“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 -
![The Avengers Poster is so Hollywoodcentric.
Yes ladies and gentlemen this is indeed a pretty swag ass poster… BUT, it has fallen victim to Hollywood syndrome. How so? Why they hell isn’t Iron Man wearing his damn helmet!? Why isn’t cap wearing his fawesome ass cap head garb!? Where in the bane of god is Clint Barton’s sweet sweet Hawkeye mask? [Though we haven’t see it at all in any of the trailers].
Do the actors really need face time on this one? We all know who the hell they are, and we care, but we don’t care that damn much, seriously. You don’t see Christian Bale’s face on any of the Bat-Posters. These comic-book films are not about the actors, and they never should be. These films are about the characters we comic-book and non-comic-book fans alike, have come to know and love.
These are the things that can actually ruin a film. Star driven Hollywood needs to understand that if you keep shoving the actors in our faces, in any film we watch, we’ll never be able see the character they’re playing, but only the actors themselves… In the end, that removes those of us expecting a great unique experience.-Amra “FLitz” Ricketts](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m04v7h0yF41qzvnpdo1_1280.jpg)
