Blogs You Should Be Reading

The way women are depicted in geekdom art is insane. From comics to manga/ anime to video games to RPG art to urban fantasy book covers, you've got to wonder if these illustrators have ever seen real women before.

You know I've sounded off about this with my paperback boobs post and guide to urban fantasy covers post.


Want more?

How about fantasy author John C. Hines attempting to contort himself into urban fantasy cover art poses with painful, funny, and insightful results?* Yes, please. 

Or Escher Girls, a Tumblr account showcasing how ludicrous this art really is? Don't Mind if I do.

To balance it out, make sure you visit the Tumblr Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor, to reassure yourself that yes, women can be depicted with anatomy and clothing within the bounds of reality and some people out there are actually doing it. Hell to the yes.

And finally, for you gamers out there, Go Make Me a Sandwich provides, "A (mostly) humorous look at how not to sell games to women." Yes yes yes!

Now, read and get fired up and spread the word!

FUN FACT: during adolescence, there were three girls I wanted to be like:

1. Sailor Venus: kickass fighter with super skinny thighs

2. Buffy Summers/ Sarah Michelle Gellar: Sure she could kick your ass but SMG was and continues to be my height and about half my weight (here's my favorite photo of her from those days, which I aspired to)

3. Caitlin Fairchild: from the short-lived, X-men ripoff comic book series Gen 13. She was smart, responsible, the group leader, and her power was super strength (I really like super strength). Plus, she had red hair.

Also, she looked like this:

I thought I couldn't be beautiful unless I looked like them. A part of me still does. I struggle with my body image ever single day. By allowing this sort of art to continue, this is what we're telling young women.

If we don't stand up and say this isn't okay, who will?



*Much thanks to my friend and fellow writer Jazz Sexton for sharing the Hines post with me. You can check out her blog Write the World here. Go say hello!