What were you doing when you were twelve? For many of us, we might have been pursuing our geeky interests, but the speakers at the Next Gen Geek Girls panel made me (and several other people in the audience) feel completely inadequate!
Introduced by Whitney Winn, the Next Gen Geek Girls at the panel were two twelve-year-olds, Maddie Messer and Rowan Trilling-Hansen. Both of them had deep-seated, wonderfully geeky interests: Rowan loves comics and Maddie –who I had the pleasure of interviewing for the GeekGirlCon blog last year—plays games on her phone.
Both of them made waves in 2015 when they addressed gender disparities in the representation of women in comics and games. Rowan wrote letter to DC for more women in comics and merchandise, and was featured on the Today Show. She said that she had loved comics for her whole life. However, her issue with the representation of female characters began when she got into the DC Chibi collection. Rowan showed the audience the packaging for the Chibis, which lists the ones that are available. Of the twelve characters, only two were women. “I just think it would be really nice if they would add more female characters to the set,” she explained to the panel. “When I was looking at the pamphlet I kept thinking something wasn’t right.”
As we draw closer to GeekGirlCon 2012 (August 11 and 12, get your passes now!), we will be previewing some of the guests and panelists attending and participating in our weekend festivities. We won’t share all the juicy details, just enough to ensure you HAVE to come to GeekGirlCon 2012.
Actress Teal Sherer
Today, the spotlight is on Teal Sherer, an actress who plays the character Venom in The Guildand who also has her own web series coming out this summer, My Gimpy Life. Teal is going to be participating on a panel during GeekGirlCon 2012 titled “The Last ‘Outsider’ in Popular Culture – Disability,” moderated by Day Al-Mohamed.
More than 1 in 10 Americans live with an apparent disability. But this isn’t reflected in books, comics, films, or television. In fact, did you know that less than 2 percent of TV show characters display a disability, and only 0.5 percent have speaking roles? Day, Teal, and other panelists (including Gail Simone!) will examine the reluctance to include characters with disabilities, as well as some of the common myths, stereotypes, and controversies using examples from popular and geek culture, personal experiences in the industry, and discourse with audience members.
You won’t want to miss this panel, or the great answers Teal shared with GeekGirlCon PR Manager Susie Rantz. Enjoy!
When did you first get involved with acting?
In college at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. I had to take a theatre class as part of my Communications major and fell madly in love thanks to my amazing professor Troy Dwyer. Troy cast me in my first play Federico García Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba. I played one of the daughters, Amelia. Because it was a period piece I had to use an antique wheelchair which was pretty cool.
