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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

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Some people balk at the idea of things that deal specifically with gender in the sci-fi/fantasy community; who are tired of “Women In [insert male-dominated genre/art form here]” panels at conventions, because wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t need those? As if those gender-specific panels or events were themselves the cause of there not being as many female creators or women involved in fandom.

Thing is, they’re not. As much as women have progressed in the comics industry, or sci-fi/fantasy entertainment industry, or in the gaming industry; as vocal as female fans have become in asserting themselves in the sci-fi/fantasy/gaming/comics communities, there’s still a huge disparity between male and female representation at established cons.

This is one of the many reasons why I’m excited for the first annual Geek Girl Con, a convention “dedicated to promoting awareness of and celebrating the contribution and involvement of women in all aspects of science-fiction, comics, gaming, and related Geek Culture,” which is being held October 8th and 9th, 2011 at the Seattle Center’s Northewest Rooms in Seattle, WA.

Geek Girl Con has been generating buzz on Twitter for quite some time (you can follow them here: @GeekGirlCon), seeking volunteers, getting feedback, and most importantly, raising the necessary funds to make this event to happen! I’ve been following their efforts very closely, because in addition to putting a much-needed focus on women creators and fans, and in addition to providing a place where the geekgirl comes first, it just seems like it’s going to be a fun weekend! The fact that one of the first things they did to raise awareness of the con was to have a Hero of Canton sing-a-long sold me right away:

Bonnie Burton, Trina Robbins, Greg Rucka, and Jen Van Meter have all already signed on as guests, and there are more fun music, TV, film, and game-related events being planned leading up to the big weekend in October! Passes to the con are already on sale, and these early sales will help Geek Girl Con build a successful event! Keep up with Geek Girl Con at their website, on Twitter, or on Facebook; get involved as a volunteer, or by suggesting a panel or event; let the Geek Girl Con team know exactly the kinds of panels you’d like to see and guests you’d love to meet; and get in on the ground floor of an event that has the potential to be wonderful and important to geek girls everywhere!

I hope to see you at the con!


Teresa Jusino is two years older than Buffy Summers. Her “feminist brown person” take on pop culture has been featured on websites like ChinaShopMag.com, PinkRaygun.com, Newsarama, and PopMatters.com. Her fiction has appeared in the sci-fi literary magazine, Crossed Genres; she is the editor of Beginning of Line, the  Caprica fan fiction site; and her essay “Why Joss is More Important Than His ‘Verse” is included in the upcoming book Whedonistas: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon By the Women Who Love Them, coming in March 2011! Get Twitterpated with Teresa, or visit her at The Teresa Jusino Experience.

About the Author

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Teresa Jusino

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Teresa Jusino was born the day Skylab fell. Coincidence? She doesn't think so. A native New Yorker, Jusino has been telling stories since she was three years old, and she wrote a picture book in crayon in nursery school. However, nursery school also found her playing the angel Gabriel in a Christmas pageant, and so her competing love of performing existed from an early age. Her two great loves competed all the way through early adulthood. She attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where she majored in Drama and English Literature, after which she focused on acting, performing in countless plays and musicals in and around New York City, as well as short films, feature length independent films, and the one time she got to play an FBI agent in a PBS thing, which she thought was really cool, because she got to wear sunglasses and a dark suit and look badass. Eventually, producing was thrown into the mix. For four years, she was a company member and associate producer for a theater company called Stone Soup Theater Arts. She also produced a musical in which she also performed at Theater For the New City called Emergency Contraception: The Musical! by Sara Cooper, during which she ended every performance covered in fake blood. Don't ask. After eight years of acting, Jusino decided that she missed her first love – writing – and in 2008 decided to devote herself wholly to that pursuit. She has since brought her "feminist brown person" perspective to pop culture criticism at such diverse sites as Tor.com, ChinaShop Magazine, PopMatters, Newsarama, Pink Raygun, as well as her own blog, The Teresa Jusino Experience (teresajusino.wordpress.com), and her Tumblr for feminist criticism, The Gender Blender (tumblwithteresa.tumblr.com). She is also the editor of a Caprica fan fiction site called Beginning of Line (beginningofline.weebly.com), because dammit, that was a good show, and if SyFy won't tell any more of those characters' stories, she'll do it herself. Her travel-writer alter ego is Geek Girl Traveler, and her travel articles can be followed at ChinaShop while she herself can be followed on Twitter (@teresajusino). Her essay, "Why Joss is More Important Than His 'Verse" can be found in the book Whedonistas: A Celebration of the Worlds of Joss Whedon By the Women Who Love Them (Mad Norwegian Press). In addition to her non-fiction, Jusino is also a writer of fiction. Her short story, December, was published in Issue #24 of the sci-fi literary journal, Crossed Genres. A writer of both prose and film/television scripts, she relocated to Los Angeles in September 2011 to give the whole television thing a whirl. She'll let you know how that goes just as soon as she stops writing bios about herself in the third person.
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