Comic Con International, aka San Diego to us long-timers, is 17 days away.
And now begins the mantra, "Camryn Manheim, Margaret Cho, Marilyn Monroe, Lillian Russel, my talent isn't measured by my dress size."
EDIT for CLARITY, original quote appears below in quotes:
I feel insecure about going to cons because I am not under a size 14, haven't been for a long time, and will not be again for some time, if ever. I hear about how great/hot/gorgeous slimmer pros look (and I agree--they ARE gorgeous), and I am nagged with the thought that if I managed to slim down I'd sell more, or get in more bookstores, or get more nominations, or OR!
I've decided on a lifetime Lent with regards to dieting--I'm never doing it again. It's a waste of my goddamn time. I've got two lovely kids to raise and things to write and draw. Diet? Stories? Diet? Kids? Diet---? The family and writing and drawing win every time.
But once I hot the floor, I'm happy to be there, I am my bon vivant self, and it all evens out.
But I want to have a con come up and not have these feelings to begin with. Sucks.
"The adoration and praise heaped upon female comics creators who are size 14 and under makes the words come out with great difficulty. It all evens out once I hit the floor, funny and happy to be there."
I want to have a con come up and not have these feelings. Sucks."
I have to wonder about the security level of anyone who questioned the original statement, (not to mention my strong feeling someone went off somewhere going, "Lea says you all got somewhere because you USE YOUR BODIES FOR EVILE!"), and I hope this clears things up.
If I actually thought it wasn't okay to use whatever physical attractiveness and charisma one had at their disposal to sell themselves, I'd go back to wearing the frumpy shit I wore at cons in the early 90's, or avoid them in shame, like I did in the mid-90's. I sure wouldn't encourage fellow female professionals to dress attractively. Moo hoo haha, I'd trick them into wearing potato sacks! I'd slip them butter milkshakes! I'd touch them so the fat rubbed off! (The men have really got to get on the stick with this one, most of them dress like, as Lisa Jonte puts it, Chuckie Finster! Lee Hester and Eric Shanower can't carry you all!)
And, finally, I do know what it's like to be told I got somewhere not based on actual hard work. I'd never have to work again if I'd gotten a penny for every time someone asked me, after Image accepted Cathedral Child for publication, who I had to blow or if I could give them the blackmail pictures of Larry Marder with the barnyard animals. (The latter even more insulting because it suggests no one at Image would take a BJ from a fat chick, so there must be pictures of them in a three-way with a sheepdog and a chicken. Barnyard animal sex more appealing than BJ from fat chick. Wow.)
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Comments
But it's hard. Yeah. I keep telling myself that karma will come round properly for the ones who should have it, regardless of the undersizedness, and possibly because of it. There's a big chunk of soul there, so maybe it'll work someday.
Oh my goodness. judgement of paris is based in Hamilton. I used to live there.
If you were trying to make your point purely about the smutty, no-talent comic creators who get attention only by sharing their skin with the rest of the world, whatever the size (because there are those well over a size 14, mind you), it might be better if you mentioned that instead of just making a broad assumption that all women under a certain weight ratio are purely adorned with praise because of their looks and short skirts. It hurts one class of people to be discriminated against just as well as it does another.
I've got all anonymous posters 'screened' on my blog, simply because there's no way I'm allowing the bloke who cyber-stalked me to post freely. However, the simple reason I ask non-LiveJournal members who post here to identify themselves is so that I can cc my reply to their email address. Since they're non-LJ members, any completely anonymous posts (even from friends) won't know that I've responded...
Oh, and yeah, in case you were wondering, whoever replied to you (a) didn't know what he/she was talking about and (b) is a prize dick.
(And, ya know, if the notoriously non-public Toren Smith can be arsed to sign, so can someone who disagrees with me.)
I have been pissed off about this post all night. I am just gobsmacked that someone thinks I need to edit myself to save their anonymous ickle feelings.
Remember the rejoinder to the old saw of "In America, anyone can become President?" "That's the risk you take."
The same could apply to allowing non-moderated anonymous posts to blog entries.
Other friends (for example
Me? I've taken the middle route - I allow anonymous (or rather non-LJ) people to post, but they are 'screened' and I have to explicitly unscreen them for them to be seen by everyone.
