This is What Feminism Looks Like

This past week I went to New York Comic Con with a friend. Vastly enjoyable, but that's a given really. On Saturday there were two panels we really wanted to go to (and thankfully we got into both). One being the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who (with special appearance by Colin Baker!) and the other a Q & A with John Barrowman (Captain Jack! *swoons*). In order to guarantee a seat for the Captain Jack Q&A, we sat through a panel for the DC comics: New 52.


I'm not a DC fan. I've always been a Marvel girl. I was vaguely curious however about Wonder Woman but not enough to buy one of the comics. The panel consisted of an overview of the next few issues of some certain comics. And let me mention that there was only one woman on the panel.

Nothing exciting. The Q&A was boring for the most part until this wonderful young woman in a Batman cosplay asked a question about DC's hiring practices. In a nutshell, she stated statictics on how few female editors, copywriters, artists, and letterers there were in the DC corporation. She asked why.

Their answer?

Because there wasn't the talent pool.

Because ya know, there aren't a ton of woman in the indie comic world at all. But after this, I'm not surprised that woman are applying for these jobs at this company. I wouldn't want to work for them.

Thankfully there was a lot of cheers for the question and quite a few boos from the audience.

A few questions later, another woman asked why the switch of Wonder Woman's costume change? She started off with pants and a fully covered costume and then a few issues later, back to the original skimpy non-clothes she had for years. Mind you, this was after the artist for Wonder Woman mentioned how kinky the covers were.

Their answer?

1. Because it was hard to draw and color.
2. Because there was backlash.


There weren't as many boos for the panel's answer this time unfortunately. I did say, very loudly I might add, about how Marvel seems to do it fine with Captain Marvel.

Skip until about 48:30. Watched the uneasy panel.


My friend and I were pissed. I tweeted about the whole thing. Angerly. DC will not get my money hashtag fuckDCcomics.

There were two girls sitting next to us. probably early 20s. Hard to tell. Maybe a bit younger.

They seemed unfazed by the panel's answer. Taking it as okay. Them saying how iconic the costume was.

I was livid. I asked if they knew the story behind the creator of Wonder Woman. How the creator was not shy about how he wanted a sexy bondage/kink relationship with Wonder Woman and her antagonists. (yes, yes, I know wikipedia, cut me some slack guys)

Now I'm not dismissing bondage as a life style. It's fine as long as it's between consenting adults. I was just pointing out to the girls that she was created specifically to be a sex-object and not a real person.

These girls didn't get it. They didn't care.

I was shaking I was so angry.


(Thankfully I was happier after watching John Barrowman prance around the stage the next hour or so)

But this stayed with me.
The lack of caring.

This is not what feminism looks like.
Where's these girls' passion and anger for being reduced to a sex object?


What does this have to do with my book review?
Everything.

Back in January or March I received an ARC for Eve Ensler's In the Body of the World. I knew that this wasn't exactly the feminist manifesto that The Vagina Monologues is, but rather a memoir of her cancer experience. I was supposed to read and review it months ago. But I didn't have the desire to pick it up until last Sunday.

Where I was still full of rage against DC.

I'm glad I did.
I read it in two days.
Could have been one but I needed time to process her words.

I needed time to write down extended quotes that deal with living life and viewing dying as a transformation. I needed to hear about her stories of the women who are repeatedly raped by soldiers in the Congo. I needed to hear about the healing these women go through after being violated and left for dead, only to stand back up again.

I cried.
Oh how I cried.

And I want to hand this book to the young women and girls who take DC's answers that women aren't good enough for their jobs or that women should be scantily dressed.

I want to show them what feminism looks like.
That it's not a dirty word.
That they have the power to challenge the status quo.

To get up and push back.

That if woman want to be half naked that it's okay, but only if they do it on their own terms, and not because a man tells them to. That their life is in their hands and they are in charge.


I keep hearing this song in my head.

This is what feminism looks like.