ladiesincomicbookstores:

Name: Holly

Works at: Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles, California

When: 1-18-12

Editor’s note: OK! This photo technically breaks my own rules about the pictures on this blog not being sneaky-looking, but Holly both suggested and approved of this picture of her checking out a customer over all the other pictures I took of her! So… It’s OK, but only in this context!

I chatted with Holly as I waited for female customers to come up to the counter. I can’t believe I hadn’t met her before considering I’ve been buying stuff at Meltdown for nearly two years now! 

Anyway, we got into a discussion with one of Holly’s male co-workers about why lady geeks are considered to be much cooler than male geeks. I finally pin-pointed what I wanted to say during that conversation, but couldn’t formulate then: Lady geeks don’t really want to be cool for being a lady who is a geek. Or, at least, I don’t personally know any ladies who are primarily concerned with being a geek just to be cool. Most lady geeks just want to be considered just as normal as guy geeks, not special in any way.

It’s almost surprising that in 2012 that lady-geekdom is a foreign concept to some. Even Holly has to deal with men who don’t acknowledge her insight in the store, but will give all their attention to what her male co-workers have to say; even if they’re saying the same thing! In Los Angeles, in one of the areas of the city where defying stereotypes is de rigueur. (Meltdown and my neighborhood are right next door to West Hollywood. It’s not unusual to see men walking down the street in dresses here.)

What makes Holly so different than any other comic book fan? She can argue about whether or not Alan Moore and Frank Miller are any good just like any other geek. She can also get so into discussing her love for H.P. Lovecraft that she nearly forgets to charge a customer for his pull list. Holly is a geek through and through, no matter what her gender is.

So the problem really lies with so many geeks thinking of another geek’s gender before thinking, “Hey! Another geek!” Until that changes, lady geeks are rather forced to become cool, to become unusual, to celebrate themselves like we are doing here. Because that’s really the easiest, fastest way to become a normal geek.