Poll: Fake Geek Girl Meme

Catie Caraco

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renegade7 said:
"Like, OH MY GAAAWWWD, I played CoD at my boyfriend's house, I am, like, SUCH a geek"

gets really old really quickly.

Women and men both lie about themselves in dating situations. Women may wear push-up bras to look like their breasts are more shapely, or make up to look like they have better skin. Men go to the gym and get a tan to make themselves look like...I don't know, like they just plowed the fields or something. Guess some girl somewhere is into that.

Anyway. "Geekiness" is often associated with intelligence...and more and more people are finding intelligence attractive. I think the idea is that by pretending to be a geek, you try to send a message of intelligence. Both genders find ways to do this, I think in women it's a little more popular because there are no male 'sexy nerds' in the movies or on TV.

Just one take on it.
I find it kind of ... disjointed, I guess, that what I take as your point is that people pose as nerds to seem intelligent when your first, quoted sentence is in valley girl, a subset of humanity known for being vapid and shallow. I'm sorry if that doesn't make sense, I'm suffering from a sinus infection right now so I'm kinda loopy, but it seems like you're saying they do it to look smart, and they let us know with statuses like this. "Like, OH MY GAAAWWWD, I played CoD at my boyfriend's house, I am, like, SUCH a geek"

I'm not saying your theory is flawed, I just find your ... presentation hard to wrap my mind around.

... ok, I'm shutting up now. >.>
 

Catie Caraco

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King of Asgaard said:
Mid Boss said:
King of Asgaard said:
I, being a seventeen year old male and a massive geek, have not encountered a geek of the opposite gender.
Supposedly, they exist, yet not where I live, which is quite a downer.
Do you go to college? If you don't, go to college. Particularly one with a strong art program. The thing is, girls don't broadcast their geek like guys do. It's considered "unfeminine".
Not yet, I'm starting my second year of sixth form next month.
Aww hunny, we exist, no worries. I was playing Atari at 3, Magic the Gathering in 5th Grade, I've watched all of Star Trek Next Generation and Voyager.* I would wager you HAVE met female geeks, they just haven't known you well enough to open up about it. But yeah, just wait till you go to college. There will be anime clubs, gaming clubs, science clubs... and I've noticed from experience that Pagan Organizations tend to be full of nerds. So just hang in there. We're out there.

* Look, see, my nerd-cred. ... I guess it goes to the OPs point that I feel the need to validate my claim to nerdome.
 

Schadrach

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jbm1986 said:
Hollyday said:
I read an article on The Mary Sue this morning which made me wonder...

http://www.themarysue.com/geek-girl-meme/#0

The main idea boils down to this: "...the persisting idea that tells people it's ok to nastily call women out for not being 'authentically geeky' enough. It's basically the idea that you can use that old middle school tactic of calling people 'posers' because they don't adhere to your own particular rules as to what qualifies a 'geek'..."
People are doing this because being a 'nerd' or 'geek' has become a fad and some 'gamer girls'(not all mind you) are using this to get attention. These people are no different from the goth or emo kids who just dress different/ wear eyeliner/ etc to get attention. The other people calling those 'posers' out aren't all dicks, some just want the 'posers' to stop giving the actual 'nerds' and 'geeks' a bad name.

Also, I know for a fact actual 'gamer girls' exist. I've played several matches of LoL with my friend and his wife. She plays as much Skyrim as her husband and knows just as much star wars as any other fanboy/fangirl would. While I don't think there's any specific criteria to being a 'nerd', people should be able to back any claim they make.


Is there a male equivalent of this phenomenon? Obviously I've only ever experienced the geek gatekeeper horror from the female side - Do guys ever get quizzed about their geek cred before they're accepted as a 'true' geek? Are there some geek circles which are as hostile to newbie males as they are to females?
Of course there are probably male equivalents of this. Maybe not so much in 'geek' culture. for example if a guy watches 3 episodes of MLP, runs to the store and buys as much MLP figures as he can, then brags to his friends that he's the biggest Bronie out there, wouldn't you say he's a 'poser'? Or just because you drive a car and can change your own oil doesn't make you a mechanic.
I propose a simple solution to all this "fake gamer girl" talk. There are pretty decent descriptions that lend a vague idea as to what constitutes a "fake gamer girl." I say we start calling them Gamer Girls (tm) to differentiate them from actual gamer girls, that shouldn't offend anyone.
 
