Disturbing the Peace: The Importance of Geekery

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

So there have been a ton of kerfluffles recently concerning women's place in geek culture. Now that we've gotten not one but TWO female leads in Star Wars (Rey in The Force Awakens and Jyn Erso in Rogue One), geekdom has nearly collapsed on itself. And by that I mean about .01% of a very vocal population decided that it was bad enough to have Rey, but Jyn was just too much.

Somehow, over the course of...pretty much forever...men have found ways to exclude women from pretty much everything. Treating us as chattel, property, second-class citizens, using feminine traits as a way to demean and emasculate other men, using female sex organs as insults....Betty White has an amazing quote regarding that, btw. Until 1833, there weren't co-ed universities. Until 1835, women couldn't own property anywhere in the US (thanks, Arkansas!), and even that came with restrictions.

We've made it to 2016. In the last 181 years, since women could own, but not control, property in Arkansas if their husbands were incapacitated, we've made significant strides. We can vote, we can drive, we can own and control property with or without a husband. We've gone to space, we serve in the military, we hold down jobs traditionally left to men. Hey, there's even 20 women CEOs in Fortune 500 companies! Wait...that...that's 4%. Which means 96% of CEOs are men.

This statistic seems to fit in with geekdom, too. There's 8 billion blogs in the world that cover the ratio of female superheroes to male superheros in terms of comic book sales, and others like Feminist Frequency (one of my favorites) that discuss the amount of female and minority video game protagonists versus straight white male, which is sometimes referred to as the status quo or the Easy setting. I've discussed these things before here, here, and here as well, so I won't bore you with details.

Again? ...Always. This pic is always applicable.

What disturbs me more often than not is this concept of the "Fake ____ Girl." Fake geek girl. Fake football girl. Fake car girl. Fake fake fake. As though women need to fake anything up to fit in anywhere. We're women. We have boobs. Everything's fine. But no, when women take up an interest in ANYTHING perceived as male-oriented or dominated, then suddenly that Fake tag gets added on.

Let me tell y'all a little story. My dad grew up with three brothers. Most of his cousins are male, too. As it stands right now, there's only 4 girls on his side of the family--my sister, me, my cousin, and my uncle's stepdaughter. When my mom got pregnant with my sister, and then with me, he had zero idea what to do with girls because he had little experience with raising them. Sure, my cousin was with them a lot, but that's watching, not rearing. So my mom, in her eternal and infinite wisdom, told him, "Just do what you'd do with boys." I imagine her saying that with a nonchalant shrug and a half smile, looking at him lovingly and thinking, Duh.

In essence, that's what happened. Dad took us fishing. A lot. Taught us to bait our own hooks, taught me to clean our catches, to do a proper fish fry. With my sister, he built things for the house and taught her to build her own things. With me, he caught an inkling of my interest in speculative fiction, and he fostered the crap out of it through movies. Star Wars. Horror movies. Last Star Fighter. If it had even a hint of science fiction or fantasy involved, we watched it. Sci-Fi Saturdays were our thing, to the mutual chagrin of my mother and sister, and it was through these glimpses into What if? that my career actually began, though I wouldn't be published until much later.

I often took refuge in science fiction and fantasy, especially superhero tales. I didn't have a collection of comic books because A) I lived in a small mountain town where they weren't readily available and B) I was too busy reading novels and playing video games. I was sickly as a kid, so I retreated to these worlds where awesome people were doing awesome things. I watched the 90s animated shows religiously. X-Men, Spiderman, Batman the Animated Series, & Superman were my absolute favorites. I also obsessively watched the Justice League. I ate up the movies and sought out everything I could. But there was always a disconnect. X-Men gave me the awesomeness of Storm. My love, my life, my inspiration. But the main focus was Wolverine. Spiderman gave me Mary Jane and Black Cat, but again, they were side characters. Batman gave me a PLETHORA of amazing ladies, from Catwoman to Harley to Ivy to FREAKING BARBARA GORDON OMG BARB YAAAAAAAAAAS. But there was still a problem: they were still side characters, and we won't even discuss the abusive relationship between Joker and Harley or the sexualization of literally everyone. My point is that women so infrequently get to take center stage that these moments when we get our Reys and our Jyns, it's a BFD.

However, I'm not a geek if I don't know everything. I'm not a fan if I can't name every person who ever worked on the X-Men comics, or if I can't tell you who created Ra's al-Ghul (spoiler alert, it's Neal Adams, whom I've met), or if I don't know every continuation or retcon of a series. For every Olivia Munn who knows her character's history and fights to have her character portrayed accurately, there's a Charlie Cox, who didn't even know Daredevil was blind until he auditioned for the part. But it's cool because he has a penis.

