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dunmurderinInspired 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What's amazing is that, near as I can tell, Raksha is no longer active in Transformers fandom and hasn't been for several years and people are STILL bitching about her.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.
----
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?
---------
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.
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Date: 2007-08-15 03:06 am (UTC)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.