Fangirls Around The Web: September 22, 2014

Star-Wars-birthday-party[1]It’s FANgirl Blog’s 4th Birthday today! From the beginning one of the goals here was to highlight the many ways women participate in geek culture. For that reason, posting a new Fangirls Around the Web seemed like a perfect way to celebrate the occasion. Let’s spotlight fangirls and their heroines, real and fictional, spotted around the web.

The New York Times reports on the tremendous sales of Lego’s Research Institute set featuring three female scientists. And yes, I have one!

Previously I wrote about the big wins for diversity at this year’s Hugo Awards. Gavia Baker-Whitelaw at The Daily Dot asks “Has the tide turned for fan writers at the Hugos?” She also has another great article, “The absurdity of this ‘fake geek guys’ video makes a powerful point.”

At The Washington Post, Brigid Schulte reports on survey results indicating that “Dads, not moms, benefit from flexible work.”

USA Today reports on recent discoveries that many more Viking women participated in the invasions of England than previously believed. These are still small samples, but there is a growing trend that shows science viewed its subjects through the lens of its male-dominated culture when analyzing topics. From pharmaceutical research to anthropology, this is proving limiting.

Indiewire’s The Playlist shares the U.S. trailer for The Tale of Princess Kaguya, coming soon from Studio Ghibli. Check out Hot Topic for new Studio Ghibli items from Her Universe.

The Wall Street Journal highlights the big news from the gaming industry: “Women Now Make Up Almost Half of Gamers: Adult Women Gamers Now More Numerous Than Under-18 Boys.” Anita Sarkeesian’s latest Tropes vs. Women video continues examining women as background decoration in videogames.

Don’t miss this inspiring Under Armour ad featuring Misty Copeland:

TheMarySue highlights J.K. Rowling’s introduction of Malala Yousafzai at the Edinburgh Book Festival. They also ask, “How Does Your Favorite Star Trek Series Fare on the Bechdel Test?”

TheMarySue writes about “No Ifs, No Butts: Spider-Woman and the Comic Community’s Problem with Minority Readers.” Kelly Thompson at Comic Book Resources also comments on the controversy in her piece “She Has No Head! – The Manara Variant Isn’t The Problem.”

On a more positive note, Marvel has posted the video of the Women of Marvel panel from San Diego Comic-Con.

How about this incredible Jerry Chou art of Wonder Woman with a lightsaber riding a unicorn? (via io9)

In local news from South Carolina, eigth-grader Shannon Forest is the kicker for her school’s football team.

The latest Fangirls of the Day are: Rachel, Ashley, Hannah, Ann, Katie, Sandra, Sam, Danielle, Victoria, Stephanie, Cara, Whitney, Jasmine, Brianna, Joi, Lizzy, Megan, Lizeth, Jacqueline, Stephanie, Scout, Caitlin, Oona, Megan, Roxanna, Jennifer, and Maya.

(Birthday party image via Horrible Housewife.)


For updates on all things FANgirl follow @FANgirlcantina on Twitter or like FANgirl Zone on Facebook. At times she tries the Tumblr.

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Tricia Barr took her understanding of brand management and marketing, mixed it with a love of genre storytelling, and added a dash of social media flare to create FANgirl Blog, where she discusses Star Wars, fandom, and the intersection of women within Star Wars fandom. She is co-author of Ultimate Star Wars and Star Wars Visual Encyclopedia from DK Publishing, a featured writer for Star Wars Insider magazine with numerous articles on the Hero's Journey. Her FANgirl opinions can be heard on the podcasts Hyperspace Theories and Fangirls Going Rogue. Tricia Barr's novel, Wynde, won the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Ebook. She was also part of Silence in the Library's successful all-female creator science fiction and fantasy anthology Athena's Daughters, which is available now. For excerpts and tales of her adventures in creating a fictional universe, hop over to TriciaBarr.com.