New issue of Transformative Works and Cultures on comics fandom

fanhackers:

Fan studies journal Transformative Works and Cultures has published its thirteenth issue on comics fandom. Here are links to all the articles, on topics ranging from women in comics fandom to fans on 4chan to Captain America and various other Avengers-related things. Enjoy! As usual, we’ll be posting some good quotes from the articles too.

Editorial:

Matthew J. Costello: The super politics of comic book fandom

Theory:

Suzanne Scott: Fangirls in refrigerators: The politics of (in)visibility in comic book culture

Praxis:

Catherine Coker: Earth 616, Earth 1610, Earth 3490—Wait, what universe is this again? The creation and evolution of the Avengers and Captain America/Iron Man fandom

Lyndsay Brown: Pornographic space-time and the potential of fantasy in comics and fan art

Tim Bavlnka: /Co/operation and /co/mmunity in /co/mics: 4chan’s Hypercrisis

Symposium (short articles):

Forrest Phillips: Captain America and fans’ political activity

Babak Zarin: The advocacy of Steve Rogers (aka Captain America), as seen in hetrez’s “Average Avengers Local Chapter 7 of New York”

Amanda Odom: Professionalism: Hyperrealism and play

Rebecca Lucy Busker: Fandom and male privilege: Seven years later

Kayley Thomas: Revisioning the smiling villain: Imagetexts and intertextual expression in representations of the filmic Loki on Tumblr

Ora C. McWilliams: Who is afraid of a black Spider(-Man)?

Interviews:

Matthew J. Costello: Interview with comics artist Lee Weeks

Kate Roddy, Carlen Lavigne, Suzanne Scott: Toward a feminist superhero: An interview with Will Brooker, Sarah Zaidan, and Suze Shore

Reviews:

Daniel Stein: “Comic books and American cultural history: An anthology,” edited by Matthew Pustz

Drew Morton: “Of comics and men: A cultural history of American comic books,” by Jean-Paul Gabilliet

dazzledfirestar replied to your post: What’s something that you did/had done to you, sexually, that surprised you with how much you enjoyed or liked it?
Can I just… on bringing feminism into the discussion. Nope. NO! Preferences in a BDSM or sexual experience have nothing to do with how much of a feminism one is. Ugh. Things that drive this little sub nuts! >.<

Absolutely.

I really hate that that’s such a common misconception, that knowing what you like and not being ashamed of it is somehow something that means you are less autonomous or supportive of your gender being autonomous? It makes no sense at all. 

I’ve also gotten “wait, your (male-assigned) partner has other women? how can you be feminist and part of a harem?” after explaining polyamory, which, for fuck’s sake, that’s really insulting.

friendly reminder that 

  • you don’t have to call out oppression
  • you don’t have to shut up about oppression
  • you don’t have to be a nice oppressed person
  • you don’t have to be an angry oppressed person
  • you don’t have to identify primarily by what you’re oppressed by at all
  • you don’t have to censor your anger, or your naming and shaming
  • you don’t have to take shit from people saying “not all allies are like that” because you have the fucking right to be frustrated and generalize, they’ve been taking liberties with that about you for years anyway
  • you don’t have to be nice to allies who talk over you at all
  • you don’t have to spend energy fighting bigots or making the world a better place or whatever, your survival and well-being and happiness are more important
Rape culture,” as young feminists now call this, isn’t limited to India. It lives anywhere that has a “traditional” vision of women’s sexuality. A culture in which women are expected to remain virgins until marriage is a rape culture. In that vision, women’s bodies are for use primarily for procreation or male pleasure. They must be kept pure. While cultural conservatives would disagree, this attitude gives men license to patrol—in some cases with violence—women’s hopes for controlling their lives and bodies.
Purity Culture Is Rape Culture

bloggers tired of tumblr, try Quora

Seriously. I’ve really enjoyed the place - it’s much more adult in tone than Tumblr is, and it somehow manages to be a community despite the question-answer format. Like a very grown-up, intellectual Yahoo! Answers. Oh, and you can blog there or create pages to pin posts and answers to, like a little mini tumblelog.

Being thanked for answers that stem from my personal experience is just the most rewarding thing, and I’ve had lots of great dialogue about gender and feminism over there, and read even more very insightful, gracious answers to somewhat less insightful questions.

Great community.

