Updated! Threats To Female Comics Bloggers - A Recap

A few weeks ago we told you about recent news reports about threats to female bloggers. We wondered if it was happening in comics. We asked for comments on that, and here are the responses, which we found illuminating. Mister Fanboy is disheartened that other guys are still acting like troglodytes, but sadly, we're not surprised. By now means were we raised by a self-proclaimed feminist, but our mom taught us to respect everyone (Happy Early Mother's Day, BTW). At our core, it's one of our guiding principles. We could have continued to riff on Power Girl's chest, but that just seems frivolous with all of these comments in mind.

UPDATE: As much as possible over the next few days we'll add comments to the post as they come available, and fit into our moving out of state and vacation schedule. The one below from Marionette, in particular, is VERY frightening.

Dawn said...

I've never been threatened. The closest might have been some
insults on a computer geek board by some newbie but by that time I was a regular
and the rest of the guys gave hima good spanking and showed him the
door.

Lisa said...
While I've never had
a threat made on my blog, I HAVE had people link or copy/paste my stuff onto
other sites and attack me. I've had people tell me that I'm just "acting out"
because I'm a woman trying to compete in a man's world. I've had people
recommend that my husband brush up on Shakespear's Taming of the Shrew. I've had
people threaten to come to my store and act out (never did happen). I even had
one guy suggest that I have lobsters living in my crotch. Like I said, they
weren't brave enough to post to my blog, so I wasn't really afraid of them doing
anything more than internet chest pounding, which is all it turned out to
be.

Anonymous said...
I'm only a reader of Girl-Wonder.org, but not long after it started up, one
of their blog columns had to shut off comments because they got swamped with
insults. Then the message boards got spammed by people who posted disgusting
pictures (like "bathtub girl") and threads with nasty titles. "[name of
moderator] YOU WILL BE RAPED" was one I remember. Rumor had it they'd come from
4chan.

Michelle said...
That article
doesn't surprise me at all, sadly.I read a number of "regular" (i.e. non-comics)
feminist blogs, and there is a HUGE amount of hostility towards women who speak
up about oppression. There are a lot of very angry guys who will say the most
appalling things imaginable in order to intimidate and (they hope) silence
women.Most of these feminist bloggers aggressively moderate out the worst of the
garbage, but occasionally they'll share with their readers and it can get pretty
disturbing. Hostility towards women bloggers is frequently gender-based and/or
tinged with sexualized violence, of course. Women who unapologetically speak out
against rape/prostitution/pornography (Biting Beaver for example) come in for
the worst of it; they have to be very careful to maintain their anonymity.After
seeing what feminist bloggers are subjected to for voicing even mild opinions, I
was very nervous about bringing feminism into my comic blog posts (especially
since I've got my name posted on the site). It's early days, but so far my fears
have failed to materialize, thankfully.

Karen Healey said...
I've had rape
threats, hate-fucking threats and threats of non-sexual violence. Curiously,
many of them came in emails/comments criticising me for writing about comics
because "they're only comics!"

Michelle said...
Speaking of the
WaPo article, Hoydon About Town has a post on the passive-voice
victim-blaming approach inherent in that and many other
media reports on male violence against women. Unlike reports of murder or
robbery, "when it comes to reports of men abusing and oppressing women, the
passive voice prevails....The perpetrators of violence are rendered invisible."
Instead of "the man raped the woman" we get "the woman was raped" or even "the
raped woman" and we end up with victim blaming headlines like "Should Women Be
More Responsible?"It's an eye-opening read. The author points out that "Kathy
Sierra was re-abused, over and over, for not “being responsible”. For not
filtering her email, for not “taking it like a man”, for daring to be a woman in
a man’s world, for using her real name, and above all, for “letting herself” be
a victim. Yes, she did it to herself, apparently. The abuser was summarily
disappeared, and who fell into his empty subject position? The abused woman, of
course."

UPDATED COMMENTS:

Marionette said...
I hadn't seen the previous article or I would have replied. I was pretty much hounded out of blogging, one way or another. One blogger horrendously over-reacted when I mentioned that he had posted something almost identical to something I had done, becoming personally abusive. His supporters went further and even told me to kill myself. Shortly after that I got a nasty troll who responded to every post I made with off topic abuse and criticism. Blogging stopped being fun for me.

Dear Mister Fanboy Science: Can Power Girl's Breasts Cast Such A Large Shadow?

Dear Mister Fanboy Science:

My name is Jimmy McDougal. I am in the Mrs. Wendryhowski's 7th grade class at Enola Gay Middle School in Ames, Iowa. Our teacher assigned us a science project about the sun. I know that as the sun rises and sets shadows can get longer and shorter, depending on the time of the day. But can our body parts, like our noses, or, ummm, other parts, cast shadows? I am enclosing a cover from an upcoming comic book so you can see what I am talking about.

The woman in the front is Power Girl. The woman in the back is Black Canary. They both look pretty realistic to me. I mean, the women on MTV and the Disney Channel all dress like this. But one thing about this realistic comic confuses me. Can a women's ... you know ... boobs - I mean BREASTS - cast such a large shadow on their owner?

Sincerely,

Jimmy McDougal

Dear Jimmy:

Thank you very much for your insightful question. While I agree that these two women , particularly the obviously apt-named Power Girl, are a true representation of the modern woman, I am unable to answer your question at this time. Without examining the subject up close it would be irresponsible for me to venture an opinion. However, using body language theory, this Power Girl is clearly a strong willed woman, one who is intelligent, honest, and even-tempered in all her endeavors. Contrast that with Black Canary in the back. Her slumped shoulders and inferior "stature" clearly point to a troubled soul, one who is unsure of herself and who can rarely make an intelligent decision. It proves the Hugh Hefner Hypothesis: She with the biggest breasts MUST be the best. It's science. It can't be wrong.

