Thread by @Coelasquid

In light of the Tuca and Bertie controversey, I think people outside the animation industry have this idea that there aren't a lot of women making shows because not enough women are pitching or believing in themselves or whatever and blaming "the patriarchy"-

So I just want to put out there that in my own, personal, anecdotal experience working in this industry for going on 12 years now, I have been told MULTIPLE times, in plain english, to my face, that I was not welcome or wanted on a project because I was a woman.

This was an actual experience I had on my first day working with a new showrunner (who I had seniority over, if that matters) on a show; He was running through how he wanted me to execute the layout, and one scene involved a joke about using the Force to give handjobs-

He stopped on this scene like he was waiting for me to laugh at the joke, I was just kind of smiling politely waiting for him to continue explaining how he wanted me to execute the task I was assigned so I could do my job, I guess he took this as me not getting the joke

So he started explaining what the Force was to me, and I, trying very hard not to seem like I was giving him attitude, politely responded that I was familiar with the Force. But I didn't laugh, so he went on to explain why using the Force to give handjobs was funny.

And like, you could tell that he was getting more uncomfortable trying to explain the mechanics of this joke and starting to trip over his words and stammer. And I was Extra Not Laughing at this point because nothing is less funny than having a joke explained to you in detail

So eventually he cut his losses and gave up explaining the mechanics of Force Handjobs, told me "Ugh, I hate talking about my show in front of women" and finally moved on to the next scene.

I gotta keep this one vague because I don't want to risk burning bridges, but a couple years back I tried to pitch a project to [big company] involving [cool property I would absolutely rock], I had a GREAT meeting with them that went super well-

But when I sent in my pitch stuff, I never heard anything back ever again. I figured "well I guess that's just how it goes swimming with these big fishes" and moved on. A year and a half later I was hanging out with a friend who works for [Company]-

He was like "Oh, I heard they loved your pitch!" I was like "That's cool because I didn't hear that" and he added "Yeah, but you know. Women can't work with [known sex pest the company had no plans to fire, who would have been my direct superior if I got the job]"

Without dragging this out too much, that kind of thing is just the undeniable bias I've had admitted to my face, without trying to second-guess times I was denied promotions that suddenly weren't available when I was next in line, or judged more harshly than my peers or etc etc

But the point I'm making here is I'm not special or anything, and I'm sure that every woman out there trying to rise through the ranks in the adult animation sphere has dealt with this exact same thing before they could get where they wanted.

It's like, I'm not offended by some weird guy overexplaining a Force Handjob joke, it's not like I had to go home and tend to my delicate sensibilities, but when someone with power is willing to say "I don't like to work with women" to your face in the middle of a studio bullpen-

It says a lot about what they're saying when you aren't there, or what decisions they're making about who to hire, who gets promoted, who gets their show made. It's like they say about how many roaches are hiding in the walls for every one you see in your apartment.