This entire rant was spurred from this article:
Tony Harris is in no way a household name. But as the artist behind some of the most critically acclaimed comics in the last 20 years, noteablyStarman with James Robinson for DC and Ex Machinawith Brian K. Vaughan for Wildstorm, he was a hugely respected figure in the industry.
"Was".
Today, Harris posted a rant on his Facebook wall, which was re-posted to Tumblr by Jill Pantozzi, the associate editor of The Mary Sue, a site dedicated to "girl geek culture". Harris writes (and I've not edited this in any way):
I cant remember if Ive said this before, but Im gonna say it anyway. I dont give a crap.I appreciate a pretty Gal as much as the next Hetero Male. Sometimes I even go in for some racy type stuff ( keeping the comments PG for my Ladies sake) but dammit, dammit, dammit I am so sick and tired of the whole COSPLAY-Chiks. I know a few who are actually pretty cool-and BIG Shocker, love and read Comics.So as in all things, they are the exception to the rule. Heres the statement I wanna make, based on THE RULE: "Hey! Quasi-Pretty-NOT-Hot-Girl, you are more pathetic than the REAL Nerds, who YOU secretly think are REALLY PATHETIC. But we are onto you. Some of us are aware that you are ever so average on an everyday basis. But you have a couple of things going your way. You are willing to become almost completely Naked in public, and yer either skinny( Well, some or most of you, THINK you are ) or you have Big Boobies. Notice I didnt say GREAT Boobies? You are what I refer to as "CON-HOT". Well not by my estimation, but according to a LOT of average Comic Book Fans who either RARELY speak to, or NEVER speak to girls. Some Virgins, ALL unconfident when it comes to girls, and the ONE thing they all have in common? The are being preyed on by YOU. You have this really awful need for attention, for people to tell you your pretty, or Hot, and the thought of guys pleasuring themselves to the memory of you hanging on them with your glossy open lips, promising them the Moon and the Stars of pleasure, just makes your head vibrate. After many years of watching this shit go down every 3 seconds around or in front of my booth or table at ANY given Con in the country, I put this together. Well not just me. We are LEGION. And here it is, THE REASON WHY ALL THAT, sickens us: BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT COMICS, BEYOND WHATEVER GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH YOU DID TO GET REF ON THE MOST MAINSTREAM CHARACTER WITH THE MOST REVEALING COSTUME EVER. And also, if ANY of these guys that you hang on tried to talk to you out of that Con? You wouldnt give them the fucking time of day. Shut up you damned liar, no you would not. Lying, Liar Face. Yer not Comics. Your just the thing that all the Comic Book, AND mainstream press flock to at Cons. And the real reason for the Con, and the damned costumes yer parading around in? That would be Comic Book Artists, and Comic Book Writers who make all that shit up.
I understand the desire to weed the “posers” out of your personal life and interactions. But I have never, actually, in the flesh, met a “fake” geek girl. Or guy. I don’t think those people actually exist outside of painful daytime news segments, the occasional job interview (where, in this economy, I’ll excuse anybody for trying to be a little bit of something they’re not), and internet memes. But I understand.
But who are you to say that a stranger, someone you’re never likely to meet, is not genuinely interested in the thing they appear to be interested in? Who are you? I just… what? I’m rendered incoherent. Here at the Mary Sue, when an actress goes on a talk show and describes her personal affection and involvement and enjoyment and FANDOM for geek properties, we take it at face value. Why? Because we don’t actually have a reason not to. Because the alternative breeds a closed community of paranoid, elitist jerks who lash out at anyone new.
The proper response to someone who says they like comics and has only read Scott Pilgrim is to recommend some more comics for them. The proper response to someone who appears to be faking enthusiasm is to ignore them and not project their actions on an entire gender or community. The proper response to someone who appears to want to be a part of your community is to welcome them in. End of story.
I've never met a cosplayer who isn't a massive fan of the thing they are cosplaying. Also: some of the sweetest people you could meet.
