lizawithazed:
beeftony:
This comic accurately sums up my feelings towards those who complain about The Hawkeye Initiative.
look, I am a huge David Willis fan. He is funny, brilliant, and bang on the mark.
But this? This is the single best and most important comic he has ever done and I am going to keep reblogging it until people stop making the argument in the first panel.
I bitch a lot about stupid things in the animation/comic world because that’s the field I’m going in to, and the MOST upsetting thing is the male versus female issue. I had a male teacher who (jokingly) told a male student that to change his character from male to female, all he had to do was add boobs and a butt. Now I know he was kidding. Which was why my rant was brief yet still wildly informative. But I’ve had other male teachers who seriously didn’t even want to look me in the eye because they’re so uncomfortable around females.
My favorite treatment of the gender issue came from a teacher who legitimately kept forgetting to address me as a female, and saw me as one of the guys. He didn’t do it to be offensive, or because he thought guys were better, he just did it because he’s more used to dealing with dudes (animation is a pretty male-heavy field), and it actually made me feel more included. I’m not saying this is a good solution, but it’s sure as hell better than avoiding eye contact or tip-toeing around my feelings by carefully addressing the class as “gentlemen….and lady.” By treating it like it wasn’t an issue…by treating it like it didn’t matter what gender I was…there WAS no issue, and it felt more equal.
But my least favorite moments (which are unfortunately quite common) are having to argue with all the dudes at my school because they just make sexy impractical women NOT because they know it will sell, but because they think it’s a good idea. They think adding armor is somehow empowering, and they think that long hair should always be worn down. They don’t see that what they’re creating is just a fantasy girlfriend, not a strong character.
However, the very worst moment was in portfolio class a couple weeks ago, where I had to tell another girl (in game design) that her “brand” was too girly to ever get a job. To be fair, it DID look like it was a design for a 13 year old’s myspace page. The teachers (both of them) just sat there nodding in agreement (and even looked relieved that I was saying it, because they knew they couldn’t) as I told her that this is a male-dominant field. I told her about the recent(ish) issue with Aisha Tyler having to defend her “gamer” status despite doing the voices for the characters, and much more. I told her that guys in this field don’t give any credit to females, and if she wants a job, she sure as hell better not market herself as a girl, because she’s never going to be taken seriously. I told her I knew I sounded sexist, and that I knew there were exceptions. I told her that I hated it just as much as the next girl, but we’re the ones who have to deal with it while we try to change it. Fifteen other boys were in that room at that time. Her and one other girl besides myself were. That’s who I’ll be graduating with. It’s a super small school, there aren’t any others in our department (animation and game art) that will be graduating at the same time. Not one person in that entire room, teachers (both male) included, none of them tried to stop me. Not one of them said that what I told her was wrong. And when she looked like she was about to cry, not one person told her that I was exaggerating to make a point. They just told her that I was right.
This industry is run by males, and made for males. There are a few companies that are specifically geared for women or children, but those are few and far between. So much so that I only know of one company that actually makes games for females that are GAMES not fitness or beauty/fashion shit.
The comics, the animations, the movies in general, need a serious attitude adjustment when it comes to how females are handled.
I’ve reblogged this comic before, and so many posts like it, and much like everyone before me, I’m not going to stop until this problem is not longer an issue. But I have a feeling that it’s not going to be fixed for a long, long time.
