If Being Like Her is Crazy, I Don't Wanna Be Sane

[dunmurderin]

Inspired by a post on my friends page that had a link to yet another Raksha-bashing thread. And of course the fact that Raksha was a 'crazy female fan' was most of the bashing. I got annoyed. And long-winded.

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What's amazing is that, near as I can tell, Raksha is no longer active in Transformers fandom and hasn't been for several years and people are STILL bitching about her. It's like she's the Female Transfan boogeyman brought out to scare all the little fanboys or something.

Raksha gets a lot of grief because she was/is very emphatic in her opinions about Transformers in general and the Decepticons in particular -- she considers Beast Wars Megatron to be a disgrace and a pretender to the name (not to mention she loathed Beast Wars the show); she also considers the Decepticons to be noble warriors on a par with Klingons from Star Trek. In her personal canon, Soundwave is a loyal follower of Megatron who wouldn't even consider blackmailing someone.

What people forget is that Raksha supported Transfandom before Transfandom was cool. She ran BotCon 1995 -- making her the first and possibly only female fan to do so. She's responsible for the first quasi-canonical female Decepticon, Nightracer who was the 1995 BotCon exclusive. She did a lot of work for the fannish community, some of which can still be seen today but instead of being appreciated for it, all folks can remember is that she's a 'crazy female fan'.

If she were a male fan, nobody would notice this. Or if they did, nobody would care. There are plenty of male fans out there who are just as strident, if not moreso, in their particular personal causes (I've never heard the guy who changed his name to "Optimus Prime" described within the community as a 'crazy male fan' -- crazy fan, maybe but for some reason his gender isn't part of why he's a crazy fan). Female fans stand out because either there aren't that many of us (nobody to my knowledge has done a census to say for sure what the division of male/female fans is) or there's the perception that there aren't that many of us because Transformers is technically a Boy's Toy (that's the division of Hasbro in charge of Transformers, GI Joe etc) so while there's nothing that stops girls/women from liking Transformers, the perception is that it should be something women wouldn't find interesting. Just like guys aren't supposed to like My Little Pony or Jem.

Some male fans aren't bothered by the idea of female fans; others seem to still be stuck in the playground mindset that girls shouldn't be touching their stuff and it's just all so dashedly unfair that girls show up and have the audacity to do girly stuff and not care that they're ruuuuuining things, Moooooom!!!

So, in order to try and keep their fandom male, some male fans turn to bashing any female fan they can find, particularly those female fans who are outspoken/different in their beliefs. This is where we get the stereotype that all female Transfans are either crazy, fat, ugly and/or gay (never minding that most male fans ain't exactly GQ models or Chippendales dancers themselves)-- it's just a further way to try and demonstrate that women/girls who like Transformers are different and 'unnatural' for enjoying hunks of plastic that turn into other hunks of plastic.

Because, really, I think that's the problem a lot of people had with Raksha in particular and female fans in general -- here's a person who is 'intruding' on male territory and who won't back down and conform when confronted with the majority opinion. And because Raksha is female in an allegedly predominantly male fandom, that's trotted out as the 'reason' why she's different and all other female fans are tarred with the same brush, unless they 'prove' they're not like Raksha. Or like slashers. Or like whatever example of 'crazy female fan' behavior the male fan in question doesn't like.

None of this is to say that male fans have an exclusive hold over shunning and excluding female fans. Female fans can be just as ruthless with each other but usually when it's female fans bashing other female fans, they're at least bashing each other over something other than gender. Even if the reason is as stupid as prefered method of writing TF smut, the fan in question is being judged based on their fannish opinions not their number of X chromosomes.

I've met Raksha and while I don't agree with a lot of her opinions, I do respect her right to have them. I've also found that if she's treated with respect, she gives respect back. She's not a perfect angel but then neither is anyone else, male or female. But I do respect her ability to stick to her guns and hold to her beliefs even when the supposed majority of fans think she's nuts. Or simply bash her on hearsay.

