Being Geek Chic is a blog about one woman navigating the male-dominated industries of production and tech. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi, Founder, CEO and Director of Mighteor - one of the world's first internet video production companies. Learn more about Mighteor here.
I’m tired of constantly pointing out sexism in the entertainment + media + production industry. At cocktail parties. In pitch meetings. In conversations with my team, my family, my friends and my mentors. It’s a seemingly endless well of awful that never runs dry. So much so, that a year ago, I straight up decided that I was only going to focus on the positive ways we can change the industry.
But today I’m going to have to step away from my previously valiant effort to talk about something that is so pervasive, and yet, so silent that it’s difficult to talk about. It’s about how we teach little boys and little girls to experience and process stories about the opposite gender. Specifically, it’s about how that phenomena negatively impacts how we view entertainment later in life and contributes to a silently socialized sexism that is almost impossible to call out.
Well, guess what: I’m calling it out.
Or at least I’m going to attempt to. In March of this year, the new Ghostbusters trailer was released to mixed reviews - for all of a minute. And then, the reviews turned ugly. So much so, that the trailer is now the most disliked movie trailer of all time, according to YouTube. What does that look like in real numbers? 841,930 Dislikes. If genuine fans of the original franchise were so hard up on repping the OG, then I guess I could see why they would feel the need to put down the reboot in the form of an internet thumbs down. But we all know that this is not where that story is going.
Since the trailer’s release, the film, the actors and director Paul Feig have been the targets of unprecedented negativity unlike any reboot has ever seen. I am going to call it bullying, because frankly, that’s what it is. I’m not going to give it the time of day by sharing some of the comments here, but if you want to, just look at the comments on ANY news story about Ghostbusters. If you’re not depressed after five minutes, you have a special talent. CBS News laid it out pretty simply:
“So what makes this trailer so much more objectionable than others, like the critically panned “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” (16,495 dislikes) or last year’s “Fantastic Four” reboot (7,391 down-votes)?”
Keep in mind, we know just how bad the movies above are already. The negative reaction to Ghostbusters is based entirely on a 2 minute trailer which reveals very little about the actual plot of the movie. Who has ever said: “I loved the trailer, but hated the movie!” No one. Ever. In the history of time. As a result, it’s hard not to immediately assume that the negative reaction to the trailer and the film is based entirely on the gender of the people in it. And if you want to disagree, you can feel free to go check out all the comments on the video itself on YouTube. Again, I refuse to give those kinds of comments space on this blog, but they basically amount to a violent hatred of women having a role in the Ghostbusters franchise and how utterly unfunny the women in the film will be.
If you think that the reaction to Ghostbusters is a solitary one that is isolated to this individual reboot, I invite you to look at a similar phenomena recently uncovered by the data blog, FiveThirtyEight. It turns out that when men and women rate television shows on IMDB, women generally rate male-led programming the same way men do. But men? Well, men seem to apply a “lady-centric” de-merit to any television show that primarily features women. If Ghostbusters exists on the troll end of the spectrum, then the findings about television show ratings on IMDB may serve as a median. Specifically:
“Women gave their top 100 shows, on average, a 7.8 rating, about the same score they gave the top 100 male-dominated programs, 8.0. …Men gave their top 100 an average score of 8.2 but gave the top 100 female-skewed shows a mere 6.9 average ratings. Shows with more than 10,000 ratings are inherently popular and yet men thought the programs in that group that skew female were below average.”
Does this apply to all men? No. #NOTALLMEN. Amen. But, when looking at data in aggregate of larger cultural phenomena around the preferences of male and female consumers, it’s important to note that outliers are not the story. And while the screaming trolls on YouTube might also be another kind of outlier, the nature of anonymous points-based reviewing that doesn’t require prosaic use of the comments section to share sexist slurs, reveals how the male community at large generally views programming that primarily casts the opposite sex. It doesn’t mean they are misogynist. It doesn’t mean they are sexist. It doesn’t mean they are bad people. What it means is that at some point, they are taught that shows about women are somehow not capable of being analyzed and reviewed in the same objective way. And that somehow, the factor that determines “how good” a show is, is in part, determined by the sex of the stars.
What FiveThirtyEight’s analysis doesn’t reveal is whether or not these men and women actually watched the shows in question. However, I think there’s one subset of data that they didn’t really dive deeply into that really highlights just how actively a certain subset of male internet users will go to ensure that the qualitative rating of entertainment featuring women is exceptionally lower than that of their male-starring programming. Looking at shows with more than 10,000 user reviews on IMDB, there are only 2 shows that women rated a full point lower than men. One of them is Beavis and Butt-Head. The other is Star Wars: Clone Wars. However, the list of shows that men rated a full single point lower than women rated them? 50. FIFTY FREAKING SHOWS.
