I once had a comic-book-store employee refuse to help me unless I could name everyone who had ever been a member of the Avengers.
Far too often, fangirls are made to feel marginalized and unwelcome in the nerd community. Women are ostracized from online gaming, called out as fake, accused of being desperate for attention, harassed while cosplaying, and, worst of all, forced into silence. Some dude nerds don’t like that we’re invading their space and have become obsessed with gatekeeping, deciding who “counts” as a real fan and who doesn’t. You’re not a true fan if you only like the Marvel movies; you can’t be in the anime community unless you speak fluent Japanese; you’re not allowed to dress up as Ms. Marvel unless you’ve read every Ms. Marvel comic, ever. I once had a comic-book-store employee refuse to help me unless I could name everyone who had ever been a member of the Avengers. Do you know how many superheroes that is? It’s a lot. Do you think he ever asked that of a guy in the shop? I’m gonna go with “nah, son,” because you know that never happened.