As for Mr. Optimus Prime, no, I don't think he's a 'crazy male fan,' I don't even think he's a 'crazy fan' -- I'm personally not about to go out and change my name to my favorite Transformer (that'd be Swindle and I just think it would give the wrong impression to future employers) but I can respect his right to name himself after a fictional character he resepcts. To paraphrase Col. Henry Potter on MASH, if it makes him a better person, what's the harm?

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Note: No, not all male fans bash female fans. Not all male fans are so insecure in their own selves that they have to turn around and make female fans feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. If you are not one of those male fans, then this essay wasn't about you.

But the point isn't that some male fans don't, it's that some male fans do and the community as a whole doesn't seem to have a problem with this. And the fact that within the last two weeks, a female fan posted to a TF fanfic community on LiveJournal to ask if it was 'okay' for her to like Transformers just helped emphasize this point for me because guys, you don't have to ask that question. You don't have to feel like you need permission to be here.

Comments

[starfangx.livejournal.com]

Bravo to you!!! Well said!

I, too, have spoken with Raksha at several BotCon's and always had very pleasant conversations with her. I've never quite been able to understand why others in the fandom treat her the way they do. I even know some of the individuals who have ranted about her in the past, and upon questioning them, they really couldn't give me a satisfactory answer as to why they do so.

But then again, I'm also one of those "crazy female fans", so how could I possibly understand their reasons? *sigh*

[monksp.livejournal.com]

I've never heard anyone call one of the TF crazies by gender, actually, but I've been away from it all for so long now I might just be forgetting. Raksha was crazy though. The totally batshit kind of crazy, sometimes.

I don't know the Optimus Prime guy, but I had a friend in high school that had changed his name to Kobi. As in Kobiashi Maru from Star Trek. It definitely didn't make him a better person. Someone definitely needed to smack people like that occasionally when that start thinking that things like that are a good idea. ;)

I just had chocolate chocolate chip ice cream and my brain is going WHOOOO!!!

[dunmurderin.livejournal.com]

Maybe part of it is me being overly sensitive about the phrase 'she's crazy' in connection with Raksha's name, but I also think part of what pisses me off is that I don't see this same kind of virulent rage being directed at male fans from back in the day. Which doesn't mean it's not there, just that I'm not looking for it.

But it seems like all you have to do is mention Raksha's name and almost instantly you'll have post after post after post about how she's crazy! She thinks the Decepticons are right! She wrote slash! She's delusional!

Case in point: the thread that inspired the rant that inspired this rant. (http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/archive/index.php/t-120415.html)

Admittedly, I don't know that all the people in that thread who are saying that Raksha is crazy are necessarily saying she's a typical example of a female fan I don't even know that all the people posting about her being nuts are male fans. But this isn't the only time I've seen something like this. And I can't think of any time where a male fan has felt the need to ask if it's ok for a boy to like Transformers. Or when male fans were described as being 'fat, ugly, crazy or gay' specifically because they were male fans -- usually if a male fan is described as fat, ugly or crazy it's because he's supposedly the typical nerd who is stereotypically male. Or when someone has ever sounded surprised that a guy might like Transformers because guys aren't supposed to like that kind of stuff.

Do I think that sometimes Raksha's beliefs could go 'round the bend? Yeah. And she could have a temper, particularly when she thought someone was behaving in ways she thought were dishonorable. But I'm willing to bet there's a dozen male fans out there who are just as well-known as she is who are 'allowed' to be crazy and who aren't held up as an example of male fans in general.

Re: I just had chocolate chocolate chip ice cream and my brain is going WHOOOO!!!

[monksp.livejournal.com]

I got the impression that once you were on her bad side, you were there for good. So a lot of what people saw was her interaction with people that she'd had issues with in the past which started in with the nastiness right up front. I remember on more than one occasion seeing flamewars erupt really fast, asking what was up, and someone saying something along the lines of "Oh, that comes from a few years back when ..."

I never knew her all that well, and she was usually polite and pleasant to me, but there was always that Hannibal Lecter aspect to her. Polite and civil while she going into rabid fanboy mode. Fangirl. Whatever.

And again, I've been out of the TF fandom for ages now, but I dunno if there's any male fan who's as out there as she is to be held up as an example of male fans.

Re: I just had chocolate chocolate chip ice cream and my brain is going WHOOOO!!!