whoneedsfeminism: I need feminism because I seem to be the only person I know who realises that selling sex, condones selling sex. That every woman who would take her clothes off on stage, condones the woman who is forced to take her clothes off. Uh, no. I find this an incredibly offensive idea.  Would you say that all graphic designers are condoning the actions of those companies which rip off poor art students by getting them to do designs for next to nothing? Would you say that people who screen-print their own shirts and sell them condone sweatshop labour? At least the latter should get you saying &#8220;Well, no! They&#8217;re providing an ethical alternative.&#8221; Yes, they are. That&#8217;s it. What&#8217;s wrong with women enjoying sex? Nothing. What&#8217;s wrong with men enjoying sex? Also nothing. And if anyone of any gender wants to pay someone to take their clothes off, if they ensure they&#8217;re going to a decent establishment and don&#8217;t turn a blind eye to signs of exploitation or objectify the workers, what&#8217;s wrong with that? What&#8217;s the difference between people consensually enjoying sex for which money is exchanged and that for which nothing is exchanged? Exploitation is a problem. Objectification is a huge problem - not so much in the sex industry itself, as in the way this industry is regarded by the public. Today on facebook an acquaintance posted something about being so gorged with food he was &#8216;as stuffed as a whore&#8217;s bra&#8217;. It&#8217;s that sort of casually demeaning attitude toward sex workers (hell, and women in general) we should be fighting. Because when people don&#8217;t think of them as people, that&#8217;s what feeds exploitation, the apathy and willingness to just treat them as tools to get off to.  I would much, much rather work in a BDSM dungeon than in fast food, because the latter makes me nauseous and panicky and the former doesn&#8217;t. Does that make me somehow worthy of your judgement? Does enjoying playing a dom or sub mean someone is condoning sexual assault? Does any activity where informed consent is given by all parties ever equal the same activity where consent was never given, or where it is coerced or withdrawn partway through? No. Conflating the two, and worse, condemning those who do not as this post does, is both perpetuating the gross disrespect society has for those who choose an occupation in this field because they *gasp* enjoy or are good at it, and erasing the individual stories of those who have come to the field through less than ideal means by painting every one of them with the same brush, deeming all their experiences the sort of bone-crushing awful that everyone assumes they must be. It is perpetuating the madonna/whore binary: if you&#8217;re a good girl, you&#8217;re always good; if you&#8217;re a bad girl you&#8217;re a horrible contagious contaminator of society. This is the sort of stereotype feminism should be eliminating. Cut the bullshit, please. Just because you&#8217;d never willingly take your clothes off for money doesn&#8217;t mean that others, even sexual abuse survivors like me, uniformly feel the same. Don&#8217;t put words in my mouth.
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whoneedsfeminism:

I need feminism because I seem to be the only person I know who realises that selling sex, condones selling sex. That every woman who would take her clothes off on stage, condones the woman who is forced to take her clothes off.

Uh, no. I find this an incredibly offensive idea. 

Would you say that all graphic designers are condoning the actions of those companies which rip off poor art students by getting them to do designs for next to nothing?

Would you say that people who screen-print their own shirts and sell them condone sweatshop labour?

At least the latter should get you saying “Well, no! They’re providing an ethical alternative.”

Yes, they are. That’s it. What’s wrong with women enjoying sex? Nothing. What’s wrong with men enjoying sex? Also nothing. And if anyone of any gender wants to pay someone to take their clothes off, if they ensure they’re going to a decent establishment and don’t turn a blind eye to signs of exploitation or objectify the workers, what’s wrong with that? What’s the difference between people consensually enjoying sex for which money is exchanged and that for which nothing is exchanged?

Exploitation is a problem. Objectification is a huge problem - not so much in the sex industry itself, as in the way this industry is regarded by the public. Today on facebook an acquaintance posted something about being so gorged with food he was ‘as stuffed as a whore’s bra’. It’s that sort of casually demeaning attitude toward sex workers (hell, and women in general) we should be fighting. Because when people don’t think of them as people, that’s what feeds exploitation, the apathy and willingness to just treat them as tools to get off to. 

I would much, much rather work in a BDSM dungeon than in fast food, because the latter makes me nauseous and panicky and the former doesn’t. Does that make me somehow worthy of your judgement? Does enjoying playing a dom or sub mean someone is condoning sexual assault? Does any activity where informed consent is given by all parties ever equal the same activity where consent was never given, or where it is coerced or withdrawn partway through?

No. Conflating the two, and worse, condemning those who do not as this post does, is both perpetuating the gross disrespect society has for those who choose an occupation in this field because they *gasp* enjoy or are good at it, and erasing the individual stories of those who have come to the field through less than ideal means by painting every one of them with the same brush, deeming all their experiences the sort of bone-crushing awful that everyone assumes they must be. It is perpetuating the madonna/whore binary: if you’re a good girl, you’re always good; if you’re a bad girl you’re a horrible contagious contaminator of society. This is the sort of stereotype feminism should be eliminating.

Cut the bullshit, please. Just because you’d never willingly take your clothes off for money doesn’t mean that others, even sexual abuse survivors like me, uniformly feel the same. Don’t put words in my mouth.

whoneedsfeminism:

I need feminism because…NOT because I feel pressured in to changing my appearance…I enjoy makeup, being slim, dressing up, & looking my best (by my own standards)! NOT because patriarchy is holding me down…I have NEVER felt threatened or judged because of my gender. NOT for my own sake…because I’m not a stuck up brat creating non-existent problems for myself in order to feel political…I need feminism for Malala, who got shot in the head for her right to an education, for those who are stoned or beaten by their own families for talking to another man — for all the women in places where patriarchy still actually exists..we don’t need feminism for our own shallow problems, THEY DO!

I feel like this is actually quite offensive if thought about. “Our shallow problems” “where patriarchy still exists”, etc. Being sheltered is no excuse for either what appears to be a white-saviour complex or for assuming that nobody else in the first world has serious problems with the patriarchy.