Misogyny and Elitism in Comics

So... this happened today and, not surprisingly, the comics twitterverse was all aflutter.  I was going to write all about it but folks have already done excellent writeups of the situation.  Nevertheless, I wanted to weigh in a little.  Tony Harris is a fantastic artist. But he expressed some loathsome opinions today.  Here's his opinion, unedited:

"I cant remember if Ive said this before, but Im gonna say it anyway. I dont give a crap.I appreciate a pretty Gal as much as the next Hetero Male. Sometimes I even go in for some racy type stuff ( keeping the comments PG for my Ladies sake) but dammit, dammit, dammit I am so sick and tired of the whole COSPLAY-Chiks. I know a few who are actually pretty cool-and BIG Shocker, love and read Comics.So as in all things, they are the exception to the rule. Heres the statement I wanna make, based on THE RULE: "Hey! Quasi-Pretty-NOT-Hot-Girl, you are more pathetic than the REAL Nerds, who YOU secretly think are REALLY PATHETIC. But we are onto you. Some of us are aware that you are ever so average on an everyday basis. But you have a couple of things going your way. You are willing to become almost completely Naked in public, and yer either skinny( Well, some or most of you, THINK you are ) or you have Big Boobies. Notice I didnt say GREAT Boobies? You are what I refer to as "CON-HOT". Well not by my estimation, but according to a LOT of average Comic Book Fans who either RARELY speak to, or NEVER speak to girls. Some Virgins, ALL unconfident when it comes to girls, and the ONE thing they all have in common? The are being preyed on by YOU. You have this really awful need for attention, for people to tell you your pretty, or Hot, and the thought of guys pleasuring themselves to the memory of you hanging on them with your glossy open lips, promising them the Moon and the Stars of pleasure, just makes your head vibrate. After many years of watching this shit go down every 3 seconds around or in front of my booth or table at ANY given Con in the country, I put this together. Well not just me. We are LEGION. And here it is, THE REASON WHY ALL THAT, sickens us: BECAUSE YOU DONT KNOW SHIT ABOUT COMICS, BEYOND WHATEVER GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH YOU DID TO GET REF ON THE MOST MAINSTREAM CHARACTER WITH THE MOST REVEALING COSTUME EVER. And also, if ANY of these guys that you hang on tried to talk to you out of that Con? You wouldnt give them the fucking time of day. Shut up you damned liar, no you would not. Lying, Liar Face. Yer not Comics. Your just the thing that all the Comic Book, AND mainstream press flock to at Cons. And the real reason for the Con, and the damned costumes yer parading around in? That would be Comic Book Artists, and Comic Book Writers who make all that shit up."

So, the reaction on Twitter and elsewhere was severe, and deservedly so.  Anything critical that someone wants to say about this opinion, I will echo that sentiment.  On a more personal level for me though, reading this makes me think about a few questions:

• Can I continue to support Tony Harris as an artist?  I think the answer is no. I loved his work on Ex Machina and elsewhere, but I have a finite amount of $ and I think I'd rather spend it supporting artists and writers who aren't raging misogynist elitist ass-clowns.
• It's not just the loathsome sexism/misogyny on display here.  It's the idea that he can tell who the "poseurs" are at a comic convention, and that he is the self-appointed sheriff of comic geekdom, deciding who is at a comic convention for pure reasons, and whose motivations are base and low.
• This seems to be an attitude shared by many others as well, as demonstrated by the many supportive tweets he received.  Somehow people have this idea that anyone who wants to be a part of their subculture can't possibly be as legitimate as them, and so they appoint themselves arbiters over who is a true geek and who is not. This kind of elitism is loathsome to me.  I have no right to tell someone that they're not a true fan, and neither does anyone else. 
• I don't do cosplay.  Just not my thing.  But who am I, and who is anyone else, to tell a person that they're not a legitimate fan just because they don't know what year a character was first introduced, when they first had a team-up with Green Lantern, and other minutiae about the character?

What about the sexism?  The misogyny?  This is a whole other issue for me.  I've been reading comics for a long time and I have two little girls (7 and 4) that I'm introducing to comics and comic characters.  My older daughter, in particular, has developed my enthusiasm for super heroes.  Her favorite is Batgirl.  She loves the idea of a strong female character out there, doing good, fighting crime.  And so do I. But I'm embarassed by the comics world.  I'm embarrassed by the comics artists that insist on drawing female characters with dimensions that make them look like porn stars, in sexy poses, wearing essentially nothing.  I'm embarrassed by the male fans that make asses of themselves at conventions towards the women dressed up in costumes.  I'm embarrassed by the fact that when we look at pictures of super heroes and super hero teams, my daughter asks me, "where are all the girl super heroes?". 

BTW, I know there are some out there, but not nearly enough.  Not to mention the fact that there are so few comics that are actually appropriate for me to give to my kids.  Not to sound like a complete old fuddy-duddy, but look at DC's "New 52" initiative.  I read the first issue of every one of those comics, and I subscribed to a number of them. Many of them I wouldn't want to have anywhere near my kids.  Red Hood and the Outlaws?  Forget it - they turned Starfire into a zombie sexbot.  Green Lantern Corps? Never mind, I'll do without all the dismemberments. There's kid comics, but those are in their own little kid comic ghetto.  I don't think it's too much to ask that the comics creators put out some comics that are genuinely appropriate and enjoyable for all ages.

So, comics industry and comics creators and comics geeks.  If you want to grow your industry and business, (i) figure out ways to grow your market (and not alienate huge groups of potential fans), (ii) get the loathsome attitudes in check, and (iii) (for you geeks out there) stop trying to prove how much more legit your comics geekery is than anyone else's.  It just makes you look like a dumbass.