Warrior Woman 1980

[purplerabbit]

Today, someone who knew me "back then" posted an article (including this photo) on the StarOKC (sf club) email list with these words:


Just to prove how wise we oldsters should be, check out this newspaper article from August 3rd, 1980, referring to STAR OKC's "BabelCon 1" convention.
Good ol' Kent Cordray is the main subject of the article, and he's the one in the straw hat holding the wall up, in the photo on page one.
Page two ends the article, and has a picture from BabelCon 1. The guy on the left with the pointy ears flashing the Vulcan peace sign is yours truly.
Page three features dear ol' Dawn in her patented chainmail bikini.
So, between us we have a lot of con experiences to live down ... I mean, to share with you all!

My response (edited to leave out most names):

Oh, my Gawd!!! That photo of me is priceless!

And those trademark black boots of mine! I wore them everywhere. I still have the entire outfit, boots and all, in a costume trunk in my attic. I wore it about a decade ago and it still got an astounding reaction from folks. Of course, they all think Zena nowadays. But that costume certainly predated the whole “woman warrior era” in the media. No wonder folks were freaked out by me as a teen. I was only 17 when I made that costume, 18 when that photo was taken.

And...

P.S. So I printed out the article and showed it to my mom, Mary.

Many of the folks of that area had met my very supportive and progressive mom. She is disabled and lives with us now.

So, I showed her the article and she had a lot to say about how scandalized folks were that she let her daughter dress like that. And how scarred the many boys seemed by me. "No one," she says, "had ever seen a girl dress like or act like you did then." Now they just turn on the TV and watch Buffy.

Then, she started talking how people had trouble accepting a girl in science fiction clubs, let alone leading them. Some of the stories she launched into aren't very flattering to most of the young men of that time, but they were the way it was back then. Although I tend to remember mostly how much I loved all my friends back then, I can remember that is was often a painful struggle to be accepted on my own terms.

For example, wearing that costume wasn't supposed to mean I was fair game to anyone who wanted me. Two young men actually corned me at Okon and tried to remove the costume by force. I fought back. I was bruised and angry, but I won. Then they still spread some pretty nasty rumors about me. And most people believed them and not me.

I write full time these days. Sometimes I think about writing a book entitled, "Memoirs of a Girl Trekkie" or the like. It certainly would be an interesting read.

P.S. Technically it wasn't chain mail. Chain mail would probably have covered more. The armor was chain and Plexiglas, all done in bright gold (like my hair then). I actually had to make chest molds with paper mache to create it. And I was literally chained into the top. It took pliers to get it on and off without hurting me. (The chains were decrative, with serrated edges.) Under the armor I was wearing a full body mesh with black cloth sewn in strategic places in case the armor slipped.

Comments

[metaphorge.livejournal.com]

That's fabulous. Very Frazetta.

[purplerabbit.livejournal.com]

WOW - You win the prize! Yes, it was inspired by Frazetta's work of that time period.