Geek Girls Lambast Prejudice in Music Video

[Gorrath]

I just want people to be calm and rational about this whole topic (all topics really) and not lambast women because they like geeky things or engage in victim blaming because a guy's loneliness and awkwardness was used to manipulate him.

Fair enough, but honestly I have never heard of someone who has been harmed this way and still kinda doubt they exist.
Obviously what your describe is wrong and its definetly not my intention to blame a victim, but I have never heard (or read) about such a case.
All I have heard are cases in wich women (who did nothing exept trying to fit in) were blamed to be no real geeks.

As I have personal experience related to a friend being taken advantage of in this exact way, I can say it most certainly does. It's not even an unknown happenstance really, as several others in this very thread have pointed out seeing girls who do this kind of thing. Obviously I am unlikely to convince you just by telling you, but at least maybe we can view the topic with less automatic assumption. I will decry the use of the fake geek girl moniker and geek litmus test stuff where its used by elitist or misogynist jerks to be assholes, but we are best served by trying to understand the full causes of the issue instead of making broad generalizations about it. And again, no disrespect toward you, our experiences are simply quite different on this matter.

 

[Cecilo]

I just want people to be calm and rational about this whole topic (all topics really) and not lambast women because they like geeky things or engage in victim blaming because a guy's loneliness and awkwardness was used to manipulate him.

Fair enough, but honestly I have never heard of someone who has been harmed this way and still kinda doubt they exist.
Obviously what your describe is wrong and its definetly not my intention to blame a victim, but I have never heard (or read) about such a case.
All I have heard are cases in wich women (who did nothing exept trying to fit in) were blamed to be no real geeks.

I would recommend going to twich.tv around 8-12pm EST. You will find several channels on there with women who have facecams, So conveniently placed so as to show their breasts. As well as a donation box directly under their stream, who do not actually play the game, they sit around in whatever game they are playing (Mostly WoW) and take donations just for existing.

This is preying on men who were ostracized from normal relations for being "Geeky". I am not blaming all women for this, quite the opposite, I am quite happy with my own girlfriend, I am glad I can talk to her about Warhammer, Sword of the Stars, Marvel and DC comics and actually get a conversation out of bringing these topics up. I just see that there are some, very opportunistic women who see insecure men, who have probably either been rejected by or just never worked up the courage to ask out attractive women, and see them as a way to make money, or get attention. There are men that do this too. There are some live streaming men that play their games with a cam shirtless. And I am sure there are some women (Even men) who donate to him just because he is shirtless.

Though that isn't even the worst part of Twich.. Just look up ZileanOP. Scam artist and his girlfriend.

Moral of the Story is. DON'T DONATE TO PEOPLE ON TWITCH.

 

[RatherDashing89]

Fake geek-girls dont exist...just a bunch of elitist alpha-geeks, who think they can judge who is a true geek and who isnt.

Of course they exist. There is nothing that becomes mainstream & popular that doesn't have a fake following hoping to gain perks by association, with out any of the personal sacrifice.

As for who can determine the difference between a true geek & who isn't, its pretty simple. If you were to say "i am such a huge comic book geek, i went and watched the Avengers movie." I would then ask you "Really? Do you collect the Avengers comics by chance?" If you were to answer yes, we could have a good old chin wag about how misunderstood Hank Pym is, or Black Widow is a really boring character, or even, What the hell is Marvel thinking letting Hickman screw up the Avengers... If you answer no, then you are not a Comic Book Geek... At best you are someone who enjoyed watching a movie.

Simply put; a passing awareness of the existance of something doesn't make you a geek. To be a geek you must have an obsessive love of something. For instance if you are obsessive about the Marvel movies (the actors, the lore & the behind the scenes stuff), but have never picked up a comic then yes you are a geek: A Marvel movie universe geek.

Geek =/= Passing awareness.
Geek = Obsessive love of something + vast knowledge of the subject matter.

