Geeks and Costumed Girls

Comic Con has come and gone. While I typically don't follow the event too closely, I will usually pop over to IGN and check out the cool costumes people come up with (still waiting for a Dragonball Z costume worn by someone with muscle mass). IGN has an unofficial poll for the best costume, which allows IGN readers and their staff to choose their own favorites. Reader voting is done by being shown 2 random people in costumes, and you can either vote for one of them or skip the choice. The matchups are quite random, and after a few clicks you'll start seeing a lot of repeats.

This is the first year I've actually noticed them posting the results, and I was... disappointed with my geeky brethren. You can check out the top 10 results for yourself here, or just keep reading and enjoy a rant.

The Readers' Choice winners were all girls. And I'm not talking girls who were dressed up as Boba Fett, where it was a cool costume that happened to be worn by a female. No, this was a gallery of boobs and bare legs (and a cool Deadpool costume), and it was utterly ridiculous compared to the less horny picks of the IGN editors.

Can we do more to reinforce stereotypes of geeks? "Hmm, boobs or a Cylon... Oh here's a tough one, pseudo-mermaids versus an awesome Green Arrow costume. But look, boobs!"

Yes, mermaids. #5 on the list is 2 girls with dyed hair wearing bras, shiny paints with a triangle pattern ("scales" I suppose) and... tissue paper? What the heck is going on here? The article can't even list a reference for them - at least the rest of the costumes are actually from a game or comic book. But mermaids... two girls looking like their going to a college party beat out all but 4 other costumes because why the heck not? I guess I should at least be grateful that they weren't wearing a black swimsuit with kitty ears and calling themselves Cat Woman.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't an indictment of women dressing attractively. Heck, how many comic heroins aren't based on sex appeal? But that's a rant for another day. This is aimed squarely at the IGN readers who looked through this gallery of costumes worn by people who worked very hard and just decided that their vote would go to the person least likely to date them.

This is why shows like the Big Bang Theory aren't offensive. We go up in arms over the media showing us as socially inept losers who will do anything for a pretty girl, yet he never wins her unless it's a comedy. Why? Because we portray ourselves as socially inept losers who quiver in the corner at parties, looking at all the girls but being too terrified to talk to one.

Girls are people. Whether to their benefit or detriment, they shouldn't be judged differently because they're nice to look at. Yes, most guys are wired to enjoy girls, but using that as an excuse to let them win a game for showing you cleavage is no more acceptable than mocking them for playing Warmachine because "Girls can't play games."



What bothers me most about things like the IGN poll is that is makes a mockery of guys and "average" girls who are true geeks, but don't serve as eye candy. Take a look at the picks from the IGN editors for an idea of what should have been given higher mention. Lego Robin, Hawkeye, Darth Revan (maybe one of my favorite costumes of all, and I don't even like Star Wars)... these are the things we should look forward to from cosplayers. Hard work and accuracy that brings the comic and video game heroes we love to life and makes us take notice of the awesome costume, not the breasts beneath it regardless of what covers them.... that's what we should encourage.

To clarify, I also don't want to take anything away from the work that the top 10 winners put in to their costumes. They aren't somehow wrong for being a female who cosplays. I voted for the #1 Harley Quinn costume every time I saw it because the work is amazing (seriously, that hammer!). The psycho from Borderlands is crazy-creepy authentic, and Deadpool is an example of a cool costume that just happens to be worn by a girl.

But the mermaids making top 5... that's where I lost it, and that's where geeks should be embarrassed. We don't need to be a stereotype. We aren't like those cool "macho" guys who feel the need to forget that women are more than a physical object.

Judge them by their level of geekiness, not as some fantasy-made-flesh. Can they argue that Batman killed Joker at the end of The Killing Joke? Is their favorite Star Wars character not from films or TV shows? Do they enjoy killing goblins in D&D or getting headshots in Halo? Awesome, that means they're a geek worth hanging out with. Are they a female too? Groovy - it doesn't matter because a geek's value is found in the mind anyway!

Let girls know that they're equals in the world of geeks and not a novelty to be judged by different standards.


See you tomorrow, possibly with something less controversial!

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