Poll: Fake Geek Girl Meme

[GiantRaven]

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.

Well...shit. Guess I better go throw away all those comic books I own and love to read. I forgot I only bought them because of the frequent trips I see to the LCS on BBT. I just wanted to look cool man!

I guess I'm just a massive poser because I laugh every time I see an utterly truthful disparaging joke about the comic book fandom on the Big Bang Theory. Why hadn't I noticed this before? Thank you for opening my eyes!

Eugh.

 

[Calibanbutcher]

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.

This is what bothers me about TBBT, I've tried to enjoy it a few times and I always get the feeling that it's laughing at me, not with me.

"Hey, he mentioned a comic-book character! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT A NERD RIGHT GUYS?"

What if someone was a physicist and a geek?
Would one be allowed to enjoy "The Big Bang Theory" then? Because that is pretty much the only reason I watch it. The whole "geek"-undertones are fine and everything, but really, I view it as a documentary about physics-students.

Really?

How many physics students do you know who get chosen to go into space, or meet Stan Lee, or avoid being imprisoned for invading Stan Lee's home? Or are frenemies with Wil Wheaton? Or befriend and then seduce their hot, dumb-but-lovable neighbour? Or crash the Mars Rover and get away with it?

TBBT is a good show, but a documentary it is not.

Ok, maybe slightly exaggerated plot-wise, but as far as behaviour goes it's pretty much spot on for some I know.
And since I don't live in the US, invading Stan Lee's home would be quite an impressiv achievement.
Crashing the Mars Rover though, ehm nooot gonna say anything about that *cough*

 

[ominousMIDI]

I absolutely think this is a bigger problem for women than it is for men, but I don't agree that it is exclusive to (or more prevalent in) "geek" culture. Pretty much any interest-based subculture that develops in an insular, mostly gender-exclusive way produces similar situations (think sports, or cars, or gambling, or fasion, or banking/finance, or comedy, or quilting, or whatever). In these sorts of groups, there is usually an archetypical picture people have in their heads of what a member will be like, and anyone who doesn't fit that archetype, for any reason, is going to receive increased scrutiny.

For a long time, "geek" culture was perceived to be mostly made up of men, mostly younger, and often socially outcast or stigmatized. Anyone who doesn't fit this mold perfectly will likely face some incredulity if they try to join in. Some of my best "geeky" friends from my younger days were hesitant to trust me at first, simply because they knew I liked to work on cars and had wrestled in high school. I didn't fit the archetype, and it took a long time for them to come around to the idea that I actually shared their interests and priorities. I don't think the attitude is born so much out of hostility as incredulity, it's just harder to believe certain types of people would want to be part of the group/subculture.

In the case of the "girl geek" reaction, I think this natural tendency is augmented by a few factors. First, I think most members of traditional "geek" culture have, at some point in their past, been victims of bullying or harassment, and have likely been made to pay for being too open or trusting with others. Second, gender has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the fundamental ways that people are classified, and as a result a gender "gap" between members is much harder to bridge or ignore than other kinds of differences. Finally, the fact that "geek" culture exists mostly online means that people are much more openly hostile and insulting than they would ever be in person. OK, I've probably gone on way too long already. Hopefully that makes sense?

 

[DugMachine]

I have never come across a female "Posing" as a geek. I guess it is an American thing. Like liking Red Hair, it just doesn't happen in the "Real" world.

Wait what people don't like red hair in the 'real' world?

 

[Mr F.]

I have never come across a female "Posing" as a geek. I guess it is an American thing. Like liking Red Hair, it just doesn't happen in the "Real" world.

Wait what people don't like red hair in the 'real' world?

Over a decade of hair-related bullying would agree with me. To be fair I was in a country where gingers are historically witches (For a lot of Arabs, the first gingers they saw, historically, were crusaders. So they have some leftover hatred towards gingers) but still. Not much ginger love in the UK

The only female geeks I know could give me a run for my money with regards to geekdom. I was taught basic coding by a geek I wanted to sleep with, I dated a geek with a 65 minute playtime through portal 1 (I know that is not that impressive considering some speedruns, but still) you get the idea.

Not that impressive, I've played the game around 5 times total and I beat it in around 1 hr 15 without trying to speedrun (died a few times, found secrets, etc). It's a lot shorter than you think.

Perhaps I am miss-remembering.

She was still a hot as hell as an utter geek. Total trekkie. It was a pity about the whole her also being a closeted lesbian who was using me as her cover. But still. As geeky as the day is long.

*whistles*

My point that I do not know any poser geeks, have never met any posergeeks and I believe that they, as a whole, do not exist and are constructions of the lonely male psyche (She is hot! No way in hell she would be a geek ergo blah blah blah). But I guess that is just me.

Bacon.