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I don't see it mainly as a "Misogynistic attack on women" (although it definitely can be), I see it mainly as geek culture being its bitter, exclusionary old self as always.

Until a few days ago, I was friends with this guy who despised another one of my friends because she was a girl who played videogames, and thus could be nothing else than a manipulative, ballbusting imposter.
 

zelda2fanboy

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Anoni Mus said:
El Danny said:
Basically, there are people who find the Big Bang Theory funny.

Then there's the rest of us.

Bottom line, Geek and Nerdy is currently a fad, it'll pass.
You're saying people who find BBT funny are not geeks?
I once dated a woman who had a masters in music theory, was really into physics, and attends parties at planetariums. She is a bigger "geek" than 90% of the people I've met. She likes The Big Bang Theory, which regularly features real life physicists who also presumably find it funny. Also, actress Mayim Bialik on the show has a real doctorate in neuroscience. I would think she probably finds the show funny, too.

Those people literally have nerd credentials. Random anonymous dudes on the internet who deem something "uncool" must be the "real" nerds out there, though. :)
 

Hollyday

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DoPo said:
Erm, I don't know where you're from, but around here this is not what real nerds look like. In fact, I don't think anybody anywhere looks remotely what that girl tries to imitate. I wouldn't feel flattered to be imitated wrongly. Whatever aspect of me - my race, my hobbies, my beliefs, whatever. I feel it as a very visual way to express the written "Herpaderp, I'm a nerd! lolz *insert godawful emoticons*" The fact that people recognise the stereotype does more harm than good. And it's because it's not a flattering stereotype.
Please tell me: What do real nerds look like???!!! Hehe!

Firstly, we don't know why she was posing like this. I pose for stupid facebook pics sometimes, everyone does. Secondly, we can't possibly know what her intentions were, namely whether she was 'imitating' nerds as you put it. Maybe those are her actual glasses (I know plenty of people with glasses like that). Thirdly, she might be the biggest nerd ever (even by ridiculously high internet standards) and the photo was always meant to be ironic. So HOW can we judge her in any way, shape or form? And even if all our judgemental assumptions about her ARE true, what right do we have to judge her for it? If she wants to prance around calling herself a nerd and looking up random star trek facts on wikipedia to fake her way into nerd culture why should we care at all? What does it take away from us? NOTHING.

Mid Boss said:
You always see, as someone put it "6 of 9" girls at conventions. Girls that aren't geeks but go to conventions, often in skimpy costumes, to drooled at by a horde of guys. In the real world they're a 6, but at a convention they're a 9.
I read the original article about this and it made me feel sick. It's so awful to on the one hand say that a woman is doing something merely to get attention, and then on the other rate her looks in such a way. No one knows anyone's personal intentions except that person, so these judgements are just disgusting

zelda2fanboy said:
...the question of "Do men ever get alienated by women?" is a bit of a howler. You might as well have asked "Do women have opinions about things?" "Do women think?" "Are women actually people?" (The answer to all of those is an obvious yes, in case I have to spell out my internet sarcasm.)
OOPS - my question is actually about 'geek gatekeeperism' not whether women judge and alienate men because they obviously do in many many situations. I wanted to know specifically whether men find they regularly have to prove themselves in order to be taken seriously in geek/niche interest groups in the way that women regularly have to do. For example, I'm a teacher and in many of my adult classes I teach guys who are into gaming, and when I say that I'm into it too I'll get a half-hour Q&A session from them until they find a game I don't know and then they'll sit back all smug as if they've somehow caught me out. It's... well, pretty odd really. Has this ever happened to you in relation to gaming?
 

jbm1986

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Schadrach said:
-snip-
I propose a simple solution to all this "fake gamer girl" talk. There are pretty decent descriptions that lend a vague idea as to what constitutes a "fake gamer girl." I say we start calling them Gamer Girls (tm) to differentiate them from actual gamer girls, that shouldn't offend anyone.


Also, see here: http://slackerheroes.com/jj/2012/03/28/faking-it-the-%E2%80%98fake-nerd-girl%E2%80%99-and-sexism-in-geek-culture/
 

krazykidd

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It's funny because it's true . Not just with women mind you, this whole "geek movement" is complet bullshit. Real geeks/nerds don't even fit in with this new gen geek/nerd/whatchamacallit . I agree completly with this article.
 