Amongst these shows is Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which I have to point out featured a younger Paul Feig as science teacher Mr. Pool. But you probably won’t be surprised to find nearly every single Shonda Rhimes show on the list, either.
If you’ve stuck with me this long, congratulations. I’m finally going to make my larger point. Thank you. Thank you for being patient.
This behavior, this seemingly latent “female deduction” that happens to our entertainment does not happen in a vacuum. For years, our media has been asking the obnoxious question of: Can women be funny? I contend that what we are actually dealing with on a cultural level is much more negative. The real question is: Are women ALLOWED to be funny in our entertainment? And that doesn’t just happen. That is socialized in us from a very young age.
So, where does this come from? Bold statement time: Children’s freaking books.
A few years ago, J.K. Rowling made news when she revealed that her publisher had asked to her change her name to the more male sounding “J.K” for the Harry Potter series for fear that little boys wouldn’t pick up a book written by a woman. And while that story is a perfect illustration of just how subliminal this kind of subtle sexism has been in publishing, I contend that little boys are taught from a very early age that stories about women are rare and not for them. This is not necessarily explicitly said. Rather, this is implicitly indicated by the sheer volume and exposure to the kinds of stories that are told. Little girls? Well, there are no options. So nearly every story is for them. And the data backs this up. Unsurprisingly, this goes ALL the way back to your picture books.
As the Wall Street Journal reports:
“A 2011 Florida State University study found that just 7.5 percent of nearly 6,000 picture books published between 1900 and 2000 depict female animal protagonists. … No more than 33 percent of children’s books in any given year featured an adult woman or female animal, but adult men and male animals appeared in 100 percent of the books.”
When only 7% of children’s picture books feature female characters, female characters become abnormal. If something is abnormal, it isn’t widely accepted. And if that precedent begins before you can even read or write, you are bound to start to have some unconscious bias. In fact, research finds that this bias sets in by the time boys are in the fourth grade:
“Two studies, one from 1978 and one from 1988, did find that boys expressed a preference for male characters, but the youngest age group studied was the fourth grade, at which point it is impossible to separate nature from nurture.”
Let me reiterate that this is not all men. I know plenty of men who love shows and movies starring women. But this is a ground up problem. This starts from before the moment a child is born when books are wrapped and packaged and delivered to waiting parents eager to raise smart and well-balanced kids.
How can we possibly expect Hollywood to change if we teach little boys from the time they learn their very first words that female characters are not the norm? How can we expect a Ghostbusters reboot to receive the same warm reception as a Jurassic Park remake in a culture that celebrates male heroism and applies sex-based penalties to media starring women? And how can we expect female storytellers to receive opportunities from the powers that be when the socialized belief amongst 50% of the population is that women’s stories are unpopular before they’ve even seen it?
We can’t.
We must be better. And it starts with little boys.
Saying hard things is… hard. If the truth is true, why can it be so difficult to reveal it? To shine light on the ugly underbelly of reality? It’s not saying the words that’s hard. It’s all the subtext that goes with the text. And as a woman in tech, it seems there are very few things that can get categorized as easy. One would hope the truth would be one of those things. It’s not.
A few months ago, I found myself directly hearing and witnessing sexual harassment at a tech start-up that was, well, surprising. It wasn’t shocking because of the disgusting language or the words themselves, but because this startup, by all standards, was super progressive in its hiring practices. Nothing about it struck me as a Silicon Valley-esque bro-den. There were lots of women and people of all ages. In fact, I was attracted to this place because of the fact that it seemed so different from what I would expect.
And yet, even in the best of circumstances, there was blatant sexually dismissive language being thrown around.
As a female geek or woman working in tech, many of us haven’t faced discrimination or violent language head on. We’ve heard it on the periphery. We’ve witnessed it happening to other women, like Anita Sarkeesian or the other women involved in Gamer Gate. We’ve seen it used for comic relief in television and movies. So hearing it first hand or being the target of it, can actually be paralyzing.
But here’s the thing, we MUST REFUSE to be silent.
I work in the intersection of two industries that have traditionally been dominated by men: production and tech. I’ve always felt blessed to be the lady squirrel in a forest full of dudes. It’s served me incredibly well and actually made me bolder, stronger and braver than I ever thought I could be. However, despite all this experience and knowledge, I too, was totally let down and deflated by witnessing this sexist BS. And I hate to say that it took me weeks to say anything.
But I did say something. I said: hey, this is not OK. And guess what, I survived it.
These principles don’t just have to apply to hearing sexist language, I might add. We know what’s wrong when we hear it. Too often, we think it’s US and not THEM. It’s neither. It’s just being able to decipher between right and wrong.
