CaptainChip said:
I would also like to point out that people who usually hate "fake geek girls" also hate guys who do the same thing. It's just that you don't see it from guys as much. It's really not a sexism issue as much as it's made to seem.
Well, the problem is that people are trying to look at the phenomena in a vaccuum rather than the behaviors that have created this problem. It's not about nerds being concerned over someone intruding on their property, or being "poseurs" or anything of the sort like Jim and a lot of people seem to think. The simple facts are:
#1: Nerds are by definition rejects, it's a very broad label that includes a lot of people who are rejected for a lot of differant reasons. An attractive girl, especially one with a solid peer circle and social life, by definition cannot be a nerd. A lot of the problem comes with the label being used to point to a specific set of interests that are graually breaking into the mainstream.
It sounds odd, but the issue is that when some hot girl says she's "one of you" when she's clearly not, that's a problem.
#2: The reason it's a problem is because 99% of the time, the hot girl trying to pass as a nerd and buddy up to nerds is doing so in order to get something out of them. Sure, she might have some knowlege of fandom, in whatever area, but at the end of the day she's after your wallet and/or whatever she can squeeze out of you. Nerds being targeted because they tend to be desperate for female attention, and prefer to deal with people at a distance, which is something a scammer is more than willing to oblige.
See, your typical nerd girl will buddy up to some nerds, get attention for being pretty and interested geeky subjects, hang out a bit, and then inevitably run into all kinds of problems, approaching her friends whom she flirts with to buy her things ranging from games, to computer parts, to MMO subscription cards, to pretty much anything else you can think of. A lof of this stuff winds up being purchused through services like Amazon.com and then goes directly onto Ebay.
I've run into situations in MMO guilds and such where there have been like 3-4 guys all paying for the subscription for some female player, only to get all POed when they eventually realize they had all been giving her time codes, and she's been selling the extra ones she's not using. Another case I know of was one girl who needed a new sound card and a new camera and managed to beg them off a few people, she wound up with like 4 cameras and no less than 11 sound cards (some used) most of which went directly to Ebay. If you check around you'll find the geek culture is absolutly FULL of stories like this, most of which are true. There is a reason why there is so much hatred directly at "camwhores" by geek culture.
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The bottom line comes down to point #1. When your dealing with hardcore nerds/fanboys acceptance generally means being someone obviously rejected by the rest of society. The much mocked "900 pound land whale" is generally more accepted by nerds simply because you can understand why the fatty is into the nerd culture, and immersing themselves in escapism so much.
Most nerds would really like there to be hot nerd girls out there, but understand the concept makes little or no sense when examined, and there have been so many burns over the years, that even if one DOES exist, she kind of needs to prove herself. To be honest it's less about rejection due to a lack of encyclopediac knowlege of nerdy subjects, but a lack
of shared societal rejection. It's not really sexist or personal when you get down to it, nerds are generally paranoid (socially) being what they are, and are people who have been exploited heavily, or know those who have been.
As one guy I know put it, "where were all the hot nerd girls before gaming went mainstream/casual, and when things like Amazon and Ebay didn't exist". A valid point that can be made by elder geeks, sure the hot, nerdy, girl stereotype was around in Hollywood, but in reality you didn't see people claiming to be them because there was no value in the knowlege of geek trivia, and it really wasn't possible to run large scale online scams.
There have literally been girls who have basically employed themselves by logging onto the computer, making doe eyes at desperate nerds, and then re-selling the gifts. WTF does anyone expect.
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For those who read this far, I'll also say that when it comes to cosplay, that's a slightly differant thing. In general booth babes and those who are honest about being there for promotional reasons tend to get treated a bit better than those claiming to be fans. The reason being that it's a common technique at cons, renfaires, etc... to hire girls to help make the scene and promote their wares by basically walking around in very good costumes involving items and materials they happen to sell. Nerds in paticular get upset with the deception more than other people might react to "Party Girls" being used the same way in other venues.
In a lot of cases though it should be understood that the "hot cosplay girls" that are for real aren't pretending to be nerds. Oftentimes they come in groups, with friends, boyfriends, etc.. around. They are pretty much showing off, and just presenting themselves as having an interest a bit beyond the casual, not as genuine nerds, or cultural paragons (so much as it's worth being a paragon of this culture). The biggest issue being that such girls aren't usually trying to buddy up to you, or make social contact, to which the typical nerd response is quite understandable "what's her angle?".
See, I find it kind of amusing that Jim is addressing this issue the way he is, because honest he seems pretty bright, and if some hot girl was showing interest in him (online or otherwise) I'd imagine he'd be pretty suspicious.
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