Ok sooo, this is going to push buttons since we are on an equal rights for women kick right now but I figured it was also very much in line with previous rants.
Guys have been able to be "Geeks" and "Nerds" for quite a bit. They didn't care about it being a socially acceptable medium, they did it because they wanted to cast the most epic magic missile into the darkness that they could, in hopes that their Dungeon Master would award them with the next epic piece of penciled in loot to once again cast magic missile!
Girls however, have just recently in the timeline of nerdy history started to take an interest in the culture, more specifically girls that care about vanity and self appearance. I think a lot of that has to do with how mainstream video games and the culture around it has become. It is more socially acceptable these days. But as with all things it was a progression.
Cosplay is its own community filled with various types of fans. Its an art form. But what he (Tony Harris) is talking about are the attention whoring pros that exploit nerds insecurities for their own gain. Im thinking hes probably mostly pissed at girls who use the cosplay scene almost as a form of gold digging or e-fame.
I.E. http://lizkatz.com/
Liz Katz: When a real-life Cat Eared sporting anime character comes to life.
Actress, Model, Vocalist, Artist, and Muse. Silly, Snarky, Eccentric, Part Time Flake, and All Around Feisty Lil’ Firecracker. Whether Hero or Villain she is still pretty super. Liz Katz has been marching to the beat of her own drum for quite some time now.She’s most active in the Anime/ comic/ scifi/ horror/ gamer community. Liz Katz comes from a state of mind. Half nerd on her father’s side and half mystical creature on her mother’s. >^.-<
Look very closely at the words there, ACTRESS MODEL VOCALIST, ARTIST MUSE. The list of skills most people who don't actually have the skills to back them up use. But in the geek world she becomes more "E-Famous" than in the acting world. Why?
Preying on the nerds' libidos
Now I am not saying all girls who are into cosplay do this. I know quite a few who are legitimate nerds and love to do it. However, what part of it is the nerd enjoyment and what part is the attention one gets when they are "best in show".
At geek conventions "Best in show" is the term for the fact that most the guys are not very up-kept and the girls who do show up who are into the games are usually not super models. No biggie, but it definitely makes those who have a bigger bust and prettier face POP more, add a latex skin tight cat suit to that and you get the perfect storm for "attention".
I think it is highly a jealously thing on the part of guys. "Why can't we pull off the skimpy latex suit for batman costumes as well". We originally went to this convention with the intention of looking at comics but now we are distracted by the porn star hired by the booth guy to dress up like the childhood fantasy character from our favorite comic. FRICK.
I think the second part of it is our society has taken a turn where REAL girls that love comics and video games are showing up more for these events. And to them they are getting smacked in the face with people telling them they are fake. I think there are two aspects of this:
A culture that has been fucked before by the fake "costume" or "booth" babes being used to manipulate the geek, the girl who is doing it to push her non existent acting/modeling career forward, and the like.
And then you get the idea that in order for gaming to be an option for women it had to become more socially acceptable. So a lot of "geek" girls are not actually geeks at all, but enjoy dressing up as characters and seeing the more "pop-culture" side of the comic industry *cough cough twilight shows up at comic con*cough cough*
So while the last may not be a bad thing at all, in the minds of the already betrayed geek from previous generations, these girls still aren't there for the love of the industry but for the love of Bella showing up for he movie premiere.
So why would this even matter? It is a gaming convention not a dating convention... well humanity is a "Must find mate, must impregnate" people... so maybe we are subconsciously trying to find that match at the places were we feel most comfortable and can share our likes 
But then we get disappointed to find out the female version of the gaming world is evolved to a different place than the male version. And once again we feel like we are being played by "Booth Babes"... but in reality girls just want to go out to dance with their girl friends and guys don't ever really think about dancing when they go out.
Anyway, I am rambling, but I figured you guys/girls would have something to say on the topic.
