Fake geek girls-male insecurity or icky fandom ruiners?

[Grenartia]

Because people who think its cool, and do anything to be cool, and just automatically say they're a geek without doing/knowing any stereotypically geeky things.

Or maybe, like any other hobby as it should be treated as, it's okay to say "I'm a Trekkie" just as sports fans call themselves whatever team they support.

I'm just saying, you shouldn't call yourself a Trekkie if you don't even know who Captain Kirk is.

[Lordieth]

is this like those hispster girls who wear ridiculously large glasses, yet don't have a vision impairment?

I read a giant encyclopedia for fun. I've read it and another book like it dozens of times.

Bonus points for having a symmetrically pleasant apophysis flame fractal for an avatar.

[Big Jim P]

Or maybe, like any other hobby as it should be treated as, it's okay to say "I'm a Trekkie" just as sports fans call themselves whatever team they support.

I'm just saying, you shouldn't call yourself a Trekkie if you don't even know who Captain Kirk is.

QFFT!

[Nevanmaa]

I have nothing against girl gamers or geek girls.

"girl gamers" screaming "LOOK AT ME I'M FEMALE AND I PLAY GAMES LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME GIVE ME ATTENTION TEE HEE HEE I'M SUCH A GEEK YOU SILLY BOYS GIVE ME ATTENTION" are a whole different matter.

[Ethel mermania]

is this like those hispster girls who wear ridiculously large glasses, yet don't have a vision impairment?

I read a giant encyclopedia for fun. I've read it and another book like it dozens of times.

Bonus points for having a symmetrically pleasant apophysis flame fractal for an avatar.

hipster is a style that people, for some reason i do not understand, people aspire too.

[Olivaero]

I think it's anger left over from when geeks weren't considered cool. When being a geek made you a target. And now a lot of people who went through that experience are quite angry that a bunch of posers jumped on the band wagon of a culture it used to be deeply unpopular to be associated with. I don't think it's mainly girls who are the posers though. I think that's just a common (and in many cases maybe Misogynistic) perception.

[Olivaero]

Or maybe, like any other hobby as it should be treated as, it's okay to say "I'm a Trekkie" just as sports fans call themselves whatever team they support.

I'm just saying, you shouldn't call yourself a Trekkie if you don't even know who Captain Kirk is.

Does any one actually do that? 0.o

[Red Team]

I'm just saying, you shouldn't call yourself a Trekkie if you don't even know who Captain Kirk is.

Does any one actually do that? 0.o

Wait, I've never seen Star Trek, but I've known who Captain Kirk, or should I say Captain.....James.....Tiberius.......Kirk, is for a long time.

[Potenco]

I have nothing against girl gamers or geek girls.

"girl gamers" screaming "LOOK AT ME I'M FEMALE AND I PLAY GAMES LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME GIVE ME ATTENTION TEE HEE HEE I'M SUCH A GEEK YOU SILLY BOYS GIVE ME ATTENTION" are a whole different matter.

Admittedly, these women annoy the piss out of me too, but I feel like some people are connoting all girls with these ones

[Red Team]

I have nothing against girl gamers or geek girls.

"girl gamers" screaming "LOOK AT ME I'M FEMALE AND I PLAY GAMES LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME GIVE ME ATTENTION TEE HEE HEE I'M SUCH A GEEK YOU SILLY BOYS GIVE ME ATTENTION" are a whole different matter.

Admittedly, these women annoy the piss out of me too, but I feel like some people are connoting all girls with these ones

Ah, connotation. Probably the least sensible thing in our society aside from Liberalism.

[Nailed to the Perch]

The whole idea of "fake geek girls" is some misogynistic bullshit. People who aren't woefully insecure don't react to "someone else appears to enjoy the same hobby I do" by throwing a tantrum or testing them to see if they do their hobby "right." They just say, "Oh, cool, I also like that thing!"

Nobody's saying that girls can't be geeks. What we are saying is that people who pretend to be geeks (I'll concede that women mostly face the brunt of the accusations, but anybody of any gender can be a fake geek) should stop.

Speaking as a female geek, I can assure you that quite a lot of people say that girls can't be geeks. You'd be hard-pressed to find a female geek who hasn't been told that many times, either overtly or implicitly.