Here's my point, and I want you to underline it, bold it, print it on a flyer and hand it out to everyone you know: Geekdom is not just for boys; it's for everyone. For everyone who's ever needed an escape. For everyone who needs a hero. For everyone who needs to become their own hero. Art does not belong to one person or a certain group. Art is for whomever it speaks to, and it does not, nor has it ever, required a gatekeeper.

And if it ever does, IT WON'T BE YOU.

Being one of the Embassy’s glorified treasure-seekers has its perks… 
Komandan Uriah Jacobs recovers ancient artifacts in exchange for more than just decent pay; he also receives guaranteed protection from his former owners, the nyx…until an emergency landing on a too-familiar colony brings him face-to-face with his past life and something more—a surprisingly priceless treasure in the form of a human woman. 

A slave to the nyx since childhood… 
Shadi spends her waking hours in the forge, dreaming of rescuing her brother with the help of a man she once worshipped like a father. A crashed ship on the colony becomes her only hope to escape. But before she can steal the ship, the pilot abducts her. They may be the same species, but will he help her find her Shilah? 

Their attraction is undeniable… 
Fighting it seems inconsequential as they evade the nyx's bounty hunter and uncover a conspiracy that shines unwanted light on Shadi's past and reveals the corruption in Uri’s beloved Embassy, placing their fledgling love in danger. 

As the universe systematically falls apart, will Shadi and Uri’s newfound passion be enough to keep them alive? 

Being one of the Embassy’s glorified treasure-seekers has its perks… 
Komandan Uriah Jacobs recovers ancient artifacts in exchange for more than just decent pay; he also receives guaranteed protection from his former owners, the nyx…until an emergency landing on a too-familiar colony brings him face-to-face with his past life and something more—a surprisingly priceless treasure in the form of a human woman. 

A slave to the nyx since childhood… 
Shadi spends her waking hours in the forge, dreaming of rescuing her brother with the help of a man she once worshipped like a father. A crashed ship on the colony becomes her only hope to escape. But before she can steal the ship, the pilot abducts her. They may be the same species, but will he help her find her Shilah? 

Their attraction is undeniable… 
Fighting it seems inconsequential as they evade the nyx's bounty hunter and uncover a conspiracy that shines unwanted light on Shadi's past and reveals the corruption in Uri’s beloved Embassy, placing their fledgling love in danger. 

As the universe systematically falls apart, will Shadi and Uri’s newfound passion be enough to keep them alive? 

Being one of the Embassy’s glorified treasure-seekers has its perks… 
Komandan Uriah Jacobs recovers ancient artifacts in exchange for more than just decent pay; he also receives guaranteed protection from his former owners, the nyx…until an emergency landing on a too-familiar colony brings him face-to-face with his past life and something more—a surprisingly priceless treasure in the form of a human woman. 

A slave to the nyx since childhood… 
Shadi spends her waking hours in the forge, dreaming of rescuing her brother with the help of a man she once worshipped like a father. A crashed ship on the colony becomes her only hope to escape. But before she can steal the ship, the pilot abducts her. They may be the same species, but will he help her find her Shilah? 

Their attraction is undeniable… 
Fighting it seems inconsequential as they evade the nyx's bounty hunter and uncover a conspiracy that shines unwanted light on Shadi's past and reveals the corruption in Uri’s beloved Embassy, placing their fledgling love in danger. 

As the universe systematically falls apart, will Shadi and Uri’s newfound passion be enough to keep them alive? 

Being one of the Embassy’s glorified treasure-seekers has its perks… 
Komandan Uriah Jacobs recovers ancient artifacts in exchange for more than just decent pay; he also receives guaranteed protection from his former owners, the nyx…until an emergency landing on a too-familiar colony brings him face-to-face with his past life and something more—a surprisingly priceless treasure in the form of a human woman. 

A slave to the nyx since childhood… 
Shadi spends her waking hours in the forge, dreaming of rescuing her brother with the help of a man she once worshipped like a father. A crashed ship on the colony becomes her only hope to escape. But before she can steal the ship, the pilot abducts her. They may be the same species, but will he help her find her Shilah? 

Their attraction is undeniable… 
Fighting it seems inconsequential as they evade the nyx's bounty hunter and uncover a conspiracy that shines unwanted light on Shadi's past and reveals the corruption in Uri’s beloved Embassy, placing their fledgling love in danger. 

As the universe systematically falls apart, will Shadi and Uri’s newfound passion be enough to keep them alive? 