Why does the distinction matter? Is an Avengers comic book fan so strapped for time that he needs a filter so he knows who not to talk to, lest his social calender be stretched too thin by his legions of compatriots? I don't read the comics. I loved the movies. I've read up on Wikipedia because I find the backstories interesting, but I don't have the time or money to get invested in comics (since it usually requires going back 20 years) and don't find the comic format a particularly enjoyable way to read a story. But hey, I love talking about Avengers to people, and if I get something wrong about it because I've only read Wikipedia, they can correct me, increasing my knowledge and appreciation for the subject matter. And hey, I may have just made a new friend. But if I call myself an Avengers fan instead of an Avengers Movie Universe As Defined By The Current Generation Of Marvel Movies fan, and and the comic fan decides I'm a poser and not worth talking to, than it's his loss. And mine, but mostly his.

Why is correctly categorizing people so important?



P.S. Regarding the "predatory women" idea, there's a much easier way to protect yourself. Find out about someone's personality before you have sex with them, not just whether or not they share your interest.

 

[waj9876]

The main problem nowadays is not that most people think like that. The main problem is that there are a ton of people who pretend to be geeks, when they actually aren't, just for the attention. This causes the really stupid geeks to lump all women together and just hate them all.

Anyone who doesn't believe this is a real thing is a kind of stupid on par with those who don't believe girl geeks are a thing.

 

[bificommander]

It's depressing to see how many people are still on the 'Fake Geek Girls are a HUGE problem' bandwagon. What do you care if those nefarious "cam-whores" get lots of hits? As long as you don't watch those videos, what does it matter to you?

Why would it hurt me if someone less invested in "geekyness" than myself attends a con? I wouldn't care if someone attended who just saw the funny costumes and wanted to check it out. People here compare it with attention grabbers in other popular niches. But to my knowledge, those other popular niches don't make such a fuss about a few hanger-ons. Most sport fans would welcome women who celebrate their home team's championship, even if those women didn't follow their team as obsessively as they did during the rest of the season. I can't see why I should give a damn when it happens to my hobby.

I don't see how it's such a terrible burden if I were to find myself confronted with somone who isn't as "geeky" as I am. If I feel my conversation partner doesn't have anything interesting to say, well, too bad. I'll find a way to get out and talk to someone else.

And if it is true (and I doubt it is) that there is a widespread problem of attractive women targeting geeky boys to "seduce" them and get at their money, well, that sucks. But people lying to take advantage of you is a problem in the real world, one way or the other. Why do you think all the booths at cons are for? Those people also want to make money of you. Grow up, keep your eyes open, and think before you act. It's not like I would spend tons of money just like that to please a REAL Geek, male or female.

 

[verdant monkai]

I think Geek girls are an American thing. In Britain its still an almost exclusively guy thing, I'm not happy about that obviously I'd love women to share my interests its just that, when I think geek girl all that comes to mind are American girls on youtube, and Americans online telling me they exist.

 

[RatherDashing89]

Why does the distinction matter?

Knowledge mate: You and i can't have a discussion on why Hickman is a hack if you have no idea who Hickman is.

Is an Avengers comic book fan so strapped for time that he needs a filter so he knows who not to talk to

Its got nothing to do with filtering people & everything to do with filtering content by context. You and i are never going to have a long drawn out discussion on who we think the Sentry really was... Personally i hold that he was the Beyonder, who had made himself forget he was the beyonder after the actions of the first Avengers; Illuminati mini-series.

Doesn't matter how many wikipedia articles on the movies you've read, this is never going to be a disucssion we have. Its just not going to happen, because you are not a comic book geek... Yet if you hypothetically claimed to be, doesn't me asking you a simple leading question like "Really? Do you by chance collect the comics" cut back on the inevitable disappointment of me trying to invest time in striking up a conversation on the topic, when i find out that for all intents and purposes, due to people inability to say what they mean & mean what they say you are talking rubbish & actually aren't a comic book fan.


