Despite the subtitle, this blog is not just for men

This evening a new Facebook follower posted on my wall, "is this site for men only??? does it count if I think like a guy??? or that I love Star Wars????". 

It's not the first time. The subtitle of this blog, of course, is "STAR WARS for men old enough to know better". That certainly makes it sound like a men-only sort of place. Similarly, in my book, the focus is very much on the boys and men I have shared Star Wars with for the last 35 years (although my sister is important to the story, too).

The truth is that I see Star Wars as largely a boy's interest. But the Star Wars I'm talking about is the old-school Star Wars of the late '70s and early '80s. I don't know much about today's Star Wars and I don't care to. My interest lies almost exclusively in the Star Wars of my youth, and for me that was a very male experience. Most of this blog's followers are men, and I don't think that's a coincidence. One of the ideas behind my book and this blog is that Star Wars was a profoundly important phenomenon for my generation of men. They are who I am chiefly speaking to.

But the answer to my newest Facebook follower is an emphatic No: this site is not for men only. There are women out there whose childhoods were shaped by Star Wars as much as was mine. I know it and I welcome it. I confess you're not my "target market", but I certainly don't mean to exclude you, or anyone. On the contrary, welcome aboard!

See also: Star Wars: not just for boys; Star Wars, bullying and girls

PS: My wife says "For women old enough to know better" is not a good subtitle. Smart enough, perhaps?

Star Wars, bullying and girls

The Official Star Wars Blog has a post from Ashley Eckstein (@ashley_eckstein), a voice actress in the Clone Wars TV show and the founder of Her Universe, about bullying and girls who like Star Wars. Ashley will be interviewing Carrie Goldman (@carriemgoldman), the author of a new book, Bullied, at the upcoming Star Wars Celebration VI convention in Orlando, Florida.

One of the points Ashley makes in her post is that there is a tendancy to market Star Wars only to boys, and that the effect of this can be that girls are teased or made to feel ashamed for being Star Wars fans. The comments below the post confirm this. For instance, a reader named Amanda says: 

My 7 year old daughter loves SW. Last year for her BDay we had a party and we got her lego SW for her DS and a couple lego SW sets. When she opened them, she allowed herself to get embarrassed. We asked her why and she said because her friends think SW is for boys. Well, we keep telling her that she can like whatever she wants to. We keep encouraging her not to be shy about liking SW or anything else that is considered “boyish.” We’ll keep drilling this message into her head.

When I was growing up Star Wars was definitely aimed at boys, and when I meet people my age today the men are almost always former Star Wars fans to one degree or other. The women of my generation tend to be much less familar with Star Wars, but there are certainly exceptions, including my own sister. As I've said before, this blog is aimed at male Star Wars fans from the original trilogy generation, but Star Wars was not exclusively a boy phenomenon even in the 1970s, and it certainly ought not to be treated that way in the 2010s. 

The Official Star Wars Blog: Bullied: Join The Conversation At Celebration VI

Amazon.com: Bullied: What Every Parent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know About Ending the Cycle of Fear

Star Wars: not just for boys

Over on LiveJournal (yes, it's still there), author Claudia Gray takes umbrage with a commenter who tells her that, in 1980, girls didn't like Star Wars:

In 1980, EVERYONE EVERYWHERE IN THE WHOLE WORLD LOVED STAR WARS. I cannot emphasize this enough. From 1977 to 1983, Star Wars was basically as popular as Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, One Direction, American Idol, NASCAR, chocolate, and oxygen, combined. Also, EVERYONE EVERYWHERE IN THE WHOLE WORLD includes girls. I personally built an X-Wing fighter simulator in my closet, owned a “Star Wars Passport” that guaranteed me entry to Mos Eisley Spaceport and Cloud City (have not tested this, more’s the pity), and had collected a group of Star Wars action figures that rivaled my brother’s in quantity and desirability. He really only had the edge because the Millennium Falcon playset was his, though I played with it nearly as much as he did. (Once, when allowed to borrow the Lando Calrissian action figure that was clearly and undeniably my property, said brother traded it to another kid – for a lowly Hoth Ranger, no less! – and that remains a point of contention to this day. Yes, we’re in our 40s. Your point?) 

And no, I was not the only girl out there who felt that way. All my friends loved Star Wars. Lucasfilm made Princess Leia dolls, and Princess Leia bubble bath, and Princess Kneesa stuffed Ewoks with pink headwraps; they knew there were little girls who loved and wanted these things. I’m in a Mardi Gras krewe here in New Orleans called Chewbacchus – cofounded by a woman – in which women and men both dress up in science fiction costumes to parade around. A good friend of mine named Jen Heddle loved Star Wars as a kid, then as an adult, so much and so deeply that she now works for Lucasfilm. Every single one of those women grew up loving Star Wars. No, it wasn’t just me. 

I feel a little admonished by this post, given the subtitle of this blog. But I certainly do not deny that Star Wars swept up little girls along with little boys 35 years ago. My own sister was one of them. I think it fair to say, however, that Star Wars had a more lasting impact on boys than on girls. Looking at the composition of this blog's Facebook followers, they are overwhelmingly men. But never mind. Girls and women, you are most welcome to my blog! 

LiveJournal: Claudia Gray: "I'm not like the other girls."