quoted from Lysistrata
Lately, I'm tempted to get a T-Shirt reading "ovaries don't bite." There's a fantstic comic store about 40 minutes drive from my place, or a testosterone ridden one a mere 10 minutes away. I swear, it's like walking into a porn shop full of truckers. Every man in the room stops what he's doing, looks guiltily at the floor, and shuffles at least six feet away if I come near. It makes browsing this week's new issues (where they collect like flies) a comical affair. I've seen men collide with one another in an attempt to get away before I move from Y: The Last Man to X-Men.
And they wonder why more women don't read comics?
quoted from shadow-dancer
Ah, but judging by the male/female ratio at this forum, we do, don't we?
Welcome Lysistrata, fellow fic writer and Excalibur enthusiast, from one who raises more eyebrows because of her age than her sex (or though I've always suspected.) Perhaps I should reconsider, seeing as some of the men in the comic store have years on me. Then there's always ebay.
quoted from LysistrataGood point! A woman is scary enough, but a woman over 30 (gasp! Are they allowed off the reservations?) probably makes them all think Mom is coming to check up on them...even the guys who are pushing 50.
One of the things I love about LJ and the online forums is the proportion of men to women. My boyfriend didn't understand why I was so excited to find an online community of women who love comics, but then, he lives with me and probably thinks all women love comics.
As I read through this I thought the weirdest thing about it was that I couldn't really relate. I've been reading comic books since I was in my teens and I'm 33 now. In all that time I've never really experienced any sort of gender based discrimination.quoted from Bamfetteooohhh... I know that feeling... when i was going to college in Ontario, there were 2 comic shops i could go to. one in the town where the college was, but it was a hole, or i could take the Go Train to Toronto and go to the Silver Snail.... bright, open, female friendly (2/3rds of the staff were girls) I opted for the Silver Snail... even though it cost $10 to take the train there, and 45 minutes each way. I just made sure i did other things while in Toronto, like go see a movie, shopping, whatever to make the trip more worth it... but i felt like some kind of alien invader in that other store.
If anything I was a little bit special. I was often introduced as "THE girl who reads comics" when I was in highschool (it seemed to be more unusual then) and now whenever I go into my local comic shop I always have a nice discussion with either the employees, fellow customers, or both. We trade recommendations, reviews, and argue the plot points of various new books we're reading.
No one has ever done anything obvious to try to avoid my presence and I've always been treated with respect. The worst thing that ever happened was a comic book store employee tried to flirt with me while holding a large drink and spilled it all over the shop's stereo. I thought it was funny.
Anyway - I thought it was an interesting topic. What are your experiences?
-e