As I know, I agree with this completely, and am so glad that you posted it. I think that "safe space" is a really helpful and interesting way of grouping some of the wide-ranging issues that have come up in fandom lately - via Racefail, via S_D, via filters and flocks and bannination and so forth. Not that those things are equivalent, but they do all seem to touch on this issue, and it does seem to be one of the core issues that some people just outright refuse to get.
Anyhow! I don't have anything to say that you haven't said already, really, so basically this comment is just to say YES.
Yes -- I didn't mention scans_daily, but some of this was prompted around the discussions of the community, and the way in which a few people said things like "but if you want to read a bit before you buy a comic, just go to the shop and read it there."
I'm one of the people who is not comfortable in comic book shops -- clerks in one hit on me in a really skeezy way; in another, a clerk derided my comics in the "oh, but those aren't REAL comics, let me add this to your order so you can read some real comics*" way -- and so I think it's really telling, when people assume that's a comfortable thing to do.
*True story. He wouldn't ring me up without ... I forget what the comic was. I said I didn't want it, and he was like "but of course you want it!" oy.
that story is horrifying. and I am willing to bet that I could name the kinds of titles you were buying, and the kinds of titles being pushed on you as "real" comics. HI GENDERED GENRE DIVIDE WHAT'S UP.
I actually had a similar incident, once, in a way - when I worked at Corporation, I had a friend and fellow cubefarmer sniff disdainfully at the Fables trade I was reading - and bring in his copy of Sin City to lend me the next week. Because Sin City is about Gritty Reality, you see, it's Real Art in that way.
*sigh* I've stopped reading comics on a weekly basis since my kids were born, because most comic shops aren't places where I feel safe taking them.
It was one thing when it was just me, and I could stare down men who gave me shit (and in the last place we lived I had a couple of awesome Comic Book Store Guys who I knew would back me up if anyone did anything). It's a whole different thing when it's my daughter they're staring at. It's a lot scarier.
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Anyhow! I don't have anything to say that you haven't said already, really, so basically this comment is just to say YES.
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I'm one of the people who is not comfortable in comic book shops -- clerks in one hit on me in a really skeezy way; in another, a clerk derided my comics in the "oh, but those aren't REAL comics, let me add this to your order so you can read some real comics*" way -- and so I think it's really telling, when people assume that's a comfortable thing to do.
*True story. He wouldn't ring me up without ... I forget what the comic was. I said I didn't want it, and he was like "but of course you want it!" oy.
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I actually had a similar incident, once, in a way - when I worked at Corporation, I had a friend and fellow cubefarmer sniff disdainfully at the Fables trade I was reading - and bring in his copy of Sin City to lend me the next week. Because Sin City is about Gritty Reality, you see, it's Real Art in that way.
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It was one thing when it was just me, and I could stare down men who gave me shit (and in the last place we lived I had a couple of awesome Comic Book Store Guys who I knew would back me up if anyone did anything). It's a whole different thing when it's my daughter they're staring at. It's a lot scarier.
We get our comics at the library now.
And thank you; this is a really strong post.
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