Our Sister Site, Girl-Wonder.org
October 2008 Issue
Features
- From the Editors
- Craft Check: Framed Manual Art
Interviews
- Industry Interview: Jill Duffy, GameCareerGuide.com
- Blogger Interview: Trina Schwimmer of GamingAngels
Articles
- Our Sister Site, Girl-Wonder.org
Author: Robyn Fleming
- Conventions Should be Fun: The Con Anti-Harassment Project
Author: Elizabeth McDonald
- Seeing the Future of Game Design at the 2008 HMF
Author: Andrea Rubenstein
Robyn writes about Girl-Wonder.org, and how the site has impacted Cerise.
Elizabeth explains the Con Anti-Harassment Project, one of Girl-Wonder.org’s newest initiatives.
Andrea tells all about her first ever time attending the HAL-MODE FESTIVAL, where she was able to play video games made by students about to enter into the industry..
Gamer Stories
Reviews
- Darths & Droids
- Retro Review: Heroes of Might & Magic III Complete
Odds 'n Ends
I’ve been known to half-jokingly refer to Girl-Wonder.org as Cerise’s big sister, but all joking aside, the description is more accurate than not. The example of Girl-Wonder.org was a huge inspiration to Andrea Rubenstein and myself when we first began discussing the project that would turn into the Iris gaming community and Cerise Magazine. The thriving community of feminist and feminist-friendly comics fans that was coming together at Girl-Wonder.org was inspiring. And if comics fans could do it, why not gamers?
Because comics readers and gamers are often the same people, there’s considerable overlap between the audiences of Girl-Wonder.org and Cerise, and strong friendships between many of the organizers behind both sites. We learn from each other constantly, and get together for projects like the joint Girl-Wonder/Cerise party held at WisCon32.
Girl-Wonder.org has been the best kind of big sister to us, giving us an example to learn from as we were getting our start, and continuing to exchange ideas and support with us as we begin to grow up together. She’s two years old now, and in the middle of her second major fundraising event this month, and we thought it’d be a great time to honor our big sister with a special crossover issue of Cerise, and take a moment to reflect on some of her accomplishments.
Project Girl Wonder
Project Girl Wonder was one of the first big elements of the Girl-Wonder.org site, born out of frustration at the treatment of a prominent female character in the Batman mythos. According to the index page for the project:
A generation of Batman readers grew up with Stephanie Brown, who was a superhero character in the comics for more than a decade. She was a role model and hero for many. Then she was tortured to death in a sequence spanning a number of issues. She was treated as a sexual object, and her murder degraded her and degraded superhero comics in general. She has never gotten the credit she deserves from DC Comics since, on page or off.
Batman and other superhero stories are the modern age’s fables, and if we don’t stop the spread of this rot now they will be irrevocably corrupted by it.
Stephanie Brown is a symbol of the need for change. And we’re going to see that the change begins.
The project involved awareness raising and a letter-writing campaign, and served as a central rallying point that brought women who enjoy comics together. The response from fans was astonishing and heartening. And impressively, Girl-Wonder.org was able to retire the project in April of 2008, after the confirmed ret-conning of Stephanie Brown’s death.
Project Girl Wonder has shown us that members of fan communities can come together for a central cause, and that when they do, they really can impress creators with the need for changes in the way female characters are treated.
Female-Friendly Comic Book Store Map
A newer Girl-Wonder.org project is the simple yet powerful Female-Friendly Comic Book Store Map. Public enjoyment of our hobbies can be one of the most frustrating things about being geeks for many women. Trying to buy comics – or games – can be a disturbing experience fraught with sexual harassment.
Being able to locate stores that are woman-friendly in your area is a great tool, both for consumers and for store owners, who get promotion of their awesome establishments. And a resource like the Female-Friendly Comic Book Store Map can serve as an inspiration for the creation of similar databases for all kinds of venues.
The Con Anti-Harassment Project
Some of the women at Girl-Wonder.org are also behind the Con Anti-Harassment Project, an important movement that aims to make cons safe and fun for attendees by decreasing the incidence of sexual harassment. You can read more about CAHP in this issue of Cerise.
Here’s to You, Big Sis
We at Cerise and Iris are thankful for the existence of Girl-Wonder.org, and for all that has been accomplished and begun through that site. And we look forward to many more years of mutual support and encouragement.