That allows friends who aren't Livejournal members to respond, but also allows me the protection from bastards... well, bastards who aren't LJ members, anyway. :)
But, anonymous posting is off for now. I don't need the aggravation.
Whenever someone says something like, "Everyone agrees with me..." or "I'm sure others...", I stop listening.
If you can't have an opinion without backing it up with people who don't know they agree with it, you're in a weak position, and you know it.
You're the only poster so far who misunderstood me. You have the added distinction of MASSIVELY misunderstanding me.
I'm not talking about the people who use whatever they've got to move books (I do it--every smart seller does), I'm talking about how I have seen that a slimmer female gets this weird value-added property to her work.
"If you were trying to make your point purely about the smutty, no-talent comic creators who get attention only by sharing their skin with the rest of the world,"
You saying this is no better than what you THINK I said.
"whatever the size (because there are those well over a size 14, mind you), it might be better if you mentioned that"
It's my LJ. I not only don't HAVE to because I don't take editorial direction from anonymous posters from aol.com/compuserve.com domains (which is where your IP address originates from), I don't have to because I'm not going to spend one second worrying that someone under a size 14 will take something I post in MY OWN LJ the wrong way.
"instead of just making a broad assumption that all women under a certain weight ratio are purely adorned with praise because of their looks and short skirts."
I'm making a statement based on what I have seen with my own eyes. Deal with it.
"It hurts one class of people to be discriminated against just as well as it does another."
No one's discriminating against you, which is what this is about.
Now, if you can't be bothered to sign your name when you come into my LJ to wag your finger in my face, then go away. I'll delete any other entries from you that aren't signed with your real name. (Although I have a feeling, from the high-handed tone, that I know who you are.)
This is for my insecurities, not yours. Go post in your own blog.
Really? Which one? Where might we have seen your work? Come on, if you're passionate enough to state your opinion, you should at least have the guts to OWN your opinion. So state your name or shut up, because sniping from cover is tacky.
I've worked pretty hard to get Vee to where she is today, and I'd like to think that my body had nothing to do with it. You guys have seen me in action at conventions; you've even shared a room with me. What do you think? Do I use my booty for the forces of evil?
Jane Irwin
Fiery Studios
Publisher of Vogelein
http://www.vogelein.com
You got where you are because you work damn hard. Why should what you think I said bother you if you know it's not true? If the opposite was true, I'd never sell a book or got an award nomination, would I? All of my big career successes came after, looooong after, I was a size 9.
And what about "us Tarts" not opting in to this fight? Is there some discussion somewhere about coming in my LJ and giving me what-for for my maunderings in my blog?
How about the time Laura Martin wrote the article for Tart about screaming kids in restaurants? That hurt some feelings. But Laura's experiences in restaurants where there were kids was not pleasant. She wrote about it. Same here. What's wrong with me owning that and talking about it?
Do try hearing things like, "You said she was a babe! She's FAT!" at a convention when someone sees you for the first time, having been told by someone else you were a hottie, and that person hasn't seen you in ten years. It cuts deep enough to leave scars on the bones. It does make you wonder what people think. It SHOULDN'T, but it does.
The reason I elected not to mention other creators, Tarts or not, is because I know it's no fun having others talk about you behind your back, as is evidenced by the conversation we're having. I decided to use my own experiences, and no one else's, as you are doing.
I could give you plenty of examples of when I was called "Porky" or "Ugly" or "Plain Jane". I can also give you plenty of examples of when people have insinuated that I've used my God-given clevage to get ahead. Neither's true in my opinion.
However, I do mildly share one point of view with the anonymous poster above, in that saying that "The adoration and praise heaped upon female comics creators who are size 14..." insinuates that simply being a certain size attracts adoration and praise. Perhaps it's been true in your experience -- I can't argue that. What I said in my response was "I'd like to think that my body had nothing to do with it," and I certainly hope it doesn't.
In the last sentence, I was actually asking for your opinion. *I* don't feel as though I use my body to get ahead, and I was asking you if you thought I had.
Jane
I hope my edits to the original post have clarified my position.
And clearly, anyone who ever called you ugly, porky or plain is a dumbass.
As for my opinion: 1) So what if you did and 2) my original post was emphatically NOT about pointing at slim female professionals and saying "YOU USE YOUR BODY FOR EVIL!"
Jane