And honestly, I don't believe that a remotely significant number of people "pretend to be geeks." I think a lot of people "like things other people also like, but less passionately than they do." When I say that I like the X-men, I'm not "pretending to be a geek" because I'm more familiar with the movies and the cartoon from the 90s than I am with the original comics. I'm just someone who likes the X-men and knows them more from the movies and the cartoons from the 90s than the original comics, and that's okay. (I'm also someone who would probably know much more of the comics if walking into a comic store as a woman wasn't a miserable experience for precisely the reasons this thread is about.) Too many geeks insist on policing who's allowed to call themselves a geek, which I just don't understand, because it seems to me that there's a lot more fun to be had saying, "Oh, you mostly know the X-men from the 90s cartoon? It was a pretty awesome cartoon! If you liked it, I bet you'd enjoy this issue of the comic book; it's got lots of Gambit in it!" than "UGH THIS FAKE GEEK GIRL THINKS THE CARTOON COUNTS! WHAT A STUPID BITCH!"

[Lordieth]

is this like those hispster girls who wear ridiculously large glasses, yet don't have a vision impairment?



Bonus points for having a symmetrically pleasant apophysis flame fractal for an avatar.

hipster is a style that people, for some reason i do not understand, people aspire too.

The logical fallacy of hipsters aspiring to be unique individuals always makes my brain itch too.

[Red Team]

hipster is a style that people, for some reason i do not understand, people aspire too.

The logical fallacy of hipsters aspiring to be unique individuals always makes my brain itch too.

Yeah, "Let's be creative by doing what they're doing!"

If you're copying someone, it's not creativity.

[Vareiln]

The whole idea of "fake geek girls" is some misogynistic bullshit. People who aren't woefully insecure don't react to "someone else appears to enjoy the same hobby I do" by throwing a tantrum or testing them to see if they do their hobby "right." They just say, "Oh, cool, I also like that thing!"

This.
When I meet another metalhead, I don't interrogate them.

[Tahar Joblis]

I'd say insecurity. This article on it was pretty cool, in my opinion.

What kind of insecurity? And if the insecurity is justified, is it really the root cause?

What the letter is talking about does happen some. There are women who try - and do, for that matter - cash in on desperate geek men. And yes, it does happen some at cons. I've seen nearly naked women work a con crowd, charging money to have a photo taken with them in costume. And then there are women for whom it isn't about money, but about attention. Some of them don't have much "geek credentials" if pressed. Some do.

Which, IMO, isn't a big deal, but some guys feel betrayed by the disappointment of "Oh, wow, this girl's hot and likes the same sorts of things I do!" crashing into "Oh. Guess not," and some girls with geek credentials - or who feel good about their geek credentials - feel pretty territorial, too.

[Hexhamshire]

Nobody's saying that girls can't be geeks. What we are saying is that people who pretend to be geeks (I'll concede that women mostly face the brunt of the accusations, but anybody of any gender can be a fake geek) should stop.

Speaking as a female geek, I can assure you that quite a lot of people say that girls can't be geeks. You'd be hard-pressed to find a female geek who hasn't been told that many times, either overtly or implicitly.

Girls? In my treehouse?

And honestly, I don't believe that a remotely significant number of people "pretend to be geeks." I think a lot of people "like things other people also like, but less passionately than they do." When I say that I like the X-men, I'm not "pretending to be a geek" because I'm more familiar with the movies and the cartoon from the 90s than I am with the original comics. I'm just someone who likes the X-men and knows them more from the movies and the cartoons from the 90s than the original comics, and that's okay. (I'm also someone who would probably know much more of the comics if walking into a comic store as a woman wasn't a miserable experience for precisely the reasons this thread is about.) Too many geeks insist on policing who's allowed to call themselves a geek, which I just don't understand, because it seems to me that there's a lot more fun to be had saying, "Oh, you mostly know the X-men from the 90s cartoon? It was a pretty awesome cartoon! If you liked it, I bet you'd enjoy this issue of the comic book; it's got lots of Gambit in it!" than "UGH THIS FAKE GEEK GIRL THINKS THE CARTOON COUNTS! WHAT A STUPID BITCH!"

Got it in one, you'd think they'd be happy to have more people sharing their hobby, they tend to forget that they used to be noobs once upon a time.

I think it's anger left over from when geeks weren't considered cool. When being a geek made you a target. And now a lot of people who went through that experience are quite angry that a bunch of posers jumped on the band wagon of a culture it used to be deeply unpopular to be associated with. I don't think it's mainly girls who are the posers though. I think that's just a common (and in many cases maybe Misogynistic) perception.

But aren't they going and doing to others what they didn't enjoy being done to them?

[Grenartia]

I'm just saying, you shouldn't call yourself a Trekkie if you don't even know who Captain Kirk is.

Does any one actually do that? 0.o

I would not be surprised.

