Acclaimed fantasy writer Nnedi Okorafor just launched a stand-alone comic for Black Panther's princess Shuri.
Ask young women who saw the Marvel movie "Black Panther" who their favorite character was, and you'll likely hear a resounding, "Shuri!" It's not hard to see why. The younger sister of King T'Challa is smart, spunky, cool under pressure, and unapologetic in her badassery.
And now the genius princess has her own stand-alone comic. Nnedi Okorafor, known for her African-based science fiction and fantasy books, is the writer behind the new comic book, while prolific artist Sam Spratt is illustrating the series.
Just the covers of the comics are enough to illicit a "Wakanda Forever!"
Shuri's character in Black Panther resonated with girls who are interested in science and technology, but especially with girls in the black community who don't often see themselves well represented in a major comic book series.
And Shuri definitely does represent. The strength, innovation, and distinctly African identity she exudes in the covers shared by the writer and illustrator on Instagram will undoubtedly inspire countless girls who see themselves in her. She is awesome in every possible way.
Metal wings and bright yellow tennis shoes—this is definitely the Shuri the world fell in love with.
Okorafor shared the cover of issue #4, which shows Shuri hovering in the air wearing wings she most definitely invented, and yellow high-topped tennis shoes that ring true to her unique fashion sense.
One of the things we love about Shuri is her quirky style that juxtaposes her youthful flair with her beyond-her-years brilliance. She's not a serious, studious, boring brainiac—she's fun, creative, and incredibly relatable, even as she's putting the best scientists and engineers to shame in her lab.
And I'd bet dollars to donuts those shoes have some kind of secret special power. Guess we'll have to wait until Issue #4 to find out . . .
Men try to read the most disturbing comments women get online back to them.
If you wouldn't say it to their faces, don't type it.
This isn’t comfortable to talk about.
Trigger warning for discussion of sexual assault and violence.
in 2016, a video by Just Not Sports took two prominent female sportswriters and had regular guys* read the awful abuse they receive online aloud.
Sportswriters Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro sat by as men read some of the most vile tweets they receive on a daily basis. See how long you can last watching it.
*(Note: The men reading them did not write these comments; they're just being helpful volunteers to prove a point.)
It starts out kind of jokey but eventually devolves into messages like this:
Awful.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
These types of messages come in response to one thing: The women were doing their jobs.
Those wishes that DiCaro would die by hockey stick and get raped? Those were the result of her simply reporting on the National Hockey League's most disturbing ordeal: the Patrick Kane rape case, in which one of the league's top players was accused of rape.
DiCaro wasn't writing opinion pieces. She was simply reporting things like what the police said, statements from lawyers, and just general everyday work reporters do. In response, she received a deluge of death threats. Her male colleagues didn't receive nearly the same amount of abuse.
It got to the point where she and her employer thought it best for her to stay home for a day or two for her own physical safety.
The men in the video seemed absolutely shocked that real live human beings would attack someone simply for doing their job.
Not saying it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Most found themselves speechless or, at very least, struggling to read the words being presented.
It evoked shame and sympathy.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Think this is all just anecdotal? There's evidence to the contrary.
The Guardian did a study to find out how bad this problem really is. They combed through more than 70 million comments that have been posted on their site since 2006 and counted the number of comments that violated their comment policy and were blocked.
The stats were staggering.
From their comprehensive and disturbing article:
If you can’t say it to their face... don’t type it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
So, what can people do about this kind of harassment once they know it exists?
There are no easy answers. But the more people who know this behavior exists, the more people there will be to tell others it's not OK to talk to anyone like that.
Watch the whole video below:
.This article originally appeared nine years ago.