“Fake” Geek Girls

A few days ago, an article went up on Forbes.com entitled “Dear Fake Geek Girls: Please Go Away” by Tara “Tiger” Brown. It addresses the so-called problem of girls posing as geeks or nerds in order to gain attention from the male-dominated geek community.

“Girls who genuinely like their hobby or interest and document what they are doing to help others, not garner attention, are true geeks. The ones who think about how to get attention and then work on a project in order to maximize their klout, are exhibitionists.”

It seems to be in a woman’s nature, and sometimes even men, to attack or label other women when they approach “their” territory. Their presence is somehow a threat to their own geekiness or nerdiness. I partially agree with the above quote in that, yes, if you are passionate about something and someone else shows an interest, share your passion with them. Teach them, take them under your wing and share your knowledge! Do not label them and push them away just because you think they’re doing it for attention. One of my favorite people and main inspirations is Yaya Han. For those of you not in the cosplay scene, she is one of the most prominent and talented cosplayers out there right now. She makes all her costumes, props, and even runs her own cosplay accessories and prop store. Her passion is evident in how much time and effort she puts into her costumes and into interacting with her fans.

And what does she do with this passion and knowledge? She shares it! On her website, you can find descriptions on how she makes her costumes. Need cosplaying or crafting advice? Reply to her on Twitter or even message her on Facebook, she’s very in-touch with her fans and is happy to help.

It’s people like Yaya that help the nerd community grow by constantly inspiring and introducing new people who may have never been exposed to these things. Long-time nerds and geeks need to realize that some of these “fake” geek girls that are showing a sudden interest in the things we’ve liked for years probably did not have the privilege of growing up surrounded by the very things we love. They didn’t have a computer programmer dad who showed them how to build computers in elementary school or taught them how to fix software errors so they could do it while he was at work or a step mother who sat them down one summer and made them watch Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager, and DS9 and made little diagrams to test their knowledge of who was part of the crew in each series. Also, a lot of these girls are young. Growing up in the internet age, they have this exposure that they might not have gotten otherwise from their parents or their friends. So what if they proclaim a love of Batman after only seeing Batman Begins or The Dark Knight or has a sudden love of Iron Man because of Robert Downey Jr? Our jobs, as knowledgeable nerds is to say, “Hey, if you like those guys, you should check out these comics or watch these shows that came on before you born.” Not write them off because they are only “doing it for attention” or “jumping on the bandwagon” of nerdom.

Another article, written by Susanna Polo on TheMarySue.com agrees with me on this:

“The proper response to someone who says they like comics and has only read Scott Pilgrim is to recommend some more comics for them. The proper response to someone who appears to be faking enthusiasm is to ignore them and not project their actions on an entire gender or community. The proper response to someone who appears to want to be a part of your community is to welcome them in. End of story.”

She also addresses the fact that much of this “geek girl shaming” that is occurring is fairly misogynistic. “Girls can’t possibly like nerdy things as much as I do because…they’re a girl! They just want the attention!” Now that being a nerd is acceptable and even looked up to, many of these guys (and girls) who were bullied for being so, although very sad and unfortunate, want to poop on anyone who is actually gaining in life from claiming to be a nerd or geek.

It seems, however, that more girls are doing the name-calling than guys. I made a post on Facebook addressing this topic recently and one of the comments I got (from a guy) was that, fake or not, geek girls are still hot. That’s just it. Girls can claim to be a geek all they want and guys will notice because, let’s face it, guys like to look at attractive girls. However, if they don’t have the knowledge to back up this claim and are just “faking it”, these guys are going to know. You can’t fake passion, a real geek will recognize a real geek. So, in reality “fake” geek girls are not a threat nor will they ever be. It’s the girls who have a genuine interest in geeky culture that will not only gain, but keep the attention of true nerds, whether getting attention was intentional or not. The posers will be left behind and forgotten because donning a pair of glasses and a Batman shirt is not enough.

The next time you encounter a girl (or guy!) who says they love something that about which you are very passionate, don’t call them out or test their knowledge to measure their legitimacy. Share what you know, recommend other books/comics/TV shows/movies that may pertain to their interests. Embrace them. Maybe then we can all get along~

- Christina “girastina” Garlisch -

Posted by Was? :U 2 April 12 Permalink

Your Life of Privilege

“A primary function of art and thought is to liberate the individual from the tyranny of his culture in the environmental sense and to permit him to stand beyond it in an autonomy of perception and judgment.” Beverly Sills
 
First, thank you everyone who read last weeks post on Art and Criticism. I talked about how awareness was needed and criticism was good for showing both merits and faults, now we’re expanding that idea. The culture and media we consume, along with individuals we engage; are all seeped in an invisible world of privilege.
 
