What’s the industry standard – even stereotype – regarding women in the hobby?
Just like it is unfair to lump all women in this industry together, I would hesitate to do the same to men. There will always be those of the boys’ club frame of mind, but I find that the men I have come across in this field are very enthusiastic about sharing the love of comics. The average comic reader is male, white, age 18-35 and single. How can women integrate themselves into the hobby – and for that matter, why would they want to? It’s funny to me to hear that the average comics reader is “male, white, age 18-35.” In the early days, girls read just as much as the boys. It was not until Dr. Frederic Wertham (whose scare tactics led to the formation of the Comics Code Authority) started his crusade against comics that the number of female readers dwindled due to enormous outside pressures. Of course, the bad-girl phase in the early ’90s did not help either. In Japan the number of female fans are staggering, and, thanks to the manga explosion here, our female readership is gaining i
