About Zamaron

“I think “potential” is what it comes down to, for me, when I’m reading Green Lantern, though. The mythology is such that it’s pretty much waiting to become a fantastically feminist series– I think it just takes the right writer to pull it off. “ — Soyoerika

We put up this blog as a “Safe space” for Fanterns to discuss Green Lantern, and be able to touch on female Green Lanterns and their treatment and potential without having to worry about being dismissed out of hand as “Settling for very little” or “Seeing sexism where it isn’t.” We love Green Lantern, but recently in order to be a female fan and find good representation you needed to look closely at back issues, elseworlds, and backup stories. We’re still finding out feet so to speak, but we’d like to build a good female perspective Green Lantern fansite without falling into the traps on either side of the sexism argument.

I. This is, First and Foremost, a Green Lantern fansite.

For various reasons, we are Green Lantern fangirls. We love the concept, we love the series, we follow it religiously. This is the requirement for being a contributor here. You must think that Green Lantern is awesome, wonderful, the best thing since sliced bread.

Your reasons are your own.

But feel free to share them with us.

II. This is also, unlike some Green Lantern communities that shall remain nameless and unlinked, a female-friendly area.

This is for fans of the lady Lanterns, the love interests, the villainesses, the mothers, the sisters-in-law, the friends who are in the supporting cast of Green Lantern titles (Including Warrior and Ion).

Not to make a beginning reader feel unwelcome, but this blog is just being started by a group of women who are obsessed with the minutia of Green Lantern. You see, we have to be, in order to remain fans. It’s a beautiful concept, but the recent stories can be a bit light on the estrogen for our tastes.

That doesn’t make sense, mind you, because according to the concept anybody can be a Green Lantern. This isn’t like the Lensmen stories where only men could do it. There is no gender restriction on the Corps, there never was. They are chosen specifically by the Guardians for honesty and courage, traits which, no matter what your opinion on biological and social drives, have an equal chance of existing in people of all genders. Sadly, though, the guys tend to get the spotlight here. You have to look for the women.

To know about the female characters of this franchise, and still love them, means that you’re a pretty dedicated fan. Women don’t get the spotlight in Green Lantern too often. Most of the best female characters have been run through the ringer during The Purge and up to then. A lot of them are handled in ways that are light years away from their original concept (*cough*Star Sapphire*cough*). To really know and understand the strong, positive female characters in Green Lantern you have to go back to the 90s and the Green Lantern Corps Quarterly series, the 80s and the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backups, and evne as far back as the early 60s, the John Broome/Gardner Fox days when Carol Ferris, Star Sappire, the Zamarons, and Katma Tui were first brought in. The female characters in their purest, and, strangely (given how we’re supposed to a more enlightened time) most feminist form.

Yes, I used the F-word. Feminist. Get used to it. It’s not a bad word. Because if you prefer to see the women handled like people (not plot devices) in these stories, it describes you too. This brings me to my next point.

III. This is, unlike just about every other Green Lantern community online, a Feminist-Safe Space.

This does not mean you need a Women’s Studies degree to comment or contribute. While a feminist analysis that picks apart the work at its root is welcome here, please don’t load your comments and posts with metamessages and terminology that will give the Admin who never went to college a headache trying to look them up in the dictionary. Feminist theory is welcome, but don’t take it as a given everyone’s already familiar with it. If analyzing a comic or a character, use examples from the character’s story arc to support the theory. If you need to reference a theory, do a short synopsis.

Now what Feminist-safe space does mean is that there are a few ground rules that we’re still working on, but the most important one is this:

What’s privilege? Basically, it means that prejudice (sexism, racism, homophobia, classism) is invisible to you because it doesn’t seem to directly hurt you.

If you comment, and someone says it’s a prejudiced comment, please read this and follow the guidelines before getting upset and reacting badly.

If the idea that Green Lantern books can be sexist seriously messes with your worldview, I’d advise you to avoid this site.

IV. New Contributors are Welcome.

So long as you have a healthy love of the Green Lantern concept, a positive attitude and something interesting to say, feel free to email me and ask to come on as a contributor. There’s not many refuges for a female Green Lantern fan online.

Even Jade fans are welcome (and I hate Jade). You could probably give me a positive essay to link to her spot.