July 22, 2013

Comic Con: Sunday and Sexism

Men at Arms, indeed.

When I rolled past this booth in the giant moving masses Tuesday, I did a double take on the words “Men at Arms.”  “You are sexist,” I told them.  “I was in the Army too.”  I laughed to take the sting out of the words; they laughed back.  But it is sexist.

Even when I was a kid, females in some comic strips had very exaggerated attributes.  Tiny waists, big boobs, huge hips were the norm in some strips like Terry and the Pirates.  Today, this attitude has gone beyond just a few strips to have become more of a norm in books and illustrations as well as comics. 

As I continued my roll through the Con, I noticed a high percentage of booths featuring buxom ladies…usually as heroines, than in past years.  Yes, there was some Miss Marple here.  Yes, too, there were acres of cats and dogs, triangles, and even landscapes.  But my sense of humor was captured by the avenues of breasts as they won the wars.

I began photographing the booths with my tongue stuck in my cheek.  Once we rolled into the Gaslamp District outside the Convention Center, my camera found acres of real women selling products while using their bodies as sales tools.  Sex sells indeed.  When the shorts or tights are tighter or shorter than the norm, sex really sells.

The Geezer and I joked that we should call one entry “Butts and Guts.”  No, I didn’t photograph the overweight man in the skin tight, see through, white hero suit with the tidy-whitey’s underneath.  My jaw dropping distracted me from my camera.  I shot a lot of other dramatic visions though. 

Sunday was kids day.  There were wonderful kids in costume everywhere, a Children’s Film Festival that lasted all day, panels discussing kids things, and a whole corridor set aside for real games the kids could play like Pokémon.  Little sexism this last day when much of the focus was on the kids.   We loved it all.


Life is Really in the Footnotes:
  • Himself:  Walked himself beyond pooped at Comic Con.  We hit two panels in one increasingly cold room: Writers who wrote on Monsters and Mortals, the second on Steampunk Generations.  He couldn’t find the T-Shirt he wanted… “My Military Industrial Complex is Bigger than your Military Industrial Complex.”  He had a ball though we both wore out by five pm.  Bed early.  Back to work today, back on Weight Watchers today.  Laundry today.  Back to meetings today too.
  • Herself:  Boy we had fun.  We grew increasingly cold, and I brought a jacket but he didn’t.  We were both ready to leave at five….just as it started to rain.  Yes, rain.  Today, we made a total mess of the house so I will clean it up, grocery shop, get batteries for the smoke alarms upstairs that went off last night.  I can do that sort of thing.  Counting down the days.  3 left.
  • Reading:  One of the Cadell’s.
  • Balance:  Home processing photos.  What fun.
  • 7 comments:

    1. As a long-ago fan of Terry and the Pirates, I do remember the exaggerated feminine forms. (Not that I was skinny myself, you understand, but no one really looked like that.)

      How could I explain that doing what guys did, didn't mean I was one of the guys?

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    2. I got confused. So the surgery is this week? Sexism is still pretty bad. The incidence of Marines and rape in Oceanside made the papers here. Dianne

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    3. Yes, sexism is alive and well. I'm glad you had such fun. I always. Love your posts.

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    4. I used to ask my mother if she named me for Terry (the pirates comic strip) but she spelled it differently. Sounds like you both had a great time.

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    5. Yes, I noticed the sexism in the costumes that you took photos of from past conventions. Boobies are the important attribute of the day. I wonder how we would feel if men padded their under ware in costume to make them well hung? Women do not focus on that to evaluate a guy, but men sure do focus on those mammaries.

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    6. Sounds like a GREAT but exhausting weekend!! Thinking of you as you count down the days! Love the costumes, you both look smashing!

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