It seems like people think a girl is a fake geek unless she proves otherwise. Shouldn't it be the other way around?
Geek Girls Lambast Prejudice in Music Video
- Thread starter StewShearerOld
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'People are like so obsessed with labels dude...'
Hobbies of all different kinds contain people of different genders, personalties and different levels of participation. As long as your happy with your hobby and not hurting anyone else then you don't need to prove yourself to anyone else or need to be recognised as a geek, gamer, nerd or whatever.
Hobbies of all different kinds contain people of different genders, personalties and different levels of participation. As long as your happy with your hobby and not hurting anyone else then you don't need to prove yourself to anyone else or need to be recognised as a geek, gamer, nerd or whatever.
While I really enjoyed this video (Though it could have been slowed down very slightly so that I can fully read every sign) , I've never noticed much of a problem with gamers and their genders. In online games on the Xbox, you rarely hear people speak. In online games on the PC, in a guild or such, it often doesn't matter at all.
To me, I couldn't care less if you're male or female - as long as you've got my back covered, I don't care. I think this is the general train of thought as well. There's only a small minority that will call girl gamers out on their actions and I wouldn't care what they think anyway.
Plus, the guy who says he'll do anything for $5 wins the internet.
Also, isn't it a bit Ironic the video is called 'Nothing to Prove' yet they're trying to prove something? Just saying
To me, I couldn't care less if you're male or female - as long as you've got my back covered, I don't care. I think this is the general train of thought as well. There's only a small minority that will call girl gamers out on their actions and I wouldn't care what they think anyway.
Plus, the guy who says he'll do anything for $5 wins the internet.
Also, isn't it a bit Ironic the video is called 'Nothing to Prove' yet they're trying to prove something? Just saying
Guess I was lucky and only ever met the right kind of people. I have never been accused of being a fake nerd, online or IRL. Even before I started wearing glasses.Shanahanapp said:
Honestly, to me it seems that those nerd elitists are in the equal minority with fake nerds, since the most common reaction on geeky topics I've seen/heard were:
"Oh you're new to the [insert subject of interest]. Let me tell you what you're infore/have been missing out on."
"Duuuude [regardless of sex], seen the [type of media] [possible enumeration] of [subject of interest]? How [various degrees of good/bad] was that?"
Elitists are just as annoying as fake nerds. They also tend to die out if no one pays them any attention. So, kindly stop doing that.
They're lying so they can be more popular......around "geeks and nerds"...?Easton Dark said:
Sorry, but that statement just really doesn't make much sense at all. "Geek" and gamer culture isn't as shunned and ridiculed as it used to be, I'll give you that, but I doubt it's gotten to the point where it's "cool" to spend your Saturday nights watching anime and playing videogames rather than going out to parties to get wasted. The closest thing women lying about being fans of geeky things would be booth-babes, but they're not trying to be popular with us. They're models hired on to do a job: wear this and stand next to our booth looking pretty. They get paid at the end of the day for doing their job (modeling) and that's as far as it goes for them. Are there some that are genuinely into the games/characters they're modeling for? I'm sure there are. But I'd imagine most of them see it as just another job.
Yes, but that it doesn't exist for men, too, is why it's worrying. Or is there "fake geek men" we have to watch out for, too? And if there are - why don't people gun for them, too? It's probably cos most of the people shouting out against "fake geek girls" are insecure little straight fellas, eh.Easton Dark said:
I guess I am confused... I know that female "geeks" aren't as common, but I have never been surprised to meet one, or have we ostracized them. I guess its as others have mentioned this geek is sheek culture. Wearing glasses with no glass, because it's cool (mind you from all of us that HAVE to wear glasses, we 90% of time prefer not too). Or maybe it's the girls at conventions or hosting websites. But this isn't new. They have done it at sports conventions for years. You like sports? You're a girl you can't like sports. Oh well, I don't know why this is even an issue, most guys who are slightly "geeky" have no dislike for females.. geeks or non geeks. Heck I would love to meet an girl entrenched in the geek culture or a newbie just starting off and wants to learn and embrace what I like. Just like I attempt to learn and appreciate what she likes.
Neo-geekism at its finest. I find it oxymoronic to make a music video called "Nothing to prove", when they try to prove so hard that they belong to a group, defined by a term that has very little meaning in the first place.
It does seem very fake in a way, but who cares. If you are into some obscure subject matter just go for it and ignore what people call you or don't call you.
It does seem very fake in a way, but who cares. If you are into some obscure subject matter just go for it and ignore what people call you or don't call you.
Ahh. But which is easier, being popular around other people who are trying to be popular. Or being popular around people who are shunned from normal experiences such as parties.
I think you will find it many times easier to get a reaction and get people attached to you if you show a little bit of cleavage on a webcam to the average 14-18 year old gamer. It's why a lot of "Fake Girl Gamers" Are commonly reduced to attention whores. Normal Girl Gamers won't call attention to the fact that they are actually women, or if they do, it is to correct someone who believes they are male.
As far as I have seen, being a fake girl gamer is more about giving that girl an ego boost and ego stroking. Having tons of people drooling over them can be a big boost to someone.
I would say we don't see fake geek boys because there is little to nothing to be gained. Boys treat other boys like any other person on the internet. Maybe you'll get a good response, most of the time you'll be told to sit down, and play. But there is very little in the way of ego boost a boy would get from just playing a video game, or dressing up in a costume.
Both of the posters I have replied to make good points, but if you have some time, look up what you assume to be would be the average male gamer, then look up what you believe the average female gamer would like. Then what a "Fake Female Gamer" Would look like. Then what a "Fake Male Gamer" Would look like. Then compare.
