comic and does not appreciate the “hair-raising” part!
Heh.
lol — oh gail
Do you KNOW the amount of product it took to get my hair to do that on a windy Oregon day?
HAPPY READ COMICS IN PUBLIC DAY! Show us your GEEK, everyone!
Do YOU know how adorable I find you???
Actually…yeah. At this point you probably do. ;)
YOU are adorable! Miss you so much!
Happy Read Comics in Public Day!
:
here’s me at Metropolis Comics in Bellflower, CA, re-reading Batgirl #12.
a comic book with a bad ass female lead character, with a special appearance by another bad ass female character, written by the superbad ass Gail Simone!
(let the record show I was reading page 7, panel 3, in which the secrets of Batwoman’s utility belt are revealed! photo credit to the ultrabad ass: http://kristineirl.tumblr.com)
This makes you DOUBLE badass!
Women Read Comics In Public Day
I love this thing.
As much as I love the guys who read comics and the people all over the gender spectrum who do not judge women for reading comics, I think it’s just wonderful to see the gamut of people who identify as women reading these things in public.
I could look at the photographs for hours.
When I fell in love with comics as a kid, I thought I was alone, I thought I was the only one obsessed with them. Then later, when I learned about fandom, I STILL thought I was the only girl. Other women I’ve spoken with have said the same thing.
If we’d had this day, if we’d seen all these cool chicks all over the world reading comics in public, maybe we would have spoken up more and shared more.
So it’s pretty special to me. Thanks everyone, for participating!
If you identify as a woman or female, please add a shot of you with a good comic, all are welcome! I’m not running this in any way, by the way, I am just a fan of the idea.
http://womenreadcomicsinpublicagain.tumblr.com/
Also, for those who identify more with the male gender, there is:
http://menreadingwomenincomics.tumblr.com/
Both of these are great tumblrs run for everyone, so check them out!
womenreadcomicsinpublicagain:
catching up on batgirl at the...
catching up on batgirl at the campus library!
Ack! Reverse Batgirl! DEMONS ARE EVERYWHERE!
womenreadcomicsinpublicagain:
Karen reading Captain Marvel in...
Karen reading Captain Marvel in front of Brighton Pavilion, Brighton, UK. A female-written comic, about a female superhero, full of her relationships with other awesome women? Yes, more of this, please.
Aw, I miss you, Karen!
brianmichaelbendis:
Black Canary by Alex Toth
That was a sad...
Black Canary by Alex Toth
That was a sad one, Brian…
Alex agreed to do the cover, and the interior was by MICHAEL GODDAMN GOLDEN.
So it would have been the best issue of anything ever. Alex Toth and Michael Golden? And it was only like, my tenth comic script or something. I thought I died and went to Heaven.
Michael did the interiors, and he KILLED on it, still one of the best art jobs ever, a Golden Age period piece. One of my favorites ever.
But Alex got the cover contract, same one Marvel and DC both use and he just decided he didn’t want to draw a new cover at the last minute. Something in the language bothered him and nothing would change his mind.
I have total respect for his decision, but what a heartbreaker!
I still recommend people get the issue if they are aspiring artists. You will never, ever get a better lesson in storytelling than Michael’s art for that issue.
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