On Male Privilege: A Reflection
Sexism in comic book culture (and nerd culture at large) is a rampant issue, yet men have the luxury of ignoring it. In fact, as is the case with most gender discrimination in society, it is largely invisible to those who do not experience it. Nerd culture, however, denies its widespread misogyny with far more vehemence than most. The denial makes sense. This culture was built by groups of people who were seen as outcasts by those outside of it. As nerds, we envision ourselves as those kids who read comics while the popular kids played football. We formed a community around our exclusion, so to suggest that in our congregation we have ourselves become exclusionary sounds a lot like a personal affront.
Most acts of sexism in nerd culture are unintentional microaggressions. The average male convention attendee is not some red-faced, Gamergate, men’s rights activist drawn from the depths of an Anita Sarkeesian fever dream. Make no mistake, those men exist, but they are not the mean or the mode. Far more common is the casual misogynist, a man who is not actively anti-woman, but has been conditioned by culture to perceive women as outsiders to nerddom. Most men are complicit in a culture that refuses to portray a woman without resorting to her sexuality as a defining feature. From “booth babes” to movie posters that reduce women to a pair of legs, these microaggressions saturate our culture.
Though the conflictual relationship between nerd culture and women has interested me for years (male nerds fetishize nerdy women while simultaneously denying them acceptance within nerd culture), it was not until this assignment that I was forced to consider the lack of agency women are given within the culture. When simply dressing up in costume can be considered an act of feminist protest, that belies an utter stagnation of progress within the nerd community. In my research for this project I found countless stories of women who knew that venturing into a convention in costume would inevitably entail all forms of discrimination and sexual harassment, ranging from being told they were “fake geek girls,” to being felt up by total strangers. For male, conventions are safe havens where we can let our guards down. For women, the opposite is true.
This issue is of special import specifically because comic book culture developed around its identity as a safe space for societal nonconformity. Those of us who do not act to extend that safe space to women are actively engaging in regressive ethics and aiding in the perpetration of a system of oppression. Let us not forget that deliberately sexist forces are at work daily to set us back as a culture. Gamergate mouth-breathers may not be the status quo, but they are loud, vitriolic, and visible. They have proven themselves capable of silencing women through fear. To not actively seek to improve nerd culture’s view of women is to signal to those people that the hateful things they preach are ok.
As a man who actively participates in fan culture, I am faced regularly with sexism, and with the choice between passivity and action in the face of it. Male privilege is inescapable, but it is also powerful. And as every comic book fan knows, with great power comes great responsibility. In a world where thousands of hateful people need nothing more than an internet connection to rally around their hate, where women find their lives threatened simply for drawing attention to the commodification of female sexuality in comics and video games, men increasingly hold all the cards.
Men need to hand over those cards. Here, give them to this gender bent Gambit. She’ll know what to do.
