On WFA and Recent Discussions

Very recently, two prominent bloggers have publicly stated that they're no longer using WFA. I supposed I ought to say something publicly in response.

There are certain accusations made in the posts that I will not address. Mostly because my bias is fairly obvious in this case. :-) You can probably guess that I would support/defend my partner-in-crime and you'd be right. So let's just consider that done, shall we? (I will say that I have never personally known Ragnell to be passive anything. If there's aggression involved, it's quite active.)

What I will say is that When Fangirls Attack is a niche site. It's not going to suit everyone's tastes and we don't expect anyone who is unsatisfied to keep using it. We're not going to change our mission statement because certain people are unhappy about it and while we are always open for suggestions on how to improve, we're still the ones who are going to make the final decisions about it.

Complaints and criticisms are fine with us, though likely I'll stop to try to answer them because I'm a busybody like that. And while I'm not really one to say "if you don't like it, make your own" I will say that if anyone does decide that our coverage of a certain topic is pitiful or unsatisfying and does want to create their own version to suit their tastes better, we'll be glad for it.

What we don't expect is for anyone to support When Fangirls Attack simply because we're female. That strikes me as utterly ridiculous. Women can make a good product, women can make a bad product, and if our product is not for you, don't use it. Our x-chromosomes can handle the rejection. While WFA is a site themed around the portrayal of women in comic books, there's nothing about it except the name that really indicates that we must be female. There's nothing to stop a man from running a site with the same theme after all. It's just a linkblog.

We expect people to go to WFA for the content linked, not out of some strange motivation to support the endeavors of women. We don't think you're betraying comic-book-feminism, female comic book fans, or womanhood in general if you don't read us.

It's something of a relief if you don't, really.

(On a tangential note, I'm mildly puzzled by Ms. Carlson's choice of title. "Breaks with" carries the connotation that Ms. D'Orazio was in some way affiliated with WFA or its staff. No such affiliation has ever existed.)