  Amazon | Barnes & Noble |ARe| iTunes | Kobo | Google Play 

Disturbing the Peace - The Importance of the Everywoman (Not Bella Swan)

***Since Arrow is coming back on, I guess I should finish this, especially since we all know she's okay***


[SPOILERS AHOY]

So by now I'm pretty sure anyone who's an Arrow fan knows of this thing that happened, in which everyone's favorite plucky blonde computer genius got shot and may or may not be dead.

Let me say first that if Felicity dies, I will A) stop watching the show and supporting it in anyway, except for Flash crossover episodes where I have no choice, and B) picket any filming I can get to because it's BS.

However, I truly don't think Felicity is dead for a myriad of reasons. This post sums them up pretty perfectly, so I want to approach this from a little bit of a different viewpoint: that of the romance writer.

I write romance, so I'm pretty sure I have a working knowledge of it, at least. Comic books aren't known for subtlety and nuance most of the time when it comes to characters' relationships with one another, and they certainly don't cast women like Felicity Smoak (which is totally a real last name, something that still weirds me out) as the love interest of the hero unless she is horrifically killed and thus becomes a turning point for the hero.

This is known as putting her "in the refrigerator"--a term coined by comics writer Gail Simone after reading a comic book in which that literally happens (to Alex DeWitt in Green Lantern #54)-- and is used over and over and over again in comics and movies. And TV shows. And video games. And pretty much everything.

STEP AWAY FROM THE LIGHT

However, Felicity has spent four seasons subverting that in a most spectacular way. Most people will see a plucky blonde computer guru and think of Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds, or at least I do. She and Morgan have one of my favorite friendships on network television, but that's the extent of it, a fact that frustrates the ever-loving hell out of Morcia shippers like myself. Throughout the first couple seasons, Olicity shippers had that same frustration--that our plucky blonde computer guru would remain in that role of "loves from afar." After all, Oliver was well into a relationship with Sara (and later with Laurel, which is just messed up but whatever; Oliver's not exactly in his right mind).

When Olicity went canon, I squalled. Because Felicity is me.

She's our Everywoman. She's the heart and soul of the Arrow team, who uses humor to defuse situations, who adds normalcy to an abnormal situation. She keeps Oliver grounded and acts as the rainbow to his thunderstorm. She brings a sense of color into the group, not just with her outfits, but with her personality, her kindness, and her general love for all of them. Sometimes she has to be mother hen, sometimes she's the concerned best friend, but she's always the glue that keeps the Arrow team together. Those women are typically stuck in those roles, but not our Felicity. And that's incredibly important for the "geeky" girls, the ones who are normally relegated to the background, the stand-ins. The women who think outside the box, the ones who kick ass in their own ways but not necessarily on a physical level, the ones who may not even be "conventionally pretty" like yours truly are normally not seen as worthy of the hero. And the fact that Felicity is, AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE OR SO HELP ME GOD, is representation I feel like is sorely lacking in a world where strong, worthy women are practically dude-light.

So, guys? If for some reason you decide to go down that road with her? YOU WILL HAVE FAILED THIS SHOW AND THIS DEMOGRAPHIC.

/endrant

Disturbing the Peace: Diversity in Fiction Part 2 - Video games

So last time we talked briefly about why diversity is important in fiction. The short answer is that the world is full of more than just Straight White Dudes, which means that there are a billion stories to tell in which a SWD doesn't have to be the main character. Video game creators don't seem to get that memo too often, but there are a few who do.

Bioware is one of the best for this. They get a lot of flack for stuff, deservedly, but they do manage to do a few things right. The relationship systems in both Dragon Age and Mass Effect are evidence of what they do right.

When Bioware released Mass Effect in 2007, they took a lot of criticism for featuring an alien character named Liara T'soni who can be romanced by both genders. Not only because she can be with MaleShep or FemShep but also because there is a love scene.

You slut, you.

All of Bioware's games, from Knights of the Old Republic to the most recent Mass Effect installment, feature same-sex relationships. Mass Effect 3 features the first strictly gay romances with Samantha Traynor and Steve Cortez. And those are actually my favorite romances out of the entire series. 

LOVE IT. SO MUCH. 

*Ahem* Sorry. So anyway, Bioware is awesome for that much at least. Although we still have yet to have a gay main character, but they seem to not care about having same-sex relationships.

They did pretty well in Dragon Age: Origins with giving the player different race options, which I discussed here. But primarily, except for Sten, all your companions are white.

