I was pretty offended by the "yes, those people are freaks" attitute, I'll admit, but I think the worst part for me was this:
But then, there's something so very female about this. It's the first time that women have ever dominated fandom in this way, and so of course it's all about doing extra homework and making sure your uniform is nicely pressed. It's really not a coincidence that one of the most popular characters to dress as is Hermione Granger, Harry's over-achieving little-miss-perfectionist friend.
This just hit me as the absolute worst type of female stereotyping you could possibly imagine. I mean, she pretty much came right out and said - shoddy pseudo-academic obsession is a uniquely female trait. Way to tell us to get out of the classroom and back into the kitchen. Sheesh.
And as some people said above, I also felt like that ending was weirdly tacked on, like she felt she couldn't end it on a negative note so she went "oh, yeah, and I guess it's a good thing that people like books. Books = yay!" Which, since she's just spent most of the article arguing that they're not very good books, seems either disingenuous or hypocritical, depending on how you read it.
I don't know. I see your point that we're lucky she didn't go "OMG freaks" but I think she came pretty close. Still, I'd rather have someone honestly go "weirdos!" than pretend to be all "girly book-loving solidarity" while hinting at "weirdos!" all along.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2006-08-08 01:53 am (UTC)But then, there's something so very female about this. It's the first time that women have ever dominated fandom in this way, and so of course it's all about doing extra homework and making sure your uniform is nicely pressed. It's really not a coincidence that one of the most popular characters to dress as is Hermione Granger, Harry's over-achieving little-miss-perfectionist friend.
This just hit me as the absolute worst type of female stereotyping you could possibly imagine. I mean, she pretty much came right out and said - shoddy pseudo-academic obsession is a uniquely female trait. Way to tell us to get out of the classroom and back into the kitchen. Sheesh.
And as some people said above, I also felt like that ending was weirdly tacked on, like she felt she couldn't end it on a negative note so she went "oh, yeah, and I guess it's a good thing that people like books. Books = yay!" Which, since she's just spent most of the article arguing that they're not very good books, seems either disingenuous or hypocritical, depending on how you read it.
I don't know. I see your point that we're lucky she didn't go "OMG freaks" but I think she came pretty close. Still, I'd rather have someone honestly go "weirdos!" than pretend to be all "girly book-loving solidarity" while hinting at "weirdos!" all along.