So, if you know it’s wrong, here’s some things to keep in mind when you go stand in that truth:
1. State the facts. The truth doesn’t lie. What did you hear. What did you see. When did you hear it. Who was there. Simple. Straightforward. To the point.
2. Write it down. Sometimes, it’s easier to start thinking through those facts if you take the time to pen out everything. No detail is too small. If you’re not sure - just say - you’re not sure, but get it on paper.
3. Don’t worry about being the morality police. It’s not your responsibility to decide who intended what or meant nothing or something. If you’re living by the ethos that you need to say something, then stick to the facts. Adding your moral perspective isn’t required.
4. Accept that this conversation will be uncomfortable and imperfect. This is undoubtedly the thing that keeps most people from saying anything. I’m here to tell you: it will be weird. You won’t like the way you say things. You will play over it in your head and wonder if you could have said or done something differently. You will analyze facial expressions and blinks. Just stop. Accept the reality of it and just give yourself kudos for walking into a socially challenging situation.
5. Follow up. In the circle of difficulty that this entire process will be, I assure you, the follow up is the easiest. The facts are on the table. The people who need to know, know. But letting them know that you are still thinking about it and want an action plan is an important detail. It makes others accountable and takes some of the responsibility off of you.
One of the things that I found so strange in going through this myself was that others kept asking me if I needed a “break” - time away from the job at hand or the people in the setting who had spoken the ugly words I had to report. This was perhaps one of the most upsetting things about the whole process, because it felt a little like I was being asked to exile myself for shining the light on the ugly.
Part of being a truth teller is being willing to stand strong in that truth and not hide.
Don’t hide. I’ll stand with you.
A week and a half ago, I posted a worthy read about sexism in geek culture, which has received quite a bit of attention on both sides of the issue. Now, here I sit utterly disappointed in the human race after watching the Gamer Girl Manifesto. The video is now in the 6-digit views range, but despite the fact that the message is getting out, many of those receiving it are proving that sexism in geek culture is more real than ever.
Look at that scoring for starters: It’s predominently thumbs down. What could possibly be so offensive that this gets a larger percentage of thumbs down ratings than divisive political commentary? Or videos of Nickelback lyrics scrolling by?
Why is the message of: “Online we’re all on the same team” is so difficult to understand and accept. All you have to do is take a look at the comments to see just how out of touch the vast majority of the viewers have been. This genius had to go so far as to suggest that humility is the issue at heart.
And don’t forget ladies: if you aren’t “attractive” by some random assholes definition, then you shouldn’t even be speaking.
I wish that these comments were few and far between. However, comments like these are scattered throughout and are a sure way to dig yourself in a deep, dark depressing hole.
If you don’t think there is sexism in geek culture: take a look around. It’s not just this video, it’s on the message boards, it’s on Reddit, it’s in the comments section on TechCrunch and every other damn tech blog. It’s online when women are gaming and it’s in comic book stores. And if a woman says anything about it, we should all point out how unattractive they should feel.
I have a proposal: a new hierarchy of nerds who actually embody the lives that we have found refuge in. Their cause: teaching other nerds why their ignorance to these issues and acceptance of it harms us all.
The protective feelings that we have for our beloved characters, games, books, blogs, etc. should apply to one another. It’s that simple.
We don’t always agree with the people that we respect. Some times their ideas might be further to the left or right than our own, but it’s the fact that you can have an intelligent conversation about it that makes the respect and admiration grow. This is definitely the case when it comes to me and Meghan McCain. After reading her blog post on the Daily Beast this morning on Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, I thought, Ms. McCain needs to be our Lady Geek of the Week.
Meghan deserves the Lady Geek of the Week crown for her witty writing, her embrace of the blogosphere as a platform and her active posting on both her own blog, McCainBloggette and the Daily Beast. Thanks to said blogs, she has been able to get a new and fresh opinion from the Right side of the political spectrum that embraces gay marriage and has a more lenient stance on a wide range of social issues.
Take for example, her aforementioned post today:
I love women in politics. Even if our political ideology diverges, I respect any woman who goes into what is still, depressingly, a man’s world. Any woman willing to put up with the inevitable sexism that correlates with seeking political office deserves to be admired on some level, because she is helping to continue to break that glass ceiling. And if a woman running for office and I have similar political views, I am even more enthusiastic.
No matter what your political opinions are, it is great to have a young, bright and up and coming political voice talk about these issues. Sexism in politics is a long running story line, but if we can’t talk about it on the blogosphere and if we can’t embrace what it means for everyone, not just those that we agree with - then will we ever break that “glass ceiling?”
So here’s to you Meghan. For your tech-savvy, your insightful blogging and your willingness to be a voice of new ideas, we choose you as our Lady Geek of the Week.