So let's move on to a game that gets it right. I've espoused the awesomeness that is Telltale's The Walking Dead plenty of times, but I haven't quite gotten into quite how it corresponds with the diversity issue. The main character, Lee Everett, is amazing. He starts out as almost stereotypical, as he's on his way to prison at the game's start, but by the end of episode 5? He's one of the most well-rounded characters there is. He's at times ruthless, and at others incredibly compassionate. You can play him a number of different ways due to the game's choice system (similar to the conversation wheel in Dragon Age and Mass Effect), but regardless of what you choose, Lee isn't the same by the end of the game. And for that matter, neither is Clementine, who becomes the protagonist of the 2nd game (I REFUSE TO GIVE YOU SPOILERS). Both characters are African American. The game also features two other non-white characters who, depending on your choices, become Clem's caregivers. It's....pretty awesome.

OMG THE ADORABLE IS TOO MUCH

Would the experience been the same had the characters been another race? Probably not. The game creators chose Lee, Clem, Christa, and Omid for a reason. 

For another fantastic and exciting development in gaming diversity, check out this piece from the Mary Sue about an upcoming and awesome-sounding game and the statement from the game's creators about what they're doing and why. Pretty uplifting stuff. Also, they've done a great piece on storytelling in video games in general.

Next time on Disturbing the Peace - Diversity in TV and movies.

Disturbing the Peace: Diversity in Fiction Part 1 - Video games

Recently there's been a bit of a stir around the Internet regarding the importance of diversity in fiction. Not just in books, but also in movies, tv shows, comics and video games, where the default setting is white and straight. In regard to video games, the default setting is straight white dude--abbreviated SWD from here on out--a point this Tumblr post sums up perfectly. To keep this from getting long, I'm going to do a few installments.

So why is diversity important?

The simple answer: Because we're not all straight, white males.

The more complex answer: Because we live in a day and age when media is doing more parenting than actual parents. Kids need people to look up to, and if they can't get it from their parents, they'll get it from TV, comics, or video games (and often the WORST POSSIBLE GAMES [I'm looking at you Grand Theft Auto]).

Where video games are concerned (and this is a soap box I've climbed on top of time and again), everyone who's not a straight white male is completely underrepresented, and the woman, if there is one, is the goal, the prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box, or whatever prizes come in nowadays. In games like Shadow of the Colossus (which is beautiful and wonderful and otherwise perfect), resurrecting Wander's lover is the goal. Yeah, you get memorable battles and you develop a relationship to your horse because he's literally the only creature you communicate with besides some random disembodied voice. In the early Legend of Zelda games, Zelda doesn't even get to be part of her own legend. It's Link's story. He sets out on a quest to free/cure her (thinking LoZ 2 here). We get little characterization. To be fair, the more recent games give Zelda a larger role. Ocarina of Time cast her as one of the last surviving Sheikah, a warrior tribe in Hyrule. She has some fancy tricks and then LITERALLY OUT OF NOWHERE, she gets imprisoned in a giant rupee as soon as she reveals her true identity to Link.



For the entirety of the game until that point, you don't know that Sheik is Zelda (though most of us figured it out). Zelda is also a pirate going under another name in one of the other games. But almost every time, you end up having to save her to complete the game.

The Final Fantasy franchise is terrible for stuff like this. The earlier games were great (VI is awesome because Terra), but when the series went next-gen to PSone, we got FF7. In all rights a fantastic freaking game and, again, one of my favorites, but it isn't perfect.

What could be wrong with so hallowed a game you ask? Look at your cast. Cloud, the main character, is blond haired and green eyed (which is a plot point; you don't know Cloud's original eye color but it's likely blue), SWD. Your one character of color (because I'm not sure Yuffie counts, though her influences are typical Asian) is Barret, an angry black man who swears nearly every time he has a dialogue box. Also, in this clip, he seems to be channeling his inner Mr. T.



You also have Tifa, whose breast size defies all logic; Red XIII, a lab experiment; Vincent, another lab experiment; Cid, your resident angry white guy; Yuffie, the aforementioned possibly Asian-based character; and Aeris/Aerith, the character whose sole purpose is to go into the refrigerator to cause Cloud manpain, though the story behind the scene is that one of the game creators lost his wife, so he used this as a method of dealing with his grief. Either way, regardless of having the ability to level up the same way as the others Aeris dies. Cloud gets to show us that he's not a soulless, emotionless monster.



After that, Cloud vows revenge and blah, blah, blah. Also, Aeris is the worst character to have in a fight, ever, period. She is literally only good for healing.

Which brings me to another point, for which I'll be using another of my favorite games, Legend of Dragoon, a game I know inside and out.