Nobody's saying that girls can't be geeks. What we are saying is that people who pretend to be geeks (I'll concede that women mostly face the brunt of the accusations, but anybody of any gender can be a fake geek) should stop.

Speaking as a female geek, I can assure you that quite a lot of people say that girls can't be geeks. You'd be hard-pressed to find a female geek who hasn't been told that many times, either overtly or implicitly.

And honestly, I don't believe that a remotely significant number of people "pretend to be geeks." I think a lot of people "like things other people also like, but less passionately than they do." When I say that I like the X-men, I'm not "pretending to be a geek" because I'm more familiar with the movies and the cartoon from the 90s than I am with the original comics. I'm just someone who likes the X-men and knows them more from the movies and the cartoons from the 90s than the original comics, and that's okay. (I'm also someone who would probably know much more of the comics if walking into a comic store as a woman wasn't a miserable experience for precisely the reasons this thread is about.) Too many geeks insist on policing who's allowed to call themselves a geek, which I just don't understand, because it seems to me that there's a lot more fun to be had saying, "Oh, you mostly know the X-men from the 90s cartoon? It was a pretty awesome cartoon! If you liked it, I bet you'd enjoy this issue of the comic book; it's got lots of Gambit in it!" than "UGH THIS FAKE GEEK GIRL THINKS THE CARTOON COUNTS! WHAT A STUPID BITCH!"

I meant nobody here was saying it. I'm aware of idiots outside this forum who say it.

I have encountered fake geeks, men and women.

What I'm saying is that you shouldn't call yourself an X-men fan if you have no clue who Wolverine is.

[Tahar Joblis]

The whole idea of "fake geek girls" is some misogynistic bullshit. People who aren't woefully insecure don't react to "someone else appears to enjoy the same hobby I do" by throwing a tantrum or testing them to see if they do their hobby "right." They just say, "Oh, cool, I also like that thing!"

This.
When I meet another metalhead, I don't interrogate them.

There's a certain amount of testing that happens naturally among fellow-enthusiasts. Not all of them, but it happens. It's not even necessarily conducted with the aim of determining whether or not someone is a "real" whatever; but to determine how impressive they are. And that sort of jockeying produces the sort of testing that leads to accusations of inauthenticity, even if you don't have some bad stereotyping going on.

Which, in some geek circles, does happen, too.

[Big Jim P]

Does any one actually do that? 0.o

I would not be surprised.

Speaking as a female geek, I can assure you that quite a lot of people say that girls can't be geeks. You'd be hard-pressed to find a female geek who hasn't been told that many times, either overtly or implicitly.

And honestly, I don't believe that a remotely significant number of people "pretend to be geeks." I think a lot of people "like things other people also like, but less passionately than they do." When I say that I like the X-men, I'm not "pretending to be a geek" because I'm more familiar with the movies and the cartoon from the 90s than I am with the original comics. I'm just someone who likes the X-men and knows them more from the movies and the cartoons from the 90s than the original comics, and that's okay. (I'm also someone who would probably know much more of the comics if walking into a comic store as a woman wasn't a miserable experience for precisely the reasons this thread is about.) Too many geeks insist on policing who's allowed to call themselves a geek, which I just don't understand, because it seems to me that there's a lot more fun to be had saying, "Oh, you mostly know the X-men from the 90s cartoon? It was a pretty awesome cartoon! If you liked it, I bet you'd enjoy this issue of the comic book; it's got lots of Gambit in it!" than "UGH THIS FAKE GEEK GIRL THINKS THE CARTOON COUNTS! WHAT A STUPID BITCH!"

I meant nobody here was saying it. I'm aware of idiots outside this forum who say it.

I have encountered fake geeks, men and women.

What I'm saying is that you shouldn't call yourself an X-men fan if you have no clue who Wolverine is.

He's the one that shoots fire out of his eyes, right?

[Neo Art]

I have nothing against girl gamers or geek girls.

"girl gamers" screaming "LOOK AT ME I'M FEMALE AND I PLAY GAMES LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME GIVE ME ATTENTION TEE HEE HEE I'M SUCH A GEEK YOU SILLY BOYS GIVE ME ATTENTION" are a whole different matter.

I find the number of women screaming "LOOK AT ME I'M FEMALES GIVE ME ATTENTION" to be profoundly and staggeringly outnumbered by men who feel that any woman who dares to merely exist in their sacred spaces and share the same hobbies is an "attention whore".

And I note the irony of the quoted poster's statement, as his entire history on NS has been one long drawn out cry for attention.

The simple fact is, there's no such thing as "posers" because there's no such thing as "geek culture". We, as a society, have fortunately moved on to the point where liking certain things no longer results in social stigma, and people who might like watching a movie about a bunch of superheroes no longer have to feel that they can't tell their friends about it.