 

[IndomitableSam]

Hey guys, guess what? I'm a nerd in all senses of the word: Been gaming, watching Star Trek, etc yada yada since the 80's (/end geek cred and will mention since before many of you were born since this thread is denegerating) AND I'm a Librarian. One of those people who made a career out of being a geek and a nerd.

I enjoy The Big Bang Theory.

It's funny. It doesn't matter if you hate it, just stop badmouthing people for watching it. Isn't that the exact same thing this whole article is about? Fake geekness/elitism?

Stuff it.

 

[DugMachine]

I have never come across a female "Posing" as a geek. I guess it is an American thing. Like liking Red Hair, it just doesn't happen in the "Real" world.

Wait what people don't like red hair in the 'real' world?

Over a decade of hair-related bullying would agree with me. To be fair I was in a country where gingers are historically witches (For a lot of Arabs, the first gingers they saw, historically, were crusaders. So they have some leftover hatred towards gingers) but still. Not much ginger love in the UK

Oh sorry to hear that. Was only wondering cause my girlfriend is ginger and I love her very much :3! Don't worry Mr F, not everyone is a jerk!

 

[-|-]

TBBT is utter utter shit. Everyone knows the only good geek comedy is the IT crowd.

 

[Overusedname]

I've seen it happen to the women in my circle several times. It's never been legit at all, they're all the geekiest geeks to ever geek. It's kinda sad.

Never once seen the 'fake geek' accusation happen to a guy. I've had some people doubt I was as nerdy as I am based off appearance, but I don't think that's the same thing.

 

[DocBalance]

This has been around for a long time. I think it's more prevalent among women because of the stereotype that women can't or shouldn't be geeks. All in all though it's a broader issue that goes back to the roots of attraction, that being that people will often attempt to adopt hobbies, interests, or views from people who they are physically attracted to. There have been men, as well as women, who have been doing this forever with sports, exercise, environmentalism, politics, even religion. As "nerdy" hobbies have become more mainstream, the chances of someone an otherwise "normal" person would be attracted to possessing a "nerdy" hobby have grown larger, as have the chances of said person being proud rather than ashamed of said hobby. This results in the "normal" person feigning(or in some cases developing a legitimate interest in) the "nerdy" hobby, a development that causes all "true nerds" in his or her vicinity to call bullshit. Because of the social stigma attached to "nerdy" women this situation occurs more often with women than it does with men, thus the "fake nerd girl" stereotype.

 

[Canadish]

It's just a done thing now it seems. It happens with both genders, but it's just way more common with the girls.

I'm pretty sure there aren't that many in the obnoxious category to be quite honest, but there are plenty who are just massive attention seekers and love to start drama over nothing.
There are alot of princesses with entitlement issues. And the few ruin the image of the many.

Much like how the entire gaming community is taking the blame for the actions of a few misogynists doing stupid shit.

People like this don't help the image.

Add on top of that the changes that are actually being made to geeky hobbies (or gaming in this case) to accommodate for this new influx of people (both genders) such as making games way too easy, the overuse of cutscenes to make things "cinematic", the shortening of games, the amount of forced romance subplots, the homogenization of industry in general...

It's all been done in the name of marketers chasing down the fabled "casual market" (Children, Women and Old people).


I feel bad for the girls that have been in it for the long haul, but I trust they're smart enough to understand when the rest of the oldguard are a little mistrustful and frustrated these days.

 

[A Satanic Panda]

snip

WAIT

How is she playing Zelda with an xbox controller....must be an emulator or something :|

I use my Xbox controller on Dolphin 3 all the time.

OOOR TEH AUROTR IZ A FAKE NYRD AND MUST BE PURIFYED!!!one1!eleven!

But at school there is this one poster the really irritates me. A picture of a computer lab with the title "You know you're a NYRD when..." and proceeds to list a bunch of bull "Nerdy" traits.

 

[Phasmal]

I love the `fake geek` thing, it's so funny.
It's like a nerd urban legend.
Once, right, not me but my friend's girlfriend's cousin was in this game, right. And then, out of no-where, there was this voice. And it's, like, a girl voice, and they're all like `Cool` and then it turned out she knew NOTHING ABOUT GAMES. Then their junk shrivelled up and they died because women. True story, bro.

I've never met a fake geek girl.
I've met plenty of geek guys pretending to be girls but that's different.
Oh and I still get the pop-quiz because we must keep the nerd-lines pure.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

Basically, there are people who find the Big Bang Theory funny.

Then there's the rest of us.

What if I like the Big Bang Theory but am an actual geek.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

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.

So I guess George Takei, Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronaut Mike Massimino, Nobel prize laureate George Smoot, Stan Lee, Steve Wozniak, LeVar Burton, Brett Spiner, and Stephen Hawking are all "morons" and "fake geeks." Either that, or they all went to Los Angeles to guest star on a sitcom they all hate for money and fame they don't need.

