Comic-Con 2016

In 2010, nine women gathered onstage in front of a packed and engaged crowd at Comic-Con International to dispel the myth that "Geek Girls, like unicorns, don't exist." The subsequent six years have seen an explosion in female representation in geek spaces. Surveys tracking attendance numbers at fan-based events, as well as data regarding women gamers and comic book readers, are suggestive of gender parity within geek culture. Headlines coming out of Comic-Con itself proclaim that "women totally dominate" the event and that we are experiencing the rise of fangirls. But how far have women in geek culture really come since that landmark "Geek Girls Exist" panel? Andrea Letamendi (Pop Culture Hero Association), Jamie Broadax (Black Girl Nerds), Kristin Rielly (Geek Girls Network), Suzanne Scott (UT-Austin), Sam Maggs (Bioware, Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy), Marie Poole (Lone Shark Games), and moderator Jennifer K. Stuller (GeekGirlCon, Ink-Stained Amazon) talk about what interventions are being made in the culture, what areas still need work, and what the fangirl future holds.