[dunmurderin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see that. Admittedly, I didn't know her well. We played together at TLY and I met her at BotCon 2000 and she published my first TF fanfic in "Con Quest".

Though the idea of once you are on her bad side, you are there to stay does seem to fit with some things I've seen her say/do in old thread posts. She's got a temper; I'm certainly not arguing that people don't have reasons for disliking her, I'm just annoyed that there are those who go from I don't like Raksha, Raksha is a girl, therefore all female fans are like Raksha.

And as far as there being a male fan who's held up as an example of the crazy, I don't know of one either. I think the problem is that male fans are perceived as the 'normal' population so variations don't stand out in the same way that they do among the smaller/allegedly smaller female fan population.

Or, to put it another way, one of the people originally in charge of creating Sesame Street was once asked why there weren't more female characters, like why wasn't Oscar the Grouch or Cookie Monster a girl? And their reply was something to the effect that a male Grouch is just a grouch, he doesn't automatically represent all grouches, but a female Grouch because she's a member of a 'minority' group is seen as being representative of the group as a whole and ends up being an example of girls/women in general.

[nightwind69.livejournal.com]

You know, it's funny: These people claim several times that Raksha would flame anyone who disagreed with her. It's funny because I myself disagreed with her, "violently" on some points, and I had several long debates with her in the bad ol' days on Usenet. Never once did she flame me. Never once was she anything less than polite and articulate when we were conversing, both of which I appreciated. Perhaps it's because I didn't call her stupid and crazy from the get-go? It's amazing how much politeness you'll be repaid when you, yourself, are polite. Those whom she flamed -- if such people actually exist -- likely deserved it and likely started the flaming in the first place.

Methinks Raksha's legend has grown larger than the woman herself. :)

But anyway...Word. :) I can't think of a single thing you said with which I can disagree. In short, I don't think the guys like it when we wimmens invade their turf. They didn't like it in the 60s when women invaded the workplace in force, and they don't like it when we invade their toy fandoms, either, apparently. *rolls eyes*

Males: Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em. ;)

re

[dunmurderin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's been my experience with her too. If you treated her with respect, she was more or less cool with you (I once asked her if it would be ok if I used her character Raksha in a fanfic that was meant to kind of poke at her make hopefully gentle fun of her ideas about the Decepticons not being evil. This was back when I was a rank newbie in the fandom and she didn't know me from Adam's cat. And I'm sure she was already tired of being poked at by that point.

But instead of letting me have it, she simply said she'd rather I didn't do that because it was something a lot of people had done. No yelling. No ranting. No flipping out at me. So I dropped the idea.

Now, I've seen posts of arguments where she has ripped people new ones before but IIRC, none of those were about disagreements over Transformers.

[wrongly-amused.livejournal.com]

I dunno, she was fairly rude to me over a review to a story that wasn't even her own. She was weird, no two ways about it. I think fandom way overreacted to her, and I think sexism was definitely implicit to some of the stigma attached to her, but I think it's a two part equation - she did bring some of it onto herself.

In the end, I tend to think she's gotten more than what she gave, so I never cared too much to carry things out on my end.

[oasis-pink-peng.livejournal.com]

I loved your post because it's true. Many a male Transfan has been annoyed with girls in their fandom.



And Mr. Optimus Prime's a bunch of things I swore to myself I wouldn't call him, so 'not using best judgment when choosing nomenclature' can be used instead.

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

Because "crazy" is always a good word to append to woman when you don't like her. There's usually an implied "bitch" after it.

DV

[purajo.livejournal.com]

According to an interview I was listening to with Peter Cullen - he actually met Mr. Optimus Prime at this year's Botcon, who told him the reason for changing his name. Peter didnt give out the exact reason on-air, but said that it was quite the valid, and a moving one at that.

And hey, if Mr. Cullen thinks the guy's justified for changing his name, who am I to challenge that.

And well, Mikaela summed it up quite nicely in the movie for us girls, didnt she? "Guys dont like it when you know more about cars than they do."

Meh, I get it, too, from the local TF fan community. I'm the "crazy female fan", but I've long ceased to care. What matters is that I'm perfectly capable of holding my own against them in discussion, and whooping their asses if necessary. If they dont like being pwned by a girl, its not my problem.

