Thursday, October 21, 2010

HERO PROFILE #52: Nyx


Operates out of: New Jersey/ New York

Activities: Patrols, homeless outreach, charity

Quote:"Like the night, I cannot be proven or disproved to certain degrees; and also much like the night, when morning comes there will be no trace of me.

I patrol New York and the Northern New Jersey area. It's impossible to define but I feel a certain degree of loyalty to every being that inhabits this earth, a compulsion to watch-to help-to protect."

Author's notes: This Sunday local RLSHs The Watchman and Blackbird, along with myself, will be joining a superhero themed community walk as part as the Girls To The Front Festival. (I wrote an article on the Fest HERE)The fest celebrates the early '90's "riot grrrl" movement through concerts, workshops, and other activities. After talking with the organizers we decided it would be great to end the fest with the walk, which open to anyone in the neighborhood who wants to participate (FB Page for the walk HERE).

My female friends always ask me if there are women RLSH out there, and of course there are- I've profiled a few on this blog. There was a long debate about the place in history of Terrifica, an early take on the RLSH concept in an anti-Valentine's Day themed entry HERE. I've also done Hero Profiles on Executrix, Amazonia, the Herois do Cotidiano (a group of two women and three men)and the marvelous Metadata. Other great lady heroes mentioned elsewhere on this blog* include Lady Hero,Golden Valkryie, Dreizehn, Danger Woman, Scavenger, Lady Catacomb, Rooster, and Tsaf. There are many, many other RLSH women out there and the number seems to be increasing all the time. Recently Shadow-Girl, of Chicago, became active with patrolling and doing hand outs to homeless.

In tribute to Girls to the Front Fest, I chose to profile Nyx today- the first female RLSH I heard about. Nyx became a RLSH in 2006 or 2007 and I got a chance to meet her in September 2009 at the Superheroes Anonymous 3 conference- a very cool and dedicated person.




*And of course there are three delightfully sinister villainesses out there- Agent Beryllium, Fatal Phyllo,and The Overlord.

5 comments:

  1. Our Dazzling Nyx! Thanks for her activities on field work and the internet. :)

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  2. Ah, one of the RLSH's very few things to offer the public: Meshed boobs. I can think of a certain gay villain(ess?) that still has something to say about that outfit.

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  3. I don't know why Nyx is singled out for her outfit. It's a whole group of people dressing out of the ordinary- so why her? I mean I understand if your picture goes into the public via media then your fashion is up for commentary.
    Anyway, there is a local club here (and most larger cities have something similar) called Club ?--what Nyx wears would not only be par it might seem tame.
    This is all sort of lost on me, I'm more of a jeans and t-shirt guy myself.

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  4. Why her? In my opinion, it is because she is beautiful. It separates her (not by her own choice, mind you). Makes her the subject of attention. That attention takes many forms. Some of it is very negative. Ridicule and scorn is easy and in fashion--especially when its easy to take pot shots behind a keyboard. Some of it is jealousy of others, and I've witnessed first hand the rumor mongering about her. Some of it is objectification, which is mostly centered around her presence as a female in a male dominated community.

    The truth of the matter is people post pretty pictures of her in her "dress uniforms"--a manifestation of her creative expression, when that is not at all indicative of her "work wear" which is rather utilitarian and tame by comparison. The pretty pictures catch people's eyes, which is why they are used.

    As RLSH, we are a diverse group of all ages, genders, sexualities, religious backgrounds, cultures, and walks of life. We've never let any of that "other stuff" get in the way of the common ground we share.

    While I might be a bit presumptuous in saying so, I think Nyx wants to be respected for who she is as a person, regarded as an equal, and given credit for things she has accomplished, her contributions to the RLSH community, and her various merits--not her choice of attire, or the color of her hair, or her body image, or all the other crap that society force feeds, inundates, and imposes on women as "important."

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  5. Woah, wait.

    "Like the night, I cannot be proven or disproved to certain degrees..."

    How can the night not 'be proven or disproved' to any degree? My part of the Earth's turned away from the sun, therefore here it is night. Q.E.D.

    This quote is nonsensical, and phrased in the most clumsy way possible. Nyx, I love ya like ice cream on a hot day, but run these things by a few friends before submitting them. Style counts

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