[Disclaimer: This comment is a bit of a non-defense of the post...I'm still thinking about every thing that was written and I can't say I agree with all of it, but I also don't violently disagree--like I said, I'm still processing. What follows is my own reaction to your comment, without reference to the preceeding post.]
I'm a college student right now double-majoring in two liberal arts fields. One is mostly women (English). The other is mostly men (Film). (At least, those are the demographics where I am.) The one that's mostly women is maybe a 60/40 split; the one that's mostly men is...basically a 80/20 split (*to clarify: in film production classes, which are the bulk of my film classload at this point--film studies/media studies classes are more even, but still probably more guys).
I love both majors. I am equally sucessful in both majors. I have two jobs, one relating to each major, both of which I love very much and which I am good at. I love the people in both majors, though I'm probably closer to people in the second major (aka, the guys) because I spend more time with them (hard not to when you do film production classes). I fit in equally well with the people in both majors, though perhaps slightly better with the second major because most of the guys are geeks like I am (albeit mostly film geeks who argue about soviet montage and wether film is more hardcore than video, not sci-fi/fantasy/media/rpf/whatever fans, but still). In both majors we discuss issues of gender, sexuality, and race; of representation; of sub-culture; of subtext; of interpretation. In neither major do I do I blame my sucesses/failures on male patriarchy or whatever.
But.
Sometimes it is a relief to get together with my other female film friends and talk film and whatever. Because, man, I get sick of being around guys all the time. Even guys I like, who I respect, who like and respect me, to whom I am 'one of the guys'. Sometimes I like heading over to my other major and being in the majority; sometimes I like 'being one of the girls' instead.
So here's what I think: fandom (at least the corners I hang out in) is mostly (though not exclusively) women. Which would, at least the way I understand it, make it a predominately female-space. And that's nice, sometimes. It's not about male patriarchy, or male priveledge, it's about hanging out with a whole bunch of women and being geeks.
And I find nothing wrong with that: not diagnosing it as such, and not thinking that's cool. Because guys are great, and hanging out with guys are great; and people of both genders are great, and hanging out with people of both genders are great; but women are great too, and, sometimes, it is nice to hang out with just women. And if guys want to join a large group of geeky women hanging out on-line, that's cool: it's just like when I'm hanging out with my film people...after all, it's not always bad to be in the minority.
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Date: 2008-01-13 07:52 am (UTC)[Disclaimer: This comment is a bit of a non-defense of the post...I'm still thinking about every thing that was written and I can't say I agree with all of it, but I also don't violently disagree--like I said, I'm still processing. What follows is my own reaction to your comment, without reference to the preceeding post.]
I'm a college student right now double-majoring in two liberal arts fields. One is mostly women (English). The other is mostly men (Film). (At least, those are the demographics where I am.) The one that's mostly women is maybe a 60/40 split; the one that's mostly men is...basically a 80/20 split (*to clarify: in film production classes, which are the bulk of my film classload at this point--film studies/media studies classes are more even, but still probably more guys).
I love both majors. I am equally sucessful in both majors. I have two jobs, one relating to each major, both of which I love very much and which I am good at. I love the people in both majors, though I'm probably closer to people in the second major (aka, the guys) because I spend more time with them (hard not to when you do film production classes). I fit in equally well with the people in both majors, though perhaps slightly better with the second major because most of the guys are geeks like I am (albeit mostly film geeks who argue about soviet montage and wether film is more hardcore than video, not sci-fi/fantasy/media/rpf/whatever fans, but still). In both majors we discuss issues of gender, sexuality, and race; of representation; of sub-culture; of subtext; of interpretation. In neither major do I do I blame my sucesses/failures on male patriarchy or whatever.
But.
Sometimes it is a relief to get together with my other female film friends and talk film and whatever. Because, man, I get sick of being around guys all the time. Even guys I like, who I respect, who like and respect me, to whom I am 'one of the guys'. Sometimes I like heading over to my other major and being in the majority; sometimes I like 'being one of the girls' instead.
So here's what I think: fandom (at least the corners I hang out in) is mostly (though not exclusively) women. Which would, at least the way I understand it, make it a predominately female-space. And that's nice, sometimes. It's not about male patriarchy, or male priveledge, it's about hanging out with a whole bunch of women and being geeks.
And I find nothing wrong with that: not diagnosing it as such, and not thinking that's cool. Because guys are great, and hanging out with guys are great; and people of both genders are great, and hanging out with people of both genders are great; but women are great too, and, sometimes, it is nice to hang out with just women. And if guys want to join a large group of geeky women hanging out on-line, that's cool: it's just like when I'm hanging out with my film people...after all, it's not always bad to be in the minority.