It’s 2014 and women still can’t go into comic book shops without getting shit from self-appointed nerd gatekeeper dudes. Geekdom, I am disappointed in you.
Seriously. Jennie Garth levels of disappointed in this bullshit.
I’ve been a fan of Noelle Stevenson‘s (known as gingerhaze on Tumblr) for a couple of years now. I first came across her Avengers fan drawings, and I’m super excited about her success with webcomic Nimona and her published comics with BOOM! Studios. It’s cool to follow someone’s career and see them succeed.
But when I saw the comic she posted yesterday about her experiences in comic book shops, I was… well, I was angry first. I was pissed off to high heaven that she doesn’t want to go into comics shops thanks to the asshole gatekeepers who make it their duty in life to close ranks and try to force women out of their precious fandoms. But to be honest, I wasn’t surprised by it.
I first started buying comics about 15 years ago. I got into X-Men thanks to the movie, but I also liked reading Witchblade and some other stuff in that vein. My first experiences with comic book shops were… not great. I mostly got ignored while the clerks talked to my now-ex, who really wasn’t into comics at all. In one shop, an employee followed me around the boxes of back issues, breathing heavily. A guy at the shop I went to every week for a couple of years would consistently say stupid shit to me like, “Hey, it’s a vampire romance comic. Ladies like that stuff, right?” when I asked about a new superhero title. When I met my husband’s friend and mentioned that I read comics, he immediately quizzed me on who the writer was on the X-Factor run at the time, like I couldn’t be a real comics nerd if I didn’t have whatever trivia memorized (it was Peter David, for the record).
But lately it hasn’t been too bad. I’ve gotten back into buying comics, and I’ve had some really good experiences at great shops. The local shop in my town is kind of hit or miss. There’s a young woman who works there, and the owner and a couple of the guys are very friendly. Some of the other guys completely ignore me when I go in. I do think that next time I get ignored while the clerks mutter to each other over their miniature game pieces, I’m going to mention it. Guys. Hello. Potential paying customer here who can’t find a current issue.
Because let’s get down to it: when comic shop employees ignore or otherwise make potential customers feel unwelcome, they are losing business.
Now, they shouldn’t be sexist assholes in the first place, and imagining yourself a self-appointed arbiter of what is Nerdy Enough is just dickish. But even taking the sexism and nerd gatekeeping out of the picture, being a jerk to your customers means you’re going to lose money.
It would be nice and all to run a comics shop just because you love comics soooo much, but when it comes down to it, that shop exists to make money. If you don’t care about making money and just want to have a clubhouse where you can bask in the dusty greatness of a huge collection, you should start a comics museum.
This problem disproportionately affects female comics readers, judging by the anecdotes that I hear all the time online and from friends (and from myself). The casual sexism in many comics stores puts off female buyers, and though there aren’t any really reliable stats on women buying comic books, informal studies have shown that number is around 40% of comics readers.
Brick and mortar comic book shops are suffering thanks to the advent of digital comics (and online comic book piracy), so you think that they would want to increase their customer base by welcoming in everyone who’s interested. Alienating a significant percentage of your potential customers by acting like jackasses to women or giving them crap about reading “girly” books not only makes those guys shitty human beings; it also makes them shitty businesspeople.
Veering back to the subject of nerd gatekeeping, what it comes down to is this: nobody gets to decide who is or isn’t worthy of calling themselves a geek. There is no Geek High Council. There’s no Geek Entrance Exam where you have to be able to name every writer/artist for each Avengers title and issue span for the last 50 years.
Someone is a geek if they believe that they’re a geek. And you don’t get to tell them otherwise.
If someone says they’re a geek and is interested in something that you love, you should share that shit with them! You have someone new to talk to! To introduce to all of the awesomeness that is Star Trek or comic books or tabletop gaming!
One argument that Noelle got a lot was “but I was bullied for being a nerd as a kid, so therefore everyone should have to suffer before they’re allowed to like what I like!” In other words, because they were bullied, they now take that as permission to bully other people who are new at it.
Bullshit. No one has to right to bully anybody.
I hope Noelle finds better comic book shops, because it’s a shame that a professional in the comics industry doesn’t feel welcome in them. I hope that every woman and girl and boy and man who wants to get into comics finds a great comics shop with friendly employees who’ll help them find a good place to start.
Head over to Tumblr to read the full comic and while you’re at it, read her gloriously articulate takedown of one of those self-appointed gatekeepers.
What have your comics shop experiences been like? Share your good, bad, and indifferent stories in the comments.
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