Nerd Culture and Bronies- 1

Nerd Oppressors

I'm certainly not the first to point out that sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book culture has elements of patriarchy. Just last week, MovieBob Chipman authored a post called "On Geek Privilege" that is worth a read for anyone who has ever enjoyed an episode of Babylon 5. A touching and personal comic about the sexism in Cosplay can be found here by a woman named Paige whose work can be seen at thumbsart.

But with my analysis of masculinity, it becomes clear that all three dickheads of male oppression are on view in parts of nerd culture.

Warriors and Thugs; or DC and Marvel?

Boys will (wield violence) be
boys. Photo by Juppo Kelin.

The warrior/thug dichotomy drives most comic book stories, with so-called superheroes who almost always resort to violence to solve problems. None of these heroes ever seem to realize that violence only ever leads to more violence, so they are always shocked when some thug from their past comes back looking for revenge. If it weren't so terrifyingly realistic, it could almost be excused as naive. But most of the stories just turn out being horrific recreations of the excuses we Americans give ourselves every time we march off to battle in another country populated by people of color.

My Mint Condition is Better than Your Mint Condition
The second dickhead of male oppression, subjectification is a form of privilege. MovieBob gets at this point in the blog mentioned above. But by understanding subjectification, we start to understand how this privilege works. In order to become friends with a nerd, it helps to know about The Weeping Angels, Seven of Nine, and Merlot's. If some of that last sentence didn't make sense, you're not a real nerd (poser). When you take into account that most of the attendees of nerd conventions are young white men, it starts to seem like nerd culture has become a useful marker for privilege, just like the neighborhood where one lives, or one's knowledge of sports. Given how media conglomerates swoon over the comic, fantasy and sci-fi hoards, combined with the fact that silicon valley is having billionaire children like they are on Hobby Lobby's birth control plan (rhythm method), it's clear that nerd culture is now a proxy for class.

Why are so many of the
women in cosplay photos
skinny?
Poitr Konieczny took this
one.

Patriarchy = Subjectification + Warrior/Thug
Hierarchy is such an important part of masculinity that when I say, "Mine is bigger than yours," people know what I'm talking about (if you don't, ask your parents). To be successful in the hierarchy means being the most subjectified. This concept is introduced on the playground. Boys prove their masculinity by wielding violence. We all learned that "sissies hit girls." But what is the corollary? It's not that it is unmasculine to use force, because it is masculine as hell to hit just about anything EXCEPT girls, meaning other boys mostly. So "man up" by not letting him "disrespect" us, "don't be a chicken," "fight back," "show him what you're made of," and the most popular line in fiction of almost any kind, "get 'im." The hierarchy of boys, like the hierarchy of so many men before us, is a hierarchy of violence. Boys are either ass kickers or their asses are kicked, and we all know what those terms mean.

That is to say that my place in the hierarchy is directly related to a very real likelihood of getting my ass kicked. To paraphrase Catherine McKinnnon, "to be able to assault, a position that is social not biological, defines what a man is." Rich men are able to use their private (and sometimes taxpayer funded) armies to assault whomever they wish, while poor men are inordinately the objects of police violence. Eventually, most men use proxies instead of violence, like video games, knowledge of Stan Lee plot lines, or yellow-snow contests (don't ask). These proxies are the class markers that we call privilege.

So, nerd culture has protected ourselves from a threat of violence, not by liberating ourselves from the despicably archaic equation of extremist masculinity, but by creating a new equation that is almost as despicable while playing on similarly archaic themes incorporating lots of violence.

Whoa, that got heady. With all these sticks being swung, we need a carrot to keep us going.

This photo by Poitr Konieczny illustrates the
consolation prize. Fun, isn't it? Until you see
the face of the girl just behind Cat Woman.

Let's Go To Comiccon and Check out the Costumes and their Wearers.
The consolation prize is easy to identify. This third pivot on the oppressor dickhead triad makes sure that men want to be men. Men alienate ourselves from our communities in order to protect ourselves from the hierarchy of violence, so community where we can find it is one heck of a consolation prize. The community available at Comiccon, combined with the availability of fictional and cosplay sex targets, and awesome toys and entertainment create a wonderful carrot to keep young white men from liberation.