Lilani

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Hollyday said:
I think this is very related to the mainstreaming of geek culture. Suddenly it's cool to be a geek, so some long-time geeks (usually but not always male) feel a bit insulted that they spent their childhoods being social pariahs and spurned by the opposite sex for their eclectic interests, and now suddenly it's cool to be geeky and all those people who made fun of them before want a piece of the action.

So what do they do? They stake their claim. "No!" They shout. "We were here first, you can't come into our club because you wouldn't let us into your club all those years ago!" And for some it's gotten to the point where when they see anyone who even looks like they might be one of these "posers" (I.E. an attractive female who appears to be a proud geek) they are automatically skeptical of their "credentials," if you will.

The way I see it, are there females who are using the mainstreaming of geek culture to get attention? Yes. But if you know anything about those types of females, it isn't anything new. I watched it happen all through middle and high school. The only difference is back then, the conduits they used for their attention whoring weren't related to geek culture. They sought attention through cliques and knowing about boy bands and makeup and magazines. But now that the Internet has come around, they have a brand new method available, and geek culture is the most synonymous with the Internet, so it only makes sense they'd change their "interests" to fit the theme.

But the male geeks who are totally unaware of this phenomenon took it personally, and now suddenly every vagina that gets within 10 yards of a video game is an evil feminazi out to change games and attention whore their way to the "top" (whatever the "top" is). So now everything has come full circle--the group that was once comprised of social outcasts booted out by the norm because they weren't the "type" they were looking for is now casting out an entire gender because they've decided they have a "type" now and are in a position to exclude and mock. It's sad, really, and so many subscribe to the idea it's rotting good portions of the community to dust.
 

zelda2fanboy

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Hollyday said:
OOPS - my question is actually about 'geek gatekeeperism' not whether women judge and alienate men because they obviously do in many many situations. I wanted to know specifically whether men find they regularly have to prove themselves in order to be taken seriously in geek/niche interest groups in the way that women regularly have to do. For example, I'm a teacher and in many of my adult classes I teach guys who are into gaming, and when I say that I'm into it too I'll get a half-hour Q&A session from them until they find a game I don't know and then they'll sit back all smug as if they've somehow caught me out. It's... well, pretty odd really. Has this ever happened to you in relation to gaming?
Yes, pretty much all the time.

"Hey, I like Deus Ex!"
You mean the original?
"Um, the one that just came out..."
Oh, the original is WAY better. And those boss fights were crap.
"Well, I thought it was fun..."

This is just the nature of the internet, splintering of varying interests, and general douchey oneupsmanship. Substitute Deus Ex for Fallout, Elder Scrolls, or any game series that had a PC release more than ten years ago. I don't think it's specifically done to be jerky all the time, but people develop "facts" out of their opinions when they spend a lot of time on the internet. Happens with movies, books, and music, too. I tend to just ignore people like that.

There are also some guys that say they "play video games," but they mean they play Madden and Call of Duty. I simply don't have anything to say to those people and I can't really relate on that level. I'd have to find some other common interest at that point. I don't really aim for conversations with "gamers" most of the time, unless I know specifically that there is a game (or games) we have in common. It's too diverse of a marketplace.
 

sinsfire

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Wasn't there just a Big Picture episode about this?

I don't really notice guys calling each other out on Geek Cred. That being said I don't know that many guys that clammor for Geek Cred in order to be relevant with their friends.

I don't mind if hot chicks want to pretend they are geeks just to get attention. They are fun to look at, but in the end they have their own social inneptitude that is really rather ironic. Poser geek girls want attention for a new group of people. They crave that human attention be it for monetary reasons or personal reasons, but in the ned they need someone to pay attention to them.

The reason most guys want girls to play games is so they can play with them. Its nice to share your hobbies and interests with like minded people. Its even better when you can be attracted to them.

I sort of lost my point there. I think overall you should jsut do whatever you want as long as you don't do so with the intent to belittle or negativly impact those around you.
 

shrekfan246

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DugMachine said:
Will I make a big deal out of it though? No. It's a fad, this will all pass and soon geek culture won't be 'cool and hip' anymore. I think 80's hair metal bands are making a come back JUST MARK MY WORDS!

