I’ve read quite a bit in the past several months about this ridiculousness where women in comics and games are harassed by men in the same industry, and I have but one word to that effect: Stop. No one deserves harassment of any kind, let alone by colleagues in an industry that is still trying to evolve beyond the caveman antics that engineered its very existence.
Yes, I get it that men were the forebearers of this great thing called comic books. There’s plenty of congratulations to go around for the creation of our favorite superheroes by the other side of the population that has XY chromosomes. But can we stop for a second? Just a second to firmly put this out there: No one likes a man that has obvious insecurities. No woman is going to want to deal with you on a professional level, let alone a personal level, after she discovers that every time you open your mouth to speak, insane things that come off as verbal throw-her-over-your-shoulders-and-carry-her-off-sneak-attacks bombard her face and senses.
And, look, there goes that word again: Sense. Why would any woman find attractive a thoughtless individual who spews stupidity forth? That’s like asking me to bed and you’re simultaneously spewing gas from both ends. It lacks sense.
And much like those who would do things like expel gas as they’re propositioning me, please take a dose of much needed medicine, sit down and SHUT. THE. HELL. UP. As a woman who is interested in comics, knows more about the history of the X-Men and Marvel than most normal average Joes on the planet, and one who is involved in the gaming industry, I can speak with impunity when I say that not only does your pitiful attempt at impressing me fail, but also I will never think positively of you in any way, shape or form ever again if you get in my face with nonsense in the form of a joke meant to embarrass me and my gender.
You see, my side of the population already has a built-in bias that rears its ugly head in every thing that we do. We can’t just be smart. No, we have to be smart and pretty. Sexy yet keep modesty up to code. Accomplish all of those things while working at a job that pays inherently significantly less for the same amount of and type of work. Go home and deal with an emasculated individual who hasn’t gone out and done his fair share of the work but wants to complain about us making all of the decisions. And, after all that is said and done, sit down to read or watch something that’s going to tell its decision-makers that it “isn’t for the women. They won’t get this anyway. Women don’t get it.”
So, forgive me if I have just a little bit of outrage when I hear of male industry luminaries outright harassing and making jackasses of themselves in an attempt to keep interest going in their work. You’ve created the glass ceiling. How about you let the other side see how you live for a change? In peace.
Lyndsey Hicks is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. She can be reached by email at gicomics@gaminginsurrection.com