What’s privilege? Betty Brown states, “Privilege is: About how society accommodates you. It’s about advantages you have that you think are normal. It’s about you being normal, and others being the deviation from normal. It’s about fate dealing from the bottom of the deck on your behalf.”
 
With privilege defined, let’s identify our own. Personally, I identify as a white, male, straight, educated, able-bodied, western, healthy, heterosexual. It’s easy to make a larger list, but I wanted to give a small example. These are my privileges, things I benefit from; while existing in society’s institution. Identifying can cause people to become defensive so remember, this alone does not make you an enemy, though it can draw suspicion. This isn’t about guilt, but about building compassion. This isn’t about you, this is about awareness both inside and outside yourself. It’s about changing perception (identifying), educating yourself (reading and critiquing) and finally joining the conversation (applying).
 
“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says ‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes ‘What the hell is water?’ ― David Foster Wallace,This is Water
 
The difficult task of identifying our privileges is done, though with constant observation, listening and engagement, we might identify more. It’s important to remember that privilege is both outer (society) and inner (psychology). Changing our perceptions is inherently difficult. The goal is similiar to Neo from the first Matrix; when he saw and understood the Matrix code.
 
Unfortunately, it’s improbable to get to that zen like state. It’s akin to wearing a friends prescription glasses, your vision is blurred, its painful, and you want to take them off as soon as possible. I’m asking you to leave them on, because the pain will subside, the vision will get clearer; though a blur will always be prevalent. We can never stop questioning our privileges, constantly checking ourselves and absorbing different perspectives. The code will become clearer; the blur giving way to awareness and self-appraisal. So, lets train ourselves using different mediums.
 
The following examples will not include all oppressions. They are tools to begin a discussion and make the invisible world more tangible. This will be difficult, in fact you might reject it, but try and push past the pain of prescription glasses and pierce the illusion of The Matrix. Ok, lets take a look!
 

The Help, a popular movie released this year (that I haven’t seen), has received criticism for how it portrays POC (people of color). The film follows Skeeter (Emma Stone), as she writes about the trials of African-American women in the 1960’s. The issues focus on how the story distorts the history and trials of African Americans in the time period. What other movies fall into the privilege trap?
 

Red Hood and the Outlaws,one of the New DC 52. The issues of this comic have been spoken across the blogosphere, but this picture might help identify the privilege. Look at this picture and see what would inspire strong posts from women and others about Starfire, the woman in the picture. Is it her posture? Is it the positioning that seems to facilitate a male gaze? Read the issue, and identify what the non-privileged discussions are talking about.
 

Marvel vs Capcom 3 is a recent entry into pop culture. Can you identify the institutionalized videogame privilege? Has it gotten better? Count how many characters are in this game. Then ask yourself how many people of color there are? How many women? How many LGBT? Now look at your videogame library and ask yourself the same questions.
 
“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.” ― David Foster Wallace, This is Water.
 

The invisible world is now discovered, testing senses and awareness. Through criticizing (merits and faults) all that we consume and interact with; the invisible world will never slip from our grasp. Our first instinct is empathy, but our privileged psychology often taints well-meaning empathy, and marginalizes.
 
Compassion is our goal, and remembering you’re not evil; rather it’s about awareness and opening ourselves to criticism, suspicion (when we join conversation), and overcoming our innate defensiveness. A language to respect the non-privileged will develop; mistakes will be made by joining the conversation, but overcoming our natural defensiveness is important; as we strive to acknowledge our personal privilege and improve.
 
Diving into non-privileged discussions (made to avoid patronizers) will be difficult; remember this is not about you; discussions, rantings and general lack of trust towards you are the effects of being privileged. We have glimpsed the invisible world and awareness; through criticism, trial and error combined with meaningful dialogue; can improve our respective mediums and culture.
 
 
 

Resources:

Finally, A Feminism 101
Fantastic Outline of Privilege and how to Overcome
XOJane
A Structural Definition of Privilege
Privilege in Action
TransGriot
 
Image Sources:
Thumbnail Black Lava, White Privilege from TransGriot, Matrix The Matrix and Quantum Conciousness, Striving Cruzine, The Help USA Weekend, Starfire Beyond the Bunker, MVC3 Attack of the Fanboy

Posted by Nerd Boy Wonder 5 November 1 Permalink

Art you not entertained?