I don't really have much to add to the topic at hand. Yeah, I've seen a few of the "LOL I'm so nerdy" stories before, and I've also seen legitimately 'nerdy' girls get ostracized because "girls don't play games!" It works both ways.
 

El Danny

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VanQQisH said:
El Danny said:
Basically, there are people who find the Big Bang Theory funny.

Then there's the rest of us.

Bottom line, Geek and Nerdy is currently a fad, it'll pass.
Wow, you... have just described my feelings on this topic in three short sentences. I haven't been able to get this out in words so well in all these years.

Do you mind if I use this quote in the future?
No Problem ;)

Daystar Clarion said:
[sub]I like the Big Bang Theory...[/sub]


OT: Dunno 'bout anyone else, but announcing that you're a geek/nerd is a fucking annoying trait to have, regardless of gender.
And you're free to enjoy watching whatever you want. :)

I find announcing you're an anything tends to be an annoying trait to have.

NuclearShadow said:
The only reason why they may seem to be a trend is because now with modern technology you aren't stuck with a handful of geeky kids in a school with a closed group. With the internet it enabled them to network together and appear to be larger than they really are and naturally the internet itself is right up their ally so they naturally will be heavily active.
What I deleted of your post I agree with, but you're over analysing this discussion a bit.

However, I have noticed an incline in people labelling themselves as 'geeky' or 'nerdy' because they play Halo or enjoyed the new Star Trek film, when really enjoying something that's sci-fi hasn't got much to do with it. I'd say that these things are pop culture because they're popular which is kind of the opposite of nerd culture. Nerd culture is simply the culture that evolves around people who enjoy things that aren't massively popular, aren't trying to make big thing of it, but simply trying to find those that enjoy similar things to themselves.

Anoni Mus said:
You're saying people who find BBT funny are not geeks?
No, I'm just saying it isn't the part of nerd culture that people think it is.

ProtoChimp said:
I like Big Bang though. To be fair you can see how much the writers have actually improved and aren't as fucking idiotically stereotypical and its become more of a standard sitcom as of late.
I must confess I've only watched two episodes, but I really wasn't impressed that much with what I watched.

I'll try and explain my experience quickly. I watched it with a friend because we've both been told my multiple people it's the kind of thing that we'd enjoy, and there was nothing on TV for the next hour. I felt all the nerd jokes and references were just shoe-horned in just for the point of being nerdy. Not only that but sometimes there was laughter at things that weren't even jokes, I remember one point there was even laughter at the name 'Leonard Nimoy' why? That wasn't a joke, it got to the point where at times I even felt like the show was more of a parody of nerd culture then an actual embrace of it. We both felt a bit down and a bit angry, almost as if the show was laughing at us, obviously it's just a TV show, but I certainly didn't enjoy it.

However, I'd still give the episodes with Will Wheaton a try just because it's Will Wheaton.
 

Daveman

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I consider anyone who claims to be a geek and watches The Big Bang Theory to either be a moron or a fake geek, just because it's so incredibly insulting to any real geeks. I do this regardless of gender.

I must say I'm very proud of my sister as she is close to a true geek, or at least very honest about her level of geekiness. She is in no way a full blown geek but she does know the main characters of Red Dwarf despite hating the show and knows more about Skyrim than about half the people who've played it. She does watch the Big Bang theory but only because she knows it pisses me off.
 

King of Asgaard

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Catie Caraco said:
King of Asgaard said:
Mid Boss said:
King of Asgaard said:
I, being a seventeen year old male and a massive geek, have not encountered a geek of the opposite gender.
Supposedly, they exist, yet not where I live, which is quite a downer.
Do you go to college? If you don't, go to college. Particularly one with a strong art program. The thing is, girls don't broadcast their geek like guys do. It's considered "unfeminine".
Not yet, I'm starting my second year of sixth form next month.
Aww hunny, we exist, no worries. I was playing Atari at 3, Magic the Gathering in 5th Grade, I've watched all of Star Trek Next Generation and Voyager.* I would wager you HAVE met female geeks, they just haven't known you well enough to open up about it. But yeah, just wait till you go to college. There will be anime clubs, gaming clubs, science clubs... and I've noticed from experience that Pagan Organizations tend to be full of nerds. So just hang in there. We're out there.