Sincerely,

Mister Fanboy Science

P.S. If you were able to arrange a one-on-one with me and the subject I would be able to more definitively answer your question and ultimately enrich scientific studies, which is really for the children.

A Concerned Parent Expresses Parental Concern Over Power Girl's Breasts

Mister Fanboy is back after a long hiatus (it involved the Negative Zone, Adavan, and She-Hulk – don’t ask). We return today with a letter from a concerned parent. We’re sure her son wished we would have changed the names to protect his rep in school, but then what about our journalistic integrity?

Dear Mister Fanboy (if that is indeed your real name. I hope to God I don’t see you on Dateline and learn it was really Fan of Little Boys):

My name is Becky Lee Ann Summers. I am a 30-something mother of three – Mikhail, 13, Rajiv, 9 and Latonya, 6. Yes, you surmised correctly. Because of my husband Dan’s “problem,” we have adopted three ethnically diverse children. Why our little split-level out in the suburbs is a living and breathing Rainbow Coalition. Jesse Jackson (or is that Al Sharpton?) would be so proud. We live in suburban Tampa where all 3 of my children attend Our Lady of the Sea Catholic School (Go Fightin’ Tuna!). I am a homemaker who spends much of my free time (if there is such a thing for a mom in the 21st Century) volunteering with the local library teaching Cuban émigré’s how to speak English. They’ve only been here for 40 years, but I think they’re getting the hang of it. My husband Dan works for the state department of transportation as an Assistant Director for Accounting Services for the West Central Division’s Central Actuarial Office. We work hard to project a level of WASP-ish Catholicism in our domestic affairs, but still presenting a progressive exterior. I mean, look at our Ford Expedition’s new "I Love Mother Earth" bumper sticker! It shows we really care. However, I would never vote for that Hillary. Just look at her hair! As if I need to know anything else about her. Enough about me. Dan says I can go on and on about me and never get to the point. That Dan, he’s such a kidder. I mean, he keeps threatening to drive right into the lake just so he could stop my "yammering." Anyway, there is a reason I am writing to you.

Mikhail, our oldest, born to a Ukrainian prostitute on the outskirts of Chernobyl, is a big fan of your site (which, quite frankly, makes no sense to Jenny Abrogast, his English Lit tutor, who finds your writing trite, formulaic, and pedantic. And juvenile. She wouldn’t want me to forget juvenile.). Mikhail is also a huge fan of comics, which we encourage because it keep him preoccupied. Now, we realize that Mikhail is at that age where he is experiencing changes in his body. Why he’s becoming a little man just before my every eyes … it’s like every mother’s dream (sob!). I’m okay. Just give me a moment to compose myself.

While cleaning his room a few weeks ago, I found last season’s JC Penny’s and Sear’s catalogs under his bed, surrounded by a sea of wadded up used tissues. Of course, I cleaned up the mess throwing everything away. This got me suspecting that he was doing drugs. I mean, why else would he seemingly waste tissues? So that night I barged into his room, under a false “mommy pretext” as I like to call them, and surprised my son ... “pleasuring himself.” Dan thinks it’s normal. (Of course he would, he’s Canadian!)

And what do I see in his hands? No, not that! None other than this picture from an upcoming comic book, which he printed off of the internet.

Here it is again for your convenience. Look at this trash. But what does it really mean? I knew I needed help in interpreting the meaning of this objectionable material. I'm just a mom. How would I know?

So I consulted Drusilla Alpenglow, or at least that’s what she calls herself now that she’s taken her Celtic name and joined her secretive Earth First commune. Or something. I do have trouble keeping it all straight ever since I went on this new prescription. Drusilla works at the local comic shop and leads a women’s studies roundtable Tuesday nights at Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe, followed by bowling. I mean, I never attended one of these "round tables," except for the one at the Medieval Village Theme Park, but I am sure they are interesting and she says all of the right things.

Upon seeing the image, Drusilla went into hysterics. A-ha, I thought. Someone who sees the danger of this. But then she began to scare me. Honestly, she was babbling left and right and I could only get fragments out of her:

Boob Job … Breast augmentation …. Defies gravity … Objectifies women … Ruining the character … Power Girl is a character all about female empowerment and not cheesecake …

To be sure, I don’t know what she was talking about. I mean, who doesn’t like cheesecake? Truth be told, I was also concerned about the message the woman wearing fishnets was sending Rajiv and LaTonya, my two youngest. Because as we all know, along with fishnets comes teenage pregnancy.

Then suddenly, Jimmy, one of Drusilla’s coworkers ,walked by. Pausing to look at the extraordinarily "busty" woman on the cover, he declared that she looked hotter than ever and that with her new “look” he was sure to buy that issue. Drusilla screamed up and down about sex selling and minds being corrupted. To be honest, all of that nonsense gave me a headache. Thanks god for my HEAD-ON (I hate their commercials, but I just LOVE their product!). She blamed some faceless multinational corporation. I mean, really, it got a little out of hand. Who could believe that a company like Wal-Mart would be bad? Sheesh.

I, on the other hand, think all ofthis has something to do with the terrorists. Although I can’t prove it, I’ve got my eyes peeled. So why am I writing you? As I mentioned, my family is my life. Dan calls it an obsession, but he likes to watch soccer on TV so what does he know. I am writing you in the tried and true vein of the letter to the editor. In the past, my letters have praised our leaf blowing citizens and demanded an end to light pollution in the desert thousands of miles away from here. I implore you to publicly post this letter so that other concerned citizens know there are others who feel like them.

Sincerely,

Becky Lee Ann Summers
Tampa, FL


Well thanks there Becky. Were not quite sure what your point is but we were glad to share it with our readers.