“Art is moral passion married to entertainment. Moral passion without entertainment is propaganda, and entertainment without moral passion is television.”~Rita Mae Brown
 
During an interesting debate with fellow bloggers, it came to my attention that deep analysis of popular culture and the entertainment through various mediums (comics, film, music etc.) it churns out isn’t needed. The idea was, these things are meant to be just entertainment, not art. I thought the various mediums were pumping out art, not just entertainment. “Its just a comic.” “Its just a game.” Can anything be quantified as “just” anything? In my stubbornness, I wanted to shout out that art and entertainment were separate things, and to illuminate their differences and to show how they could be reconciled so we could do real criticism about what mediums produce.
 
Then the article morphed when I came upon my own realization.
 
I realized I had created a false distinction. Seperating art and entertainment is not sufficient. Its a false division. Regardless if low to high brow, objective and subjective. Entertainment wants to inform, even at a subconcious level, while art wishes to entertain, even if its just the artist themself. The truth, if we can attempt to discuss such an abstract thing, is that we are to be responsible for what we put out in our mediums. We ought to be willing to look at every aspect, inspect it, and critique (find merits and faults) it without fear.

 
“Too often we… enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” - JOHN F. KENNEDY
 
As a society, it has been ingrained the idea of pass or fail, making money or losing money, to determine success. An idea that is anathema to experimentation. But from the low brow and banal to most experimental and high brow , the subject must be critiqued. Not to disparage the artist or the medium, but to elevate it, to improve it and to show how it has or will impact us. Whether its a toy that has dangerous characterizations, to a game to a comic to a novel to a film. We must criticize, for if we do not, we are irresonsible. Entertainment seeps into our culture, we consume it and digest it and process its contents through our own perceptions. We must be wary of what we are consuming.
 
If a person eats a doughnut, they are aware of the implications, yet can also enjoy it. Same with eating fruits and vegetables. The difference is unlike art, food has a tangible influence and rating. We want to know what our food is made of and how it has or will impact us. We see its effects on our health, and to remain ignorant is to become unhealthy, another thing we can see. To be ignorant of the art we consume, means to be ignorant of its effects on society and ourselves, something that we cannot easily see or understand.
 
Our responsibility; as educators, reviewers, commentators, bloggers and as human beings is to do this. This is, again, not to weaken or take the fun out of our entertainment but to strengthen it, to enlighten, to simply be aware. For without that, we are sitting at the doughnut shop becoming diabetic, becoming overweight, becoming sick, and dying. Because no one told us that we could eat something else, or ought to. We just consumed, and never questioned.
 
“I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.”- Socrates, Greek philosopher (469-399 BCE)
 
Resources:
 
A list of places you can go that are rampant with critical thinking of various mediums.
 
Son of Baldwin
DC Women Kicking Ass & SDCC Batgirl (Kyrax2)
Nerdy Bird & The Mary Sue
Too Busy Thinking About Comics & Sequart
Film Critic Hulk & Asking The Wrong Questions
Ars Marginal & Penny Arcade: Extra Credits

 

Just some of the sites I go to. Places I don’t always agree with, but they do help me think. For anyone out there reading, add in your own links to places that help you think. Enjoy, and I hope you enjoyed this article. I will be back to talk about individual stuff next time, but I wanted you all to know where I was coming from. Let everyone know what you think, here, tumblr, twitter, facebook or wherever you can find us :)
 
Images Courtesy of: Creativity Unleashed; Gladiator. Dir. Ridley Scott. Perf. Russel Crowe. Dreamworks Pictures/ Universal Pictures. 2000.; ProBlogger; Taught to Think; Homer Simpson Wikipedia ; Jodi Truscott Blog

Posted by Nerd Boy Wonder 29 October 2 Permalink

Retro Arcade Review: DJ BOY

A humorous Retrospect Review of the 1989 Arcade Classic beat’em up, DJ Boy. Reviewed by FLitz

GAME: DJ BOY
DVELOPER: Kaneko
YEAR(s): 1989 - 1990
1-2 Players

DJ Boy, a classic arcade game that doesn’t take its self too seriously. Developed by Kankeo, co-published by Sammy. A home version was released on the Sega Genesis, with a plot added involving a rollerskating fight race and the kidnapping of DJ Boy’s girlfriend, Maria. There were added power ups and in game changes due to racial sensitivity issues of the games arcade counter part. The arcade version revolves around two Hip-Hop homies, Bob and Tom (Players 1 and 2). They’re radio is stolen and they chase the hoodlums down to get it back.


Enjoy the RAR review of DJ Boy.


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Posted by Nerd Boy Wonder 12 September Permalink