aka Britgeekgrrl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fangrrl_squees) wrote2008-10-21 12:09 pm
fangrrl_squees) wrote2008-10-21 12:09 pm
(no subject)
I'm sneaking in an entry at work - more of a placeholder for my memory than anything else.
I was intrigued by an entry on another (female) fan's journal which mentioned DW fandom being largely dominated by female fans during the 1980s (and early 90s), only to be displaced as the show went on hiatus, the NAs came on to the scene and, now, the new show.
Two reactions, on my part: the first is surprise to hear that DW fandom was (apparently) full of the womenfolk, back in the day. Granted, I was a fairly isolated fan in small-ish town CT and therefore didn't have much way of judging the demographic. The second is a slightly disappointed realization that, yeah, female fans are treated a bit dismissively by their male counterparts - and not just in DW. I wonder why that is? Is it an extension of a juvenile "No Girls Allowed!" attitude towards the hobby, or what? A backlash against the aspects of SF that have been associated with female fans - such as 'shipping, slash and cosplay? Something else?
*looks at her LJ name* Gotta admit, I'm probably not helping the cause, much...
Anyways, I want to noodle more on this - especially if there's a cause for concern amongst the female fans, or are we just looking for issues that don't really exist? (Then again, who's to judge what qualifies as a problematic situation? Probably the male majority...) There's possibly a few things to say about what it means to be a female SF fan - in my observation - but I'm not sure. My observations so far are hardly ground-breaking...
I was intrigued by an entry on another (female) fan's journal which mentioned DW fandom being largely dominated by female fans during the 1980s (and early 90s), only to be displaced as the show went on hiatus, the NAs came on to the scene and, now, the new show.
Two reactions, on my part: the first is surprise to hear that DW fandom was (apparently) full of the womenfolk, back in the day. Granted, I was a fairly isolated fan in small-ish town CT and therefore didn't have much way of judging the demographic. The second is a slightly disappointed realization that, yeah, female fans are treated a bit dismissively by their male counterparts - and not just in DW. I wonder why that is? Is it an extension of a juvenile "No Girls Allowed!" attitude towards the hobby, or what? A backlash against the aspects of SF that have been associated with female fans - such as 'shipping, slash and cosplay? Something else?
*looks at her LJ name* Gotta admit, I'm probably not helping the cause, much...
Anyways, I want to noodle more on this - especially if there's a cause for concern amongst the female fans, or are we just looking for issues that don't really exist? (Then again, who's to judge what qualifies as a problematic situation? Probably the male majority...) There's possibly a few things to say about what it means to be a female SF fan - in my observation - but I'm not sure. My observations so far are hardly ground-breaking...
no subject
I do distinctly recall feeling as a female Who fan in the north of England somewhat glad to read the humorous exploits of the fictitious "Jackie Jenkins" in DWM as the only other person in my situation (mind you, I was in a somewhat provincial college city where the only evidence of Whofandom was how quickly the DWMs disappeared from the newsstands; the local convention didn't arrive until I'd already left). Even at college I was one of at most three Who fans of the female persuasion in a male-dominated and somewhat macho Who-society. Now I'm in NY and the gender balance is far more fifty-fifty, but again it's a different sort of group: "for the lulz" rather than a Wilderness Years "keeping the light of true Who alive" priesthood of pre-'05, to whom the ancillary exploits of female fen might be seen as a betrayal of "the one true". Then again, K/S fandom really blossomed during the wilderness years of ST TOS, so what do I know?
no subject
My first time around in Whovian fandom, it was unusual enough that I was a female who expressed a liking for SF, period - never mind the flavor. There was a small cadre of us, but - as I said - we certainly didn't get out and about into the convention circuit.
I remember the first convention I attended in California (TimeCon, RIP) I was pleasantly surprised to find that a good, hrm 30% or 40% of the attendees were women. It might have been more than that, in fact, but I was a bit overwhelmed at the event, start to finish.
Through the 1990s, I attended a mix of gaming and SF conventions (more gaming that SF, admittedly) and I think I paid more attention to the inrush that was women into gaming during that time. In the space of five years, I watched the gaming circuit go from something like 5% female attendees (not kidding!) to close to even parity. I think my surprise/glee at that distracted me from noticing any trends in the SF/F crowd.
I was certainly much more *aware* of being a young woman at a gaming con - as in occasionally-stared-at/nudged in the ribs - than at the Bay Area SF/F events.
Fortunately, I've had mostly positive experiences with both crowds. Only once or twice have I felt like my opinions were dismissed by a (male) peer simply because of my gender. I think I've been lucky, though.
Hm. I'll have to think on this, some more. I will admit that I have *definitely* been lucky in that the gender distribution at conventions in the SF Bay Area is probably less lopsided than it might be, elsewhere.