On Thu, 4 Nov 1999, Deidre L. Calarco wrote:
> When I was 9-12 years old (late 70's, early 80's), I used to love comic
> books, especially Batman. I got teased mercilessly about it by my parents
> and their friends. Finally, I stopped reading them. I still liked them, but
> people had made it clear that it was an inappropriate thing for a teenaged
> girl to do. (Luckily, I didn't stop reading science fiction. I started
> sneaking around with it.) When I got to college, I found all these other
> people who liked computers, science fiction, and comic books - even a few
> other women. A lot of cool things had happened with comic books since I'd
> stopped reading them. I felt really stupid for buckling under pressure.
> Must have been a female socialization thing :-)
This reminds me of myself. :) When I was younger, I absolutely
/loved/ the Transformers, both the comic books and the TV series. I'd get
up to watch it with my brother.. all the while being teased by both my
parents and my peers, probably because I didn't show much interest in the
shows directed towards females my age. (Then again, I really didn't show
much interest in anything directed towards females my age, maybe that's
why I've never really 'fit in'.)
I ended up being a Transformer for Halloween (Voltron, specifically :),
and ended up being teased even more.. this is probably when I started
becoming closer to the males. *They* thought it was a cool costume. ;)
I wish they'd stress individualism more for young children, I play
somewhat of an 'older sister' role for my 8yo neighbor, and she's
constantly telling me how she's always being teased for not doing things
in the same way as everyone else.. (i.e. - she's a boy scout, not a girl
scout, that happened when she got bored with the girls, who went on one
camping trip that didn't include tents.. the leaders brought their motor
home, lol). She's much more happy spending time with the boys, which is
how I was (and usually still am.. considering the complete lack of
geek-females in my area).
To somewhat tie this back to women/issues (hopefully..), how would we make
an impression on young women that being yourself is ok? I did my own
thing in elementary/middle/high school, and I was usually alienated
because of it.
Amber
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