But one group of nerdy cohorts are fighting back in rainbow colors, with unicorn horns, pegasus wings, and a desire to solve problems through emotional intelligence instead of violence. Next week will be in acknowledgement (defense) of Bronies. Dude, you'll want to read this one (and it won't be nearly so heavy, I promise).

Domestic Violence is Gendered Violence

"If you are interested in working to end gender-based violence," the woman said to the room of students seeking their masters in criminal justice, "come see me."

Photo by Ben Pollard

Wow! I thought, I am interested in working to end gender-based violence. According to several studies available on the American Bar Association's webpage, the perpetrators of domestic violence and rape are overwhelmingly male. The teacher at the criminal justice school called these acts gender-based because she was looking at the gender of the victims. I am worried that 85-95% of the perpetrators are men.

Gender's Victimization

It isn't just that traditional gender has something to do with the victimization of women. Traditional masculinity causes the victimization of women. The old-school feminist movement of the 60's spoke a lot about the bribes, the carrots of masculinity, because women wanted a piece of that action. However, little has been said about the punishments, the sticks of masculinity.

This unattributed painting is a great metaphor for how a boy may manage to be feminine but not feminized; wield violence.

In an earlier blog, I described the cycle of masculanization, but I can summarize it here. A properly masculanized man must not be feminized. On the playground, when a boy refuses to fight back, he is girl-like, and he will often be subject to a beating, or at very least a tongue lashing/ostracizing. Masculanization is a relational activity. In order to be a "man/boy," all you have to do is point to something that is not you and say that's a "woman/girl." According to traditional masculinity, anything that is victimized is feminine, so if you victimize somebody, you are proving your masculinization. Too often, the thing feminized is another male who must then prove his masculinity. It is a desperate and impossible cycle that can only lead to more and more violence. This violence is often directed at our loved ones or even strangers in a movie theater.

That it is men who usually commit the mass stranger homicides at places like an Aurora movie theater, Virginia Tech, and Columbine is not simply a product of masculinity's influence on them. These are scared and violent people who are acting out on mental sickness. However, women are just as often unhealthy as men. Women should be committing crimes of violence just as often as men do, but they don't. It is the process of masculanization that brings unhealthy men to hurt others (even as it is the process of feminization that brings unhealthy women to hurt themselves in the cases of cutters and anorexia). So, it is indeed true that domestic violence, rape, and stalking are not just gender based, they are gender caused.

Ending the Cycle of Gender

When the professor at the school of criminal justice spoke about working to end gender based violence, she spoke about important and meaningful work. She was talking about stopping the perpetrators in their tracks by designing effective enforcement mechanisms that are sadly lacking. She was talking about making sure that women know there are places for them to turn so that they do not have to become one of the majority of women murdered by their intimate partner who had already left him. All of this is crucial work, but she was probably not talking about liberating men from masculanization so that gender caused crime will never happen again.

It may be too late for the perpetrators of gender caused crime. It may be that locking them up and restraining them is all that can be done. We cannot shame a masculanized man into feeling okay with being feminized. That only leads to more desperation in his need to masculanize himself by finding a victim. Similarly, punishing these men can't work. According to a study at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania 41% of domestic violence perpetrators reassault within 18 months of their first assault. We will never convince masculinzation to be okay with being feminized. Feminization is the thing that masculinzed men seek most to avoid. But for future generations, we can stop the gender cycle in its tracks.

In order to end gender-caused violence, we must truly value traditionally feminine skills. We must no longer denigrate housekeeping and childcare as something that liberated women seek to avoid. We must rather convince men that they are rewarding important and meaningful skills to be cultivated. In order to do that, the feminist movement needs to step up and start talking about liberating men. Because the appropriate response for a man who is recognized for being feminized is not, "who cares because women are equal," but "I appreciate you noticed because men are free."