This comic came to my attention when we had the writer on our show. When I read his comic and realized I would have the opportunity to speak with the writer, I felt I had to speak with him and address how potentially hurtful his comic was. I hoped that I could take time on air to talk with the artist but, unfortunately, this was not the case. So, in order to clear my own conscience, I am writing a review of the comic, explaining why Geek Girl is doing more harm than good.
There are quite a few unsettling themes in the comic, first of which is the overwhelming amount of sexual references. Now there is nothing wrong with sexual references, but context is king. Most of these scenes make it seem like the characters involved are good for nothing else. For example, In the beginning of the comic, when Ruby decides that she wants the glasses that would give her super powers. In order to con them out of the man who invented them, she asks the friend who was with her at the time if she wanted to make out.
This, when first thought about, does not even make any sense. How would making out with someone else get the inventor to give her the glasses? In the next few panels you come to find that this makes the inventor and his colleague have the idea to play strip-poker with Ruby and her friend.
It’s a huge letdown that within the first few pages, this is how the author decides to introduce the character. She could have come up with a brilliant plan to take the glasses, or just have been strong enough to take them by force. But when she goes with the “make out” plan, it sets a tone for the rest of the story, making it seem like that was the best she could come up with, and the only thing she was good at was making herself seem sexually pleasing to men and hoping that they will give her what she wants.
This was not the only time in the story that gave off the impression that girls are only good for sex. Just a few pages later, when ruby walks into a club to meet up with some friends, you hear the end of a conversation between two people. One girl, (unnamed in the comic and referred to by the author as “The Bitch”,) was talking to her friend Caitlin about how her boyfriend was trying to convince her to do something. The author didn’t even bother to give this character an introduction, or even a name at all in this issue. The only way left for me to refer to her would be to say what relationship she has with a character. I could just say Ruby’s friend, but this describes a lot of people in the same scene. So the only way for me to actually specify that I am talking about this character would be to say that she is “Todd’s Girlfriend”. This shows that the author has little respect for his female characters, and even though he may not be doing this purposely, he is making this ‘bitch’ seem like nothing more than the possession of some unseen character.
Another problem here is that she is pin holed by the author into a very hurtful stereotype. The thing that her boyfriend was pressuring her to do was to try anal sex, and she said she would only do it if he would buy her something “really really expensive”. This shows like it’s alright to pressure people into doing something sexual that they would really not, as long as you compensate them with something. It also why was she not be able to pay for the things herself? This girl has been reduced to the stereotype of being someone's bitch who is worth it for the sex--an object..
Aside from the direct amount of sexism through sexual references, there was also the fact that the female figure didn’t have any identifying personality traits. When thinking of Jeff and Trevor, the only two male figures the issue, current characteristics can be picked out for each of them. Jeff enjoys poker, Megan Fox, and celebrating his good grades with a few too many alcoholic drinks. Trevor, who is referred to as a Scientific Brainiac by his friends, is not really into sports, but is hopelessly crushing on a waitress. For the first issue, this is a good amount of knowledge to have on people who are not the main character. But when thinking of the other people after reading, there is nothing to separate them from one another.
When getting to know a character, you pick up facts about them from side conversations. Jeff and Trevor were able to have tell us a little bit about them through their conversation, and it stuck in our brains. You would be hard pressed thinking of facts about the other characters in the book, and had to review and actually point to certain characters in order to let other people know who I was talking about. It can be said that Ruby wanted the glasses that gave her superpowers, and it can be said that her friend Summer is interested in fashion design, but other than that there is nothing that separates the female characters.
And, lastly, the geek shaming. When picking up this issue, I was hoping for some better representation for a group that could really use it. What I got instead was a misleading title followed by a lot of geek shaming. I am not referring to the huge amount of times that someone in the comic would make fun of the glasses for looking geeky; I am referring to how the author talked about the main character Ruby.
During the interview on the podcast, it was pointed out that Ruby was not actually a geek, and in reply to this comment, the author explained that “There is a glitch in the glasses programming that messes with her brain.” and “the glasses affect her mentally and physically and they change her” and says that as the story develops you will see more of this theme. He then continues by saying “Rather than it being the nerd becoming cool after they get their powers, like Spider Man, it’s the opposite around, its the cool kid becomes uncool, at least in the eyes of her clique”
Stated this way, it displays that 1) In order for a girl to be a geek, she literally needs to have something wrong with her brain, and 2) nerds are not cool and are less than other cliques.
Let me explain the dilemma on geek girls. There seems to be a lot of pressure on girls who are geeks to always prove themselves, or they risk not being taken seriously by their male geek peers. This kind of sexism I have actually run into myself. If you are unsure of what I am talking about, Buzz feed has some amazing videos perfectly displaying the issue. It is hard to say whether or not Ruby is in fact a geek at all, because of the lack of character development previously discussed..
When writing anything for any audience, one must think of the impact it will have. When talking about this comic to my father he said “There are two ways you can write about injustices and tragedies. One of them is bringing light to the problem so we can change it, or of people overcoming it. The second is talking about it in a way that makes it seem normal, or even perpetuates it.” If you write a story about someone dealing with these issues and overcoming them, then you can shed light on them, and help make change happen. When you write a story with these issues in them, and make it seem like they are just the way things are, you are perpetuating it, and you are part of the problem.
I hope that this review will shed some light on the offenses displayed in Geek Girl.
Zara Soliday