Your cast of characters is predominantly white (your main character Dart is also blond w/ blue eyes, SWD), with the exception of Haschel, your bronze-skinned martial arts instructor, and Kongol, the last of a race called Gigantos who talks like a caveman. The women? Light and Dark, literally. (All pics via http://legendofdragoon.wikia.com/)

At a certain point, Shana becomes useless and comatose (not that she was really that useful to begin with), while Rose gets to be all broody and mysterious, a spot typically reserved for men which is quite interesting, except for the fact that she gets called out on it all the time, so it's actually less interesting than it could've been. Men are broody and mysterious, they're damaged souls in need of wuv. Women are broody and mysterious, they're PMSing.

Once Shana is out of the game, you get Miranda, who is described as "abrasive." As an orphan she has loads of issues because of course.

Four women who fall into stereotypes. The virginal huntress (bow and arrow), the dark and mysterious stranger, the manic pixie who wears next to nothing and has temper tantrums, and the orphan with severe anger issues. Congratulations, ladies!

Next time, I'll cover who's doing this right in some current games and where gaming needs to go in the future.

Disturbing the Peace #1 - Lightning's Boob Job

So I made the mistake of reading things on the internet yesterday, and I encountered this little gem in a sea of other malarkey. And this one, too. And the my head exploded.

And it's not really even the sexuality of it that pisses me off, because there are games where you KNOW that's what you're getting, like Dead or Alive, or Bayonetta, or even God of War. I write erotic romance for heaven's sake, so I am the LAST person anyone can or should call a prude.

But this?

To mess with Lightning, arguably one of the baddest of the bad ass and the one tolerable character in that freaking game? Uh, no.

Here's why:

Hi. I'm Tera. I wear clothes.

The Final Fantasy series (now in its 14th installment) hasn't had a female protagonist since 1994 when Final Fantasy VI came out. Though the designers had no real intention of having a main character, thus giving all the characters equal time, Terra became known as FFVI's protag because of her extensive use in the game's promotion. Terra and the game are now synonymous with one another. You don't think of one without thinking of its counterpart.

Now, there was that little...incident...known as Final Fantasy X-2, which featured an all-female team of Yuna, Rikku and Paine. However, the tone of the game #1) does not match its predecessor whatsoever and basically reduces Yuna to a steaming pile of stupid and #2) doesn't fit well with the FF series in its entirety, and though it was the first sequel EVER to a Final Fantasy game...well...




Dresspheres. That make crap like this happen:

Uuuh...huhh....

Because no enemy will ever shoot the bewbies.

So essentially, Lightning is the first female protagonist of a Final Fantasy game in almost 20 years.

As my wonderful friend James put it:

What's important to the developers about this character, who is the player avatar and main protagonist of this game and of the two games that preceded it? Personality, strength, determination, resourcefulness, tactical planning, preparation, force of will, overcoming adversity, her extensive backstory (not that it's a good or well-written backstory, but it's there), development from personal experience, interaction with others, combat effectiveness, fighting style, dialogue, acting? Nope, how she looks. What's being considered for how she looks? Practical considerations for her occupation while maintaining a unique visual identity that has some consistency with prior games but also reflects on her personality and experience as it has changed since, and because of, prior adventures? Nope, bigger gazongas and jiggle-physics. Gah. Disgusting.

That. That is what upsets me the most. Not that they've made a woman with big boobs that jiggle. But because they've made Lightning into that for NO REASON.

So, here's my proposition. I propose that also in said game, whatever male main protagonist you have, if it's Snow (ESPECIALLY if it's Snow) or some other dude, I would like to have an option that puts him in an outfit as follows: No shirt, even if the whole damn game is set in the wintertime; and leather pants, complete with bulge. May as well make it fair, right? Right. I mean, we got Kratos, but I'm offended by the amount of male protagonists who are always clothed.

I guess we shouldn't expect too much variety. But their no-no parts are covered.

I mean, I would love to get a much less clothed Nathan Drake or Dante or Auron or Alucard or Gabriel Belmont. I mean, if that amazing armor that looks like this:

Now with more vaj! +5 to "You Go Girl"

magically keeps women from dying in games via arrow through the boobs or arrow/sword through the stomach or arrow/sword through the thigh (or vaj, apparently), then why can't that work in the guy form of....basically metal boxer briefs. We could have added another member of the Village People! It would have been awesome!

Here is my point. If you want to make a sexy, exploitational game, fine. Whatever. Free country, First Amendment, whatever.

However, if you want to do that for the THIRD installment of a game series of a critically acclaimed line and take the PROTAGONIST of said game series and make her into little more than T&A, then THAT is when I get pissed.

Next time, we'll take a look at the other side of the coin--the muscular, overgrown men. Mostly used for comedic value or in a non-sexualized way, but there are a few. There are few...