[dunmurderin.livejournal.com]

I have no problem with Mr. Optimus Prime changing his name. Whatever his reasons were, they were his and he's got every right to call himself whatever he wants and I'll stand behind his right to determine who he is and how he wants to be called regardless of his reasons.

Whyever he did what he did, I gotta give props to the fact that it took a lot of courage to do it and to make it official. And to put up with the ridicule and the day to day grief that has to come with it. (I'm willing to bet he's probably heard "No, we need to see your REAL ID" more than once).

What bugs me is that while people may think Mr. Optimus Prime is a tad off his nut for naming himself after a toy character, nobody thinks his being a tad off his nut is because he's male. And moreso that nobody within the fandom thinks that his actions are typical of all male fans.

Outside the fandom, I know, is a different story because of course outside the fandom all fans default to male hence reviewers/magazine writers assuming the target audience for the live action movies was made up of guys who wanted to see the movie and girlfriends who had to be talked into going (in my case, this was amazingly easy to do). But that's a rant for a different day.

[tinpan.livejournal.com]

Word! This is what's happening in Marvel/DC comics fandom, when sites like http://womenincomics.blogspot.com/ and http://manstreamcomics.livejournal.com/ (NSFW) started popping up to critique misogyny in superhero books.

[newsy891.livejournal.com]

Not knowing Raksha at all, being relatively new (arrived in 2003) to the fandom, I shall simply address the stereotype. Lessee... do I fit the template?

- Crazy - check, definitely!
- Fat - check, definitely!
- Ugly - check, unless you talk to falcadore who has a strange concept of beauty!
- Gay - nope, I like a boy. Well, three out of four ain't bad =D

By the way, I haven't changed my name or anything, but in the first few days of the movie release some of my friends and I ran around calling each other by our fancharacters' names in public! *gasp!* =D

[wyntir-rose.livejournal.com]

I have no idea who Raksha is, but I'm not entirely sure that it is a double standard, per se. We don't blink twice at the man who changes his name to Optimus Prime, or the guy who insists on being called Commander Klargh of the Klingon Empire because i think that there's an assumption by the public that these people are wierdos anyway. I think that that belief carries over into the fanbase too (how many Trekkies proudly wear the Nerd banner?)

Women in these groups are treated strangely because it's a predominantly male bastion, and women like Raksha further test the limits by not acting like "good little girls".

But let's turn the image here for a moment. Let's just say that Raksh was a man in the Sailor Moon fandom and he showed up to an Anime convention dressed up like Sailor Venus and spoke out openly again certain commonly held beliefs in the fandom? I do think that he'd be called crazy (or worse).

I think what I'm trying to say is that it's a double standard only because Transformers is thought to be predominantly male.

Though, I wish I had read this discussion while I was still in university. My Women's Studies class would have had a field day with it.

[ameban.livejournal.com]

(Sorry to post here. Since you pointed me your LJ link, I just stoped by here and I felt I should leave some coment.)

Very intersting article. In all fandoms I've joined, certainly TF fandom is one with the heaviest differences between male fans and female fans... sad, but true. I cannot understand why it doesn't happen in similar fandoms, such like "Robotech".
I know Rasksha by saying, you know: she's one of the very popular fans in the fandom. I am aware about her interpretation about D-cons, and I also am aware she managed to change some people's mind about them in spite I never met her, read her essays or something. It's amazing because TF universe has not real absolute truths nor facts, many things always will be open to debatese, so I (and we) feel free to think what we'd like the most.
However, that's not the point. I didn't know Racksha was being so bashed because her ideas, and because her ideas are made by a female fan. Funny: recentely I participated in a TF podcast (in Spanish, my native tonge) just because I am female... Ironic, but I knew I was invited to participate because of that; I didn't fell rejected because of that, though, even if I'm well aware many male fanboys get "huh?" when they see a fangirl.

I don't know how long Racksha isn't active in the fandom, but certainly if she was bashed, I am not surprised she took a break.

Perhaps the only real fault is Fangirl uses to be mixed up with fangrrrl, which is not the same at all.