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HumorGender-critical animation - CYBERGIRLZ
Didn’t see any other threads on the topic; mods, please remove if I missed it.
The animation, by creators Sillypoo, came out on international women’s day, and is the most glorious peep back at web 1.0 for those other ladies here who were regular netizens in the late 90s and through the 2000s. Aside from the massive prevalence of sexual predators in every single “teen” AOL chat room or usenet forum I remember being on (asl? 32/m/nj… 13/f/FR shudder), it was a much more freeing time. I remember so many female forums, spaces for teen girls to chat about really mundane things, and I made a number of friends through the internet in the late 90s.
The animation itself, while in the style of that Geocities era, is a pastiche on how men (particularly trans identifying men) have put an absolute end to women’s spaces online. It features several well-known real life people… see if you recognise them?
It’s full of references which I really hope other women on here get; my favourite was at the beginning, there is a poster on the wall of a singer… I had that album (by a Japanese artist) and it was one of my favourites when I was about 12.
The backing music isn’t original, I believe it was used in Dance Dance Revolution, but the vaguely anime vibe of it is wonderful for what it depicts.
I shan’t spoil the ending, but it is entertaining. I laughed so much when I first saw it, as well as crying weirdly as it touched part of me I had forgotten was in me. While it is certainly aimed at those women in their 30s who spent probably too much time online in their youth, I wonder if anyone else has any thoughts; what did you think? Did you recognise anyone? What did you think of how trans-identifying men were portrayed; any notable omissions?