If your not a geek at all, thats cool too. But pretending to be one, not only devalues people who actually do love a thing, but also sets up false connections, shared identity, where none really exist... Not to mention, its really dishonest.

You're using a very limited definition of geek and not one in line with the way the word is typically used. Who says geek has to mean obsessive, or what you have to be obsessed with to be considered a geek? And how much time do you have to invest? If you bring up Hickman, and I say, "I'm not familiar with Hickman. What did he do wrong?" You can either educate me on a subject in which I have expressed interest, or say, "It's too long to explain" and we can talk about something else. I'm fine if you want to clear things up from the start by asking if I collect the comics, although I think it would be unnecessary. I'm not fine with being told I'm not a geek, or at least not an Avengers geek, because I don't collect the comics, and I'm talking rubbish if I say otherwise. Who died and made you Batman to decide what makes someone a geek?

 

[-Dragmire-]

This concept never came up in my life, probably because I never went to geek related events. Though, other than gamer, I never really had labels for myself so the concept of wanting a label like geek for the purpose of popularity is strange to me. Guess you need to have stronger ties in the social scene for the label thing to kick in.

 

[RatherDashing89]

I think part of this is people's confusion of something being a "problem" verses an annoyance. Girls posting on facebook "Played farmville for three hours today, LOL I'm such a nerd" may be annoying, but it's not a problem. Just like Twilight, Justin Bieber, YOLO SWAG, and Honey Boo Boo. This stuff is annoying, but it's not a problem. We have this idea that we're humanity's last hope, and we have to stand up against People Being Wrong On The Internet, and it's just not true.

 

[Lilani]

The main problem nowadays is not that most people think like that. The main problem is that there are a ton of people who pretend to be geeks, when they actually aren't, just for the attention. This causes the really stupid geeks to lump all women together and just hate them all.

Actually i'd agree with you right up to that last point. I don't think those people are stupid for lumping together... I think much of the blame for that is on a whole heap of very biased reporting, especially from actual female geeks announcing that fake geek girls don't exist... Because the logic has to follow that if these guys can see the fake geek girls (an i think you would agree that they exist), an yet those same guys are constantly being told that they don't exist, then that can only mean that there is no distinction between the fake geek girls & the supposedly real geek girls: Then by that horrible alegbra of necessity only one conclusion remains.... All geek girls must be fake geek girls, but we just can't call them that.

Of course we know that all geek girls are not fake: But you could be excused from reaching that conclusion, if a particular group of people are constantly spiking your data set with rubbish data.

After all, we all know the old addage: Rubbish in, rubbish out.

I'm still confused as to where exactly in this article is it said in no uncertain terms that "fake geek girls" are a COMPLETE myth and that NONE exist. What I get from both the video and the article is that the witch-hunt for these "fakes" is causing an unacceptable amount of collateral damage. It doesn't matter whether or not they exist--what does matter is there are some who aren't "fakes" who are getting caught in the crossfire, and regardless of whether or not the real thing exists, vilifying those who don't deserve it is NEVER okay. It doesn't matter whether or not they exist, as long as we aren't assholes to one another.

 

[Gorrath]

It's depressing to see how many people are still on the 'Fake Geek Girls are a HUGE problem' bandwagon. What do you care if those nefarious "cam-whores" get lots of hits? As long as you don't watch those videos, what does it matter to you?

Why would it hurt me if someone less invested in "geekyness" than myself attends a con? I wouldn't care if someone attended who just saw the funny costumes and wanted to check it out. People here compare it with attention grabbers in other popular niches. But to my knowledge, those other popular niches don't make such a fuss about a few hanger-ons. Most sport fans would welcome women who celebrate their home team's championship, even if those women didn't follow their team as obsessively as they did during the rest of the season. I can't see why I should give a damn when it happens to my hobby.

I don't see how it's such a terrible burden if I were to find myself confronted with somone who isn't as "geeky" as I am. If I feel my conversation partner doesn't have anything interesting to say, well, too bad. I'll find a way to get out and talk to someone else.

