What's Wrong with This Picture?

[sherlockholmes]

The image below has been making the rounds on my Facebook. It originally popped up on my feed on the page for “It’s Okay to Be Takei”, and has been posted around by about five or six other people. Images travel fast on Facebook.

Comments

[arctowardthesun]

Your HTML is borked.

It seemed vaguely problematic when it popped up wherever I saw it but I couldn't really put my finger on what I thought was wrong with it.

[sherlockholmes]

Hey, thanks! And Fixed.

And yes, I agree with you. I sort of saw it and made a face -- not really being able to articulate why it rubbed me the wrong way but the article pretty much hit the nail on the head.

[wrestlingdog]

The version of this I saw first just had the fictional women characters; I think the full version is much more problematic (even though I couldn't put my finger on why until I read the article).

And I love the examples of badass real women in the geek culture.

[sammet]

Aaand I love your icon. ♥

[halogin]

Same; I think my husband linked it to me, and it only had the bottom row. I rather liked it, though when I reblogged it I said something about wanting rayguns for my Barbies, because I loved my Barbies when I was a girl. No reason I couldn't have both. :)

[scullies]

everything about this image sucks, idek where to start. there are an endless amount of wank-fodder women characters in sci-fi and geek fandom that would make even the most dismal ~real women pop culture~ role models look downright conservative and righteous.

really enjoying the lack of beyonce, emma watson, etc type figures in the first row

also i'm just straight up perplexed by the inclusion of kat von d, gaga, and kstew with snookie and kim k. just apples and oranges, not that oranges deserve the kind of criticism they seem to be getting here anyway.

[sparrowpunk]

I saw this on Facebook, and my first thought was that the images on the bottom row were picked for as much self-congratulation as possible :/

[firemelon]

THIS!

[confectionqueen]

Exactly that. I immediately got pissed at the person posting it For his back pat of "geek culture is so awesome and inviting"

[kitanabychoice]

While I think there's a couple of problems here, I also think that there's a valid statement being made here when contrasting both cultures. Geek culture isn't any less misogynistic than pop culture, it only manifests differently. Instead of being overtly misogynistic (especially when you think of the Bella character in Twilight being absolutely useless and a cardboard cut-out of a teenage girl), geek culture can be much more subtle about it by setting up this dynamic where you get slightly more rounded characters in exchange for getting to see them, in the end, go the route of the damsel in distress. It's like a delayed gratification or something.

As far as real women being held up to fictional women, I'd be willing to bet that all of the reality star women (and even Lady Gaga) present separate personalities for public consumption. Still a problem in the context of this macro, but I guess I don't think of their TV show personalities as extensions of their everyday personalities. So that pings me less as being a problem.

[elialshadowpine]

Except that Twilight being a fantasy novel, it falls under the umbrella of geek culture.

[wildicycomet]

Except Twilight is a fantasy teen novel with a fantasy twist that is supported by pop culture. I'd argue that it does not fall under the geek label.

[elialshadowpine]

The same issues that exist in pop culture exist in geek culture too, which is kinda the entire point of this article.