Two friends of mine, Love Ablan and Jennifer Zern, have started this awesome new endeavor called Fangirl Project to help women “Stake your claim in Fangirl history!” Here’s the blurb from their About page:
The Fangirl Project is part photo book, part video documentary and all labor of love. In December 2006, photographer Love Ablan and writer/videographer Jennifer Zern decided to travel across the country in search of the female equivalent of a “fanboy” — a hardcore devotee deeply immersed in geeky interests like science fiction, fantasy, comic books, gaming, and the like. Eight months later, they’re still going at it. As certified fangirls themselves, the duo embarked on this project for several reasons: to shatter a few myths, to explore a fascinating and wildly diverse subculture, to document the flip side of a presumably male-dominated niche, and to have a good time meeting people with similar passions.Subjects are photographed in their element — either at home, at their favorite comic book store, or at conventions — and interviewed about their obsessions and their views on what it means to be a fangirl. The end product will be a coffee table-style portrait book celebrating the fangirl phenomena. Video interviews will be posted on YouTube intermittently. Photo exhibits in a number of cities will coincide with the book’s release.
So far they have an ever-growing Flickr gallery and they want more fangirls to participate and help the project grow. So go check it out and let your fangirl voice be heard!
An Excellent Beginner’s Resource
I stumbled on Lonely Gods quite unexpectedly, but it was worth the visit. Lonely Gods was created as preparation and collection for Cosmo Felton’s (the maintainer) Undergraduate thesis on the issues and treatment of four different minorities in comics: GLBT, Women (in Batman), the Mentally Ill, and the Disabled. For those who might not be fully familiar with issues involving minorities in comics, it’s an excellent beginner’s resource, as Felton covers each minority’s progression in an accessible and concise manner.