And that's a GOOD thing.

The bad thing, however, is the fact that things often associated with "geek culture" had, for many years, been the refuge of the socially maladjusted. And now people are throwing a prissy little fit about their special special hobby being associated with the "normals". "geek culture" existed as an escape, a way to foll themselves into thinking "so what if I'm not as good looking, or as funny, or as successful, or as popular, I can kick their asses in halo!"

The fact is, the only people who actually have a problem here, are the people who can't handle the reality that there may exist people in this world who are smarter than they are, better looking than they are, more successful than they are, have a better sex life than they do, and still also enjoy the same things they do.

In short, the only people who rail incessantly on about "posers" and "fake geeks" are people who have failed to learn one very very simple lesson.

Life's not fair.

Grow the fuck up and deal with it.

[Neo Art]

What I'm saying is that you shouldn't call yourself an X-men fan if you have no clue who Wolverine is.

Why not?

Who are you to dictate what meets the criteria of "fan"?

[The Parkus Empire]

"Authenticity" is a fucking overwhelmingly idiotic concept, and anyone who subscribes to it probably isn't "authentic" themselves (HUUURRRR DUUUR THEY'RE POOR SO THEY CAN'T AUTHENTICALLY LOVE CLASSICAL MUSIC THEY JUST WANT TO SEEM SMART LIKE US).

[Neo Art]

Or maybe, like any other hobby as it should be treated as, it's okay to say "I'm a Trekkie" just as sports fans call themselves whatever team they support.

I'm just saying, you shouldn't call yourself a Trekkie if you don't even know who Captain Kirk is.

Once again, why not? What if I consider myself a trekkie because I like TNG? Or Voyager? Or ds9? Or *shudder* enterprise?

What if I'm a trekkie because I liked the one movie I saw where that poor pale fellow died, and have never heard of this "kirk"?

What if I'm a trekkie because I saw the reboots and really enjoyed them but had no idea such a thing as "star trek" even existed before them?

Who are you to tell the rules of what I should, and should not enjoy?

[Nailed to the Perch]

Does any one actually do that? 0.o

I would not be surprised.

Speaking as a female geek, I can assure you that quite a lot of people say that girls can't be geeks. You'd be hard-pressed to find a female geek who hasn't been told that many times, either overtly or implicitly.

And honestly, I don't believe that a remotely significant number of people "pretend to be geeks." I think a lot of people "like things other people also like, but less passionately than they do." When I say that I like the X-men, I'm not "pretending to be a geek" because I'm more familiar with the movies and the cartoon from the 90s than I am with the original comics. I'm just someone who likes the X-men and knows them more from the movies and the cartoons from the 90s than the original comics, and that's okay. (I'm also someone who would probably know much more of the comics if walking into a comic store as a woman wasn't a miserable experience for precisely the reasons this thread is about.) Too many geeks insist on policing who's allowed to call themselves a geek, which I just don't understand, because it seems to me that there's a lot more fun to be had saying, "Oh, you mostly know the X-men from the 90s cartoon? It was a pretty awesome cartoon! If you liked it, I bet you'd enjoy this issue of the comic book; it's got lots of Gambit in it!" than "UGH THIS FAKE GEEK GIRL THINKS THE CARTOON COUNTS! WHAT A STUPID BITCH!"

I meant nobody here was saying it. I'm aware of idiots outside this forum who say it.

I have encountered fake geeks, men and women.

What I'm saying is that you shouldn't call yourself an X-men fan if you have no clue who Wolverine is.

Why, though? Maybe you just saw X-Men: First Class and really liked it. Maybe you obsessively read X-Men comics in the 70s and haven't really kept up with the fandom since. Those people sound like X-Men fans to me, and there's no reason they'd know anything about Wolverine. I just don't see the point of having minimum standards for who gets to "claim" a fandom. If someone calls himself an X-Men fan and doesn't know who Wolverine is, rather than scoffing at him, why not just say, "Hey, you should check out one of the many X-Men comics/shows/movies involving Wolverine, because he's a pretty cool character"?

[Slafstopia]

I have nothing against girl gamers or geek girls.

"girl gamers" screaming "LOOK AT ME I'M FEMALE AND I PLAY GAMES LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME GIVE ME ATTENTION TEE HEE HEE I'M SUCH A GEEK YOU SILLY BOYS GIVE ME ATTENTION" are a whole different matter.

Oh god, I agree with Hippo. My whole life is collapsing in front of my eyes...

I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM ANYMORE