My Clique Should Be Cancelled

So there I am, having a nice day in Winchester with Nana Connell, and I check Twitter and what do I find? Tony Harris, comic book artist of Starman and Ex Machina fame, has caused a furore on the Internet for this baffingly misogynistic post about female cosplayers:

I'm not replicating the full text, because both the content and the atrocious grammar make my head hurt, but you get the idea, right? Harris has appointed himself Guardian of the Nerds, and those harlots shan't get past him to poison the well. According to royal decree by His Harrisness, the vast majority of female cosplayers are all posers and whores who love getting to walk around convention halls half-naked and pray upon the weak frightened little virginal nerd, soaking up adulation like Babylonian storm-witches. But they're also unattractive, as they only have "Big Boobies", not "GREAT Boobies", so truly they are the deadliest kind of female, sirens to geeky sailors.

You know, shit like this is why it's so difficult being a part of nerd culture sometimes. The roots of nerddom stretch back to the high school rejects - the sci-fi fans, the horror aficionados, the computer whizzes, basically everyone who probably got stuffed in lockers, had their lunch money stolen and never went to prom. Rejection was the seed from which nerd culture sprung from. Nobody liked you in high school? Fear not, there was a whole sub-society you could go to, one that would accept you whoever you were.

Except that's not quite true, is it? From my experience, nerd culture has proven just as insular and unwelcoming as any high school jock or cheerleader; probably more so, actually, because at my old school, I got along with the "popular" crowd pretty well. (It's worth noting the speech marks as they never actually saw themselves as the "popular" crowd.) I've lost count of the amount of times I've been told my opinion is worthless because I haven't watched 20+ episodes of a show beforehand, or I wasn't familiar with the collected filmography of Guy Maddin or whoever. I'm aware that people don't often act on the Internet how they do in real life, and it may be some kind of defence mechanism like a puffer fish inflating its body, but it doesn't help our reputation as a bunch of self-indulgent misanthropic pack of jackals.

John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory from Penny Arcade. Pay close attention, class.

To be fair to Harris, and to the scores of followers trying to keep the "barbarians" at the gate, I get where they're coming from. Nerddom is very much their little niche, and they don't want to see it dissolved away to nothing. That's a sentiment I share; I'm really annoyed by The Big Bang Theory and how it's considered something freaks and geeks. Here's the thing, though - the nerds have won. San Diego Comic-Con has become a major event the world pays attention to. David Tennant's tenure as the Doctor made geeks acceptable, even fashionable. People buy DVD boxsets and eagerly discuss Game of Thrones in public. Good Lord, a movie about the Avengers is one of the highest grossing films of all time! These are glorious days!

And you know what? As a culture of rejects, freaks and losers, we have no right to behave like we're still in high school, and excluding people from entering the clubhouse. Nerddom is not some sort of ivory tower we need to keep the proles out of - a guy from my school, a rugby player no less, is getting into mainstream comics because he loves The Dark Knight. This is a good thing. Christ, sports fans are pretty much the biggest examples of nerds there are. This is no longer exclusively our domain, and that's okay. We are not misers, jealously hoarding our secrets. If someone wants to dress up as a superhero and stomp about the convention centre, why not? Cosplay is just one gateway to geekery, and I wouldn't begrudge anyone that for the world. So is The Big Bang Theory, The Avengers, Game of Thrones, whatever it is you're interested in, please come in and don't be shy.

If you're passionate about fiction, about dressing up like fiction, discussing it and proud of it, then you're my brother and my friend, and I love you. Wave that geek banner high.