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A Woman’s Place is in the Resistance: What does it mean to resist as a nerd?

Kaleigh Norkum-Mathieu
Jan 26, 2018
3 min read

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of marching against sexism, racism, and bigotry at the Women's March here in Ottawa.The Women's March is both inspirational and problematic in many ways, but that is not what this post is about. For you see, among the plethora of homemade protest signs I was able to spot a few that echoed in my geeky heart. Much like the last women's march, many people chose to incorporate many characters within comics, sci-fy, and fantasy to illustrate a point about equality.

There is a reason why we look to General Leia, Hermoine and Wonder Woman, among many others, to capture our feelings of resistance. These characters at a very basic level offer us representation, we are able to see ourselves in these beautiful, strong, and complicated characters and we can march on. And there is much to march about. The nerdy and geeky communities have so much work to do to make their spaces welcoming and inclusive that it often feels like an uphill battle to just want to enjoy the things that you like. A few highlights over the last few years include:

Johnny Depp, accused of brutally beating his ex-wife Amber Heard, lands the role of Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Chelsea Cain, author of the comic series Mockingbird, received death threats after the title character was shown in a "ask me about my feminist agenda" t-shirt.
Gamergate happened. If you don't fully know what happened in Gamergate then look it up and lose any faith in humanity you once had.
DC Comics Editor Eddie Berganza was fired after multiple sexual assault and harassment claims. However, allegations of his behavior had been around for years, reports from inside DC claim that it was well known but still did not impact his ability to get a promotion.
Marvel VP of Sales blamed diversity for the decrease in comic book sales even though Marvel was hailed as the top selling publisher in 2017.

These are only a few of the issues that make the nerd/geek community unwelcoming. The question becomes: what does it mean to resist in this culture and how can we make it more welcoming? There are many solutions, all of which are not perfect solutions because we, as people and resisters, are not perfect. One person can decide to boycott Fantastic Beasts because of Johnny Depp, but the truth is that the movie will still probably make a lot of money. Another decision is to donate twice the amount of money paid for a ticket to a women's shelter. That is still not a decision that may feel right to many people.

It is complicated to have to compromise on big issues when it comes to one's passions, feeling conflicted does not make you a bad person. Movements, like people, are flawed. The point of resistance is to keep trying even if it is just by tweeting, sharing articles, or just simply existing. Most times just choosing to exist and create a space for yourself within these communities is resistance enough. Liking what you like and being unapologetic for it is probably the biggest way to create change, while at the same time enabling others to create that same space for themselves within the community. Change is not fast, there is no one way to achieve it except to keep making your voice heard in whatever way you can and by helping others achieve the same.

In case anyone was wondering, I also resisted in the nerdiest way I know how: wearing my Wonder Woman tiara ;)