And if it is true (and I doubt it is) that there is a widespread problem of attractive women targeting geeky boys to "seduce" them and get at their money, well, that sucks. But people lying to take advantage of you is a problem in the real world, one way or the other. Why do you think all the booths at cons are for? Those people also want to make money of you. Grow up, keep your eyes open, and think before you act. It's not like I would spend tons of money just like that to please a REAL Geek, male or female.

If someone who's not particularly invested in geeky-ness attends a con, there is no problem. Maybe they'll become interested. Maybe they'll learn to love something new. Maybe they'll not care one whit. That part is a total non-issue. The issue is in your last paragraph there. You may believe it does not happen or barely happens, but it certainly does. What gets me is that if a guy attended female dominated hobby events with the specific purpose of targeting emotionally vulnerable women to exploit them for sex and money, I doubt people would be so charitable to him or claim that it wasn't happening or blame women taken advantage of in such a way for being suspicious and hurt.

Just because lying and taking advantage of people happens a lot in the real world (not sure what non-real world there is for the fake geek girl phenomenon) does not mean we shouldn't try to be aware that it does happen, that it is wrong, and that the backlash it causes is equally wrong. Honestly, I can't think of a single instance where a person being taken advantage of and becoming suspicious afterwards is so demonized themselves as the problem, except with the fake geek girl issue.

 

[Guffe]

"fake geek girls" do exist. They are only found on the internet. It is a person, normally a woman, who is trying to add appeal to whatever they are doing by adding some geek items to it. Generally done through pictures, they will be scantily clad and in some sort of pose, holding a controller or what have you. They will add a tagline about how they are a gamer just like you, and you should totally click on their link or watch their show.

No woman browsing through a game shop or hanging out at a convention, or talking about Star Trek are fake geek girls. Fake geek girls don't have the time, patience or desire to do any of those things.


Side note: In forums, Fake geek girls will talk less about the topic at hand and more try to bring up that they are female, and hot. Geek girls generally don't reveal their gender unless the situation calls for gender to be known. why? because discussing the pros and cons of the 5th doctor is way more important than you knowing you are talking to a girl.(you know, like everyone else)

This was well said!
If someone missed this at the first page, READ IT NOW!
So yeah, nothing more to add, just seconding this dude/dudette here!

 

[Worgen]

I wonder if the phenomenon of guys calling girls "fake gamer" is more about the view that women can get anything they want easily, while guys have to suffer for it. Like thinking that if a woman wanted sex she could just go outside and get it, while a guy would have to put in much more work for it.

 

[Gorrath]

I'm still confused as to where exactly in this article is it said in no uncertain terms that "fake geek girls" are a COMPLETE myth and that NONE exist. What I get from both the video and the article is that the witch-hunt for these "fakes" is causing an unacceptable amount of collateral damage. It doesn't matter whether or not they exist--what does matter is there are some who aren't "fakes" who are getting caught in the crossfire, and regardless of whether or not the real thing exists, vilifying those who don't deserve it is NEVER okay. It doesn't matter whether or not they exist, as long as we aren't assholes to one another.

The problem arises that there is a LOT of talk about how much damage the fake geek girl phenomenon does to real geek girls and practically no talk of what the phenomenon does to the victims of the fraud. The responses to claims of being victimized financially or emotionally by someone faking being into geek interests usually ranges from complete disregard to accusing the victim of out and out lying. In this very thread we've had several people claim that fake geek girls don't exist, at all, which lends itself to the idea that anyone victimized by this phenomenon is a liar.

Now I have no problem with the video itself, none at all. In fact, I support the idea that, just because some people perpetrate a fraud, that we shouldn't create a witch hunt or litmus test that must be passed, whether based in gender or not. But it is videos like these coupled with complete denial that there is any other problem that creates a sense of total injustice to those victimized and, I would think, makes them all the more likely to continue being suspicious instead of realizing that what happened to them does not excuse an over zealous persecution of all geek girls.