Booth babes need not apply

[redqueen]

32. Suddenly, blowback.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07/25/geek-girl-on-the-street-reports-joe-peacock-needs-to-stfu/

...

For those of you who have not read Joe’s CNN opus ragging on booth babes, Olivia Munn and Frag Dolls, let me sum up the thesis for you: Our friend Joe is complaining about the fact that multi-billion dollar corporations like FOX, FX and Maxim hire scantily clad women to pimp their products and hang all over geek boys at cons and con related parties. He is complaining about young women – who have been inundated with images of “what’s hot, what’s cool” all their lives by the mainstream media – following in the example of said scantily clad women and putting on scantily clad costumes of their own creation and parading around cons with the objective of getting male attention.

In essence, he is complaining about a problem which has been created by… wait for it… men.

And, in the process, he “slut shames” women who choose to express their own sexuality via cosplay (regardless of the underlying intent, it’s their choice and fuck you for telling them what is or is not right in that arena, it’s their body) and the experiential learning which comes with that process… which is in the end, controlled by the reactions of men.

(snip)

The true problem is that corporate culture – based on the knowledge that some men sexually desire women that look a particular way and that some male geeks have money – take advantage of and exploit those known factors by hiring sexually attractive women to pimp their products in attempts to devoid said geeky men of said money. Instead of addressing this and the underlying societal causes of this trope, Joe blames the women who the perpetrator companies employ.

...

This next one is really worth reading the whole thing... sooooo good.

http://www.chickswithcrossbows.com/?p=1800

...

The person wrong on the internet is this dude right here. While he attempts to offer criticism on the phenomenon of booth babes–something I also find troubling–Joe Peacock manages to write a piece positively dripping with the underlying sexism that is ubiquitous in nerd culture. The lists of sins Peacock commits in this article is long and tragically overshadows any valid points he has. However, I will attempt to address the main points best I can.

Instead of tackling the real underlying problem in my opinion–that corporations think it’s a great idea to use half-naked women to sell their products–he instead attacks the women themselves. Sorry, perhaps “women” is the wrong term. He’s talking about “wannabes who couldn’t make it as car show eye candy slapping on a Batman shirt and strutting around comic book conventions instead.”

(snip)

So, what’s the problem with these women exactly? Other than simply not being genuinely interested in nerd culture, they just aren’t all that attractive. Peacock claims that in the non-nerd world, these girls would only measure up to a 6. However, simply by dressing up in nerdy costumes they ascend to a 9. So these women dress up in revealing clothing, think they’re way hotter than they really are, and bask in the attention of dudes who they totally wouldn’t actually sleep with? Those bitches.

Holy objectification, Batman! Not only did this guy just demonize feminine displays of sexuality, but he goes as far to describe women using a number as if her lack of attractiveness somehow degrades her worth as a human being. Even more confounding is that Peacock goes on to link to the fantastic Fat, Ugly, or Slutty without realizing that he is, in a form much more subtle than that website shows, helping to promote and perpetuate some of the very misogynist attitudes that give rise to the harassment he himself is obviously opposed to.

...