You know what's funny? How the "fake geek girl" moniker is thrown usually at very good-looking women.Easton Dark said:
Almost... As if a lot of guys (geek or not) are... resentful... because despite being part of geek culture, the hot girls will still not sleep with them.
I still remain to be convinced that this "fake geek girl" thing is not just another form of slut shaming.
You've got a point. I'm a 30 year old woman and I still bristle a bit at really good looking women saying they are gamers. That has to do with me being a girl, though, and insecure. Not about 'geek-cred' or whatever. Though, honestly, I would believe the less attractive person more than the attractive one.Oskuro said:
But I'm also a judgemental asshole, and now that I'm grown up, I resent the popular girls from high school just as much as I did when I was 17... just now I know exactly why. And I'm still in that mindset of anyone prettier than me must be a ***** and other things and not as true a fan as I am... but that's just me having issues and never having gotten closure from all the bullying I got growing up in the 80's and 90's as a really geeky girl.
I'll give you that attention whores do indeed exist, but it should be pretty easy to tell the difference between an attention whore and a female gamer that happens to be attractive. Evidently, though, a large part of the community can't tell that difference and thus we have this absurd "Fake Gamer Girl" BS. I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt, assuming that they're actually interested and knowledgeable in what they're talking about until they prove otherwise. I don't look at someone and say "Prove to me you really like Mass Effect."Cecilo said:
Do 'fake geek girls' exist? Yes, just as there are people in every subculture, fandom, or hobby that don't care about the source material itself but rather the attention they get by being around people who do like it. There are also fake geek people of every other gender as well.
So why is the fake gamer girl thing filled with so much vitriol on both sides? From the male perspective, you have a lot of lonely, socially awkward guys (this is a stereotype but hardly an untrue one) who have a hard time connecting with women. So, when one pays attention to them, is pretentious about her like of games and then leverages that to get the male to do things for her, he feels burned afterward and grows an intense mistrust of any female geek. He has no rational backing for this universal distrust, but emotions are not logical things.
As for the females, they get pestered one too many times about being female and a geek and they start to see and feel it everywhere, as if their gender means they have to pass some kind of test in order to join the club. This creates a justified feeling of persecution and resentment.
Now, for my part, this phenomenon isn't even solely aimed at females. I myself have been quizzed on my own geekdom half a dozen times by suspicious nerds. I had a guy at work ask me to name every character he had sitting on his desk as he eyed me with suspicion. He knew I loved American football and was an athlete and so automatically assumed there was no way I was a geek.
So, are fake geek girls a problem? I think it is self evident that people lying to other people and playing on their weakness and desperation for money is most certainly a problem. I also think males allowing themselves to become suspicious and distrustful of all women because they were hurt by some is something they need to come to grips with and get over.
And for those who do not think fake gamer girls are a problem, I submit this idea to you. How many people would be appalled by a guy who went to knitting classes, with no interest in knitting whatsoever, to try and get lonely, emotionally vulnerable women to have sex with him or give him money? People would largely be up in arms about something like that and no one would blame a woman taken advantage of by such a man for being suspicious of any other men who claim to love knitting for knitting's sake. I've had a taste of this as well, being that I love knitting and took some hobby classes only to be eyed with suspicion and even accused of being a predator. What football loving, beer swilling athletes like to knit?
So why is the fake gamer girl thing filled with so much vitriol on both sides? From the male perspective, you have a lot of lonely, socially awkward guys (this is a stereotype but hardly an untrue one) who have a hard time connecting with women. So, when one pays attention to them, is pretentious about her like of games and then leverages that to get the male to do things for her, he feels burned afterward and grows an intense mistrust of any female geek. He has no rational backing for this universal distrust, but emotions are not logical things.
As for the females, they get pestered one too many times about being female and a geek and they start to see and feel it everywhere, as if their gender means they have to pass some kind of test in order to join the club. This creates a justified feeling of persecution and resentment.
Now, for my part, this phenomenon isn't even solely aimed at females. I myself have been quizzed on my own geekdom half a dozen times by suspicious nerds. I had a guy at work ask me to name every character he had sitting on his desk as he eyed me with suspicion. He knew I loved American football and was an athlete and so automatically assumed there was no way I was a geek.
So, are fake geek girls a problem? I think it is self evident that people lying to other people and playing on their weakness and desperation for money is most certainly a problem. I also think males allowing themselves to become suspicious and distrustful of all women because they were hurt by some is something they need to come to grips with and get over.
And for those who do not think fake gamer girls are a problem, I submit this idea to you. How many people would be appalled by a guy who went to knitting classes, with no interest in knitting whatsoever, to try and get lonely, emotionally vulnerable women to have sex with him or give him money? People would largely be up in arms about something like that and no one would blame a woman taken advantage of by such a man for being suspicious of any other men who claim to love knitting for knitting's sake. I've had a taste of this as well, being that I love knitting and took some hobby classes only to be eyed with suspicion and even accused of being a predator. What football loving, beer swilling athletes like to knit?
I can only marvel at how many people, even in an ostensibly above-grade community such as the escapists, who are impenetrable to common sense and basic understanding of what other people are, in the most simplistic forms imaginable, trying to say.
A catchy music video with a positive message that will of course be utterly lost on the bottom-feeders who it is targeted at, though they can't be faulted for trying.
Something to note: If at any point you have ever found yourself, here or otherwise, classifying the authenticity of someone other than yourself in whatever fandom or subculture you subscribe to, you're doing it wrong and are part of the problem.
A catchy music video with a positive message that will of course be utterly lost on the bottom-feeders who it is targeted at, though they can't be faulted for trying.
Something to note: If at any point you have ever found yourself, here or otherwise, classifying the authenticity of someone other than yourself in whatever fandom or subculture you subscribe to, you're doing it wrong and are part of the problem.