This past weekend we had an excellent community event in Toronto for nerd girls: Comic Shop Ladies Night!
Excerpt from event post: “Comic Shop Ladies Night is back for 2016! This is a ladies-only event where you can embrace your geeky side, discover new comics, share your opinions on movies, tv shows and video games, and wear your geeky accessories or full-on geeky outfits (which we can’t wait to see)! “
This Ladies Night event was held at The Sidekick, an awesome new comic shop/café in Toronto’s East end. The Ladies Night Committee was excited and enthused to work with Chris Tine, owner of Sidekick – this is the first time we have had a Ladies Night at a Comic Shop owned by a woman! The great part about The Sidekick is that because it is part café, the shop is already set up for a party atmosphere with lots of tables and chairs and wide-open spaces for people to gather and chat.
This event was immensely successful with 60+ attendees, many of whom had not attended a Ladies Night event before. We even had a newcomer to Canada claim this was her first nerd outing. A lot of the success was due to our partners in media, such as Comix Asylum Magazine, for spreading the word about the event, as well as our sponsors, which included Comic Block. I was so glad to see ladies making a night of it – dressing up with friends, going to dinner beforehand, and making Ladies Night the main event of their evening.
I know a lot of people might be wondering about the importance of a female nerd community-building event. The fan and convention scenes have made a lot of progress in terms of diversity and tolerance and we live in a far more accepting comics community than 20 or even 5 years ago, but stigma remains and with it the fear or being persecuted or asked to prove you are not a ‘fake nerd girl’. The Ladies Night Committee hosts this quarterly event where we can ensure fangirls can be themselves When you overhear someone asking a follow up question about the X-Men at our event, it’s because they’re excited about being able to discuss geeky subjects in a safe space, not trying to judge how well you know the canon. Whether you’re newly nerding out or are a long-time geek girl, you’re welcome at Ladies Night.