* Look, see, my nerd-cred. ... I guess it goes to the OPs point that I feel the need to validate my claim to nerdome.
Maybe in America they're more abundant because there's more than one University to go to which focus on specific subjects, but here we only have the University of Malta, which does everything. Besides, my cynical nature, and the people I know put me in the mindset that proper geeks don't really exist in Malta, for the most part.
But thanks for trying to reassure me. I appreciate it. It's posts like that which make me glad I'm an Escapist.
 

NotALiberal

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renegade7 said:
"Like, OH MY GAAAWWWD, I played CoD at my boyfriend's house, I am, like, SUCH a geek"

gets really old really quickly.

Women and men both lie about themselves in dating situations. Women may wear push-up bras to look like their breasts are more shapely, or make up to look like they have better skin. Men go to the gym and get a tan to make themselves look like...I don't know, like they just plowed the fields or something. Guess some girl somewhere is into that.
Seriously? I go to the gym for my self. You can't really compare wearing a pushup bra to trying to keep your body fit and healthy.
 

Marble Dragon

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What annoys me about these kinds of girls is not that they're "not geeky enough" or "can't prove their nerd cred." It's when they label themselves nerds before they have anything to do with nerd icons or culture. I don't think that they get into it for sexual attention necessarily, despite what many people say to the contrary, but there are girls out there who start wearing glasses and talking about how nerdy they are just because they're desperate to fit in. The message they send is that they think video games are cool and they liked Star Wars, but what they're really interested in is being part of a group. The content is secondary.

It reveals something a whole lot worse about our society in general. So many people seem to need labels to define themselves. And I think the 'gatekeeper' nonsense only makes things worse.

(Obviously I'm not saying that all gamer girls are like this. A lot of my friends are gamer girls, and it's not true of all of them. I've met many girls in communities like this who are more interested in playing the video games than being accepted. But...these people are out here, and it's both saddening and incredibly annoying.)

Personally, I've never experienced the "geek gatekeeper" thing. But I've heard of it. That's the reason I never got much into multiplayer games. I always thought TF2 looked cool, but I always worried that I would screw something up and be judged, or that somebody would ask me a nerdy question I didn't know the answer to.
 

Dogstile

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Hollyday said:
First off, i'll start by saying that I absolutely loved the set of images trying to "take back" the fake geek girl. Completely missing the point of the meme. Its glorious.

Of course there is a male equivalent. You just don't see them as often because when a guy does it, usually he'll get quickly knocked down a peg and leave it alone. Nobody is going to defend the fake geek guy, he's a guy, he'll get over it.

When it happens to a girl trying to "geek out" for acceptance (which, if you're changing yourself for acceptance, i'm not going to like you anyway) you're going to get a white knight defending her, because hey, she's a girl trying to be geeky and girls totally need to be protected and they can't stand on their own two feet, right guys? (Copious amounts of sarcasm)

Because geek girls were trying to get recognition for being "geeky" and guys who fell for it made a big deal out of the fact that she's a geek (I still have friends who say the phrase "she plays games, she's a keeper") people very quickly got annoyed that it was being held up as something special. "Why the hell is it special when she gets geeky?" "Why is it not special that i've spent years of my life reading comics and playing wargames?" "She's got boobs, that's the only reason people are paying attention to her".

In other words, there is a male equivalent, but nobody seems to care because you wouldn't defend a guy, no siree.
 

GiantRaven

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Hollyday said:
I don't know if this is being intentionally ironic, but I feel the need to point out that there were only 713 issues in the first volume of 'Batman' comic. Currently with another 12 in the second volume that makes a total of 725 comics with the titles 'Batman', not 900.

Detective Comics comes a lot closer with 881 issues. Adding on the 12 issues so far of the new 52 run means that it will essentially reach 900 issues in March/April next year. Not that all those issues feature Batman, mind you, but it's been pretty much a Batman book for a good proportion of it's run.

Action Comics broke 900 though. It would be totally possible to have read 900 issues of that, even if it is completely implausible.

[/overly pedantic nerd]

Sparrow said:
I honestly just came here to say fuck you image, I have read all 900 issues of Batman.
ಠ_ಠ