I was reading this good summary of the wank that went down on girl-wonder.org and that made me think about an issue that has bothered me a lot. The idea that we somehow need 'allies' that can only be satisfied if we are silent drives me batty. The whole point of allies is to stand up for people when they are exhausted from dealing with the issues or talking among their group to help soften attitudes. Now, how is that going to be able to go on, if they can't even listen about how we don't need to have random crotch shots in every issue, how will they explain the concept of sexism to others? If folks can't even accept that racism does not mean that one time a person of color did not act perfectly submissive, how can anyone rely on you when we need to say 'hey, maybe we need a few more people of color around the place(Vaguely related, I hope they make a GN of the Storm/Panther marriage story- more people go to bookstores than comic stores. Also, I hate messy floppies.)- we'd probably hear some mess about how all people of color can't draw or some shit. Being 'nice' is pretty much counterproductive as it lulls people who just don't get it into believing they do.

You have to be an ally because you have the same goals. They don't have to be for the same reasons- like you could want less butt floss in comics because you want people to take comics more seriously, but if you don't want to do something of your own accord, nothing anyone can say can fix it for you. Demanding we fix your sexism, racism or whatever problem you have isn't going to get us to shut up and go away, so maybe growing up and reading a book would be a better solution. Women and people of color and gays and anyone else I fucking missed read comics, and we're pissed!