People like a thing you don't like, which I know is tough. I imagine it must be pretty hard to get by on a day-to-day basis, so I'll be nice.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

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.

That's probably why I can't figure out these vidja games.

What with being an idiot/fake geek and all...

 

[Stasisesque]

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.

So I guess George Takei, Neil deGrasse Tyson, astronaut Mike Massimino, Nobel prize laureate George Smoot, Stan Lee, Steve Wozniak, LeVar Burton, Brett Spiner, and Stephen Hawking are all "morons" and "fake geeks." Either that, or they all went to Los Angeles to guest star on a sitcom they all hate for money and fame they don't need.

People like a thing you don't like, which I know is tough. I imagine it must be pretty hard to get by on a day-to-day basis, so I'll be nice.

BURN! Someone get Daveman some ice!

You forgot Wil Wheaton.

 

[Abdullah Bo]

you can spot a poser very quickly usually.

Anytime someone brings up games and says "yeah i play games" i tend to ask "what do you play?". In a sense i'm looking to see how in depth your are into it. If it's just Fifa/Madden/Call of Duty or Angry Birds/Farmville/Sims - well yeah you do play games. and by definition you are a gamer. but in the geek lexicon you would not necessarily be a 'gamer' as is the term often understood.


Being a geek is knowing and loving the minutia of the medium/genre that they love.

whether male or female, i've personally encountered both who say they're nerdy, but neither exhibit nerdy behavior or show any strong interest and knowledge in something.

If a woman tells me that they read comics, and then tells me that she really liked "Y: The Last Man" or knows Hush from Batman, that you know Iron Man can't show in Gotham, or name drops Grant Morrison. Then regardless of the persons point of views and opinions, the fact that she/he read, enjoy, and actually know what they are talking about - in my book - makes you a geek.

and i don't think it's a bad thing, to be a geek.

but i do think in the mainstream that the word geek/nerd has become very fashionable and to the mainstream public it basically means your smart, and what you will get is people misappropriating the term. Then there are the attention seekers, these people will always exist no matter what.

people who are posing, usually know that they are doing that for attention. Acknowledge that and move on. You don't even need to rebuke them, if they insist on posing to be a geek, they'll make themselves look foolish around other people anyways.

Now if it's someone who's sincere and wants to just spend time with you and your hobby, and they know something because there was that joke in Big Bang Theory about whatever. Be patient Just ease them in let em' have some fun.

being a geek is being part of a club, and we all pay membership fee's, we pay it by spending the hours enjoying the things we love, whether it's games, comics, sci-fi etc.


As for myself, in terms of things that i am very geeky about would be video games, reading history/politics/religion/biography/contemporary issues, Godzilla, comics, animation (Western cartoons). I love Anime, but i know very little about anime apart from some popular anime like Miyazaki films, Paprika, Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell (and no.. i don't mean like Bleach and Naruto).

anyways those are my 2 cents.

 

[Blazing Steel]

Yes men do experience this on a lesser scale. At this point in time I'd say there's a hell of a lot more 'fake' female 'nerds' than males. To be honest anyone who goes around saying, 'I'm a such a nerd lolz,' isn't one despite which gender they are.

Reaction to gender threads:

[sub]Please stop it, please! No no no NOOOO[/sub]

 

[Madman123456]

Apparently, anyone who is a Fan of anything at all is now a "Nerd" for knowing so much about his/her Fandom.
So apparently you Guys are all Nerds now. Except for me, i was called a Nerd in the past because of my interest in Astronomy. I was never a religious Fan of anything really. I liked Star Trek but i eventually stopped caring about it after it became too bad for me to endure. Same goes for Star Wars.
I play around with the Lightsaber App on my Phone. I don't have a plastic lightsaber Prop.
I have a phaser app, but no collectors edition replica Phaser.
I don't have a single autographed item. At all.

When i was ten, i knew of several theories regarding the make up and properties of the big red spot on Jupiter. I read about those in a Book. You tell me if i'm a Nerd or a Geek or whatever.

Those terms where used as insults and the "insulted" "Nerd" might come to embrace this because it basically "fits", moreso nowadays.
Maybe a Nerd might eventually proclaim: "Yes, i'm a Nerd!"

Fairly new is this thing where People do things and act in certain ways to be seen as Nerds; they strife to be viewed as Nerds which is rather bewildering to me.

I don't care about being or not being a Nerd; the People who where being called "Nerds" where unusually tolerant about who they accepted in their social Group.
Which lead to me being accepted into certain social Groups of "Nerds".

I'm fairly large and strong. In the old Days (*shakes walking Stick*) the "Nerds" would accept me into their social Group without Question.

If People today know what i look like they will call me a "fake Nerd" if i contribute some science Facts about this or that.


So apparently i went from being a Nerd to being a fake Nerd and i couldn't even tell you where any Changes had occured.

Go figure how meaningful the Terms "Nerd" and "Geek" are now.