The Big Picture: Original Geek Girl

[m19]

Fake nerd girl "situation" doesn't exist outside of the figurative moviebob's head. Someone mocked a silly hipster, others laughed. And now we have "OMG misogyny".

 

[DugMachine]

"Nancy Drew but can benchpress a continent."

Haha that's awesome Bob. Can't wait to see the next one

 

[Rarhnor]

Alright, I'm going to do this and probably end up getting banned for it, but I'll run it anyway.

1) Bob, have you ever considered that maybe this whole "fake geek girl" thing isn't directed at the women but the concept of what they are doing? Consider the fact that you have an entire subculture of people who for decades have been the butt of jokes, torment, and ridicule so much that we they made revenge movies for us, and now that said subculture is in the mainstream, they are not allowed to have some resentment towards people who are only getting into the scene to be "mainstream" and "with the times". You have said in your videos that you would side with Magneto if given super human abilities because of how you have been treated through life, yet you're ok with people coming and and simply pretending to like things? What if it was guys? My issue with it is that you're essentially white-knighting because these are women who are being "attacked". If it was guys, no one would turn a damn head.

2) Maybe the writers had supergirl getting into a number of social issues because, ya know, she's 15? That's what fifteen year old teenagers do, they get into trouble, over their head, test the waters etc. Again, not sexist, this is simply what happens.

There said my piece. Ban me, report me, do what you want, I won't be responding to this.

Quoted for being right. Both times.

 

[Lissibith]

Actually! That's another great point I forgot to mention! Guys alienate girls too! Or at least that has happened to me a lot. Every time I'm talking to a customer about, let's say, Dragon Age (A game which I love), most GUY customers feel the need to play 20 questions with me. "What's the name of the ogre guy?" "How does it end?" "Who do you choose who's the new king of Ferelden?" "What are all the origin stories?". So I have to be reaaaaally careful about my words around guys. If I say "I like Halo", oh, boy, people start question me. Then I might reply with a "Well, I like playing with my friends. I don't care much about the story. FPS are not my specialty" and then I might get one of those "Shows how much YOU know!" looks.

What I'm saying is that guys are also pretty defensive about geek girls. They feel the need to approve or authenticate their status. Why can't they just say "Gamer girl? Alright, sounds believable". I mean, what's so weird about it? And this might go back to the original "Fake geek girls" problem. So I stand by what I said: the problem is that it's just annoying. So we should all just stop trying to annoy each other and let each other be. We're on the same side, aren't we?

Heh, this is actually the reason the whole fake gamer girl thing really bugs me. I've never worked at a game store, but I've attended a lot of comic book conventions and a few gaming ones, and my sister who works in a comic shop said its even worse there. This idea that if I'm in a nerd space some (not all, not even most, but enough that it happens on average at least once per con day) guys feel it is their right - nay, duty - to come over and demand answers of me to prove my geek cred. And the whole fake geek girl thing? It gives those people the feeling that not only is what they're doing when they come grill me and appoint themselves judge of my answers *right*, but actually encourages it as some sort of social gift to the rest of nerddom.

And the most interesting part of all? A girl doesn't even have to give a wrong answer, she just has to give a not-right one - case in point, a friend cosplayed as Stephanie Brown's Batgirl, and got told she wasn't a real fan because she didn't know much when asked about Barbara Gordon (a character she just didn't care to read about). I've had dudes argue with me about (usually Batman) facts when they were completely and utterly wrong (see for example: Batman never killed people?), only to suddenly be open to learning new things about Batman's early murderous activities when my male friend backed me up. I could go on, but you get the picture.

tl;dr, I agree with you, the problem is a variety of annoying people who lessen the fun for others and THAT is what people should be complaining about.

 

[magicringgirl]

I just have to add in here. I am a real geek girl, I have always been and will always be. I understand the whole boys in the sandbox thing when it comes to fake geek girls and yes that is a little ridiculous, but you're not considering the girls point of few. I hate fake geek girls! They undermine us real geek girls and take away the attention of the real geek boys, which sounds needy but let me finish. What fake geek girls have created is the assumption that a pretty girl dressed up as a super hero or other nerdy character can't possibly actually like that stuff. I'm proud to be a geek, although I was not always, and love to wear nerdy things and show off that side of me but to be snubbed immediately as fake is unfair. Today people still see geeks and nerds as primarily men but we women are out there too and would like some recognition, don't be like 50's Superman and presume that women could never really be interested in the same nerdy things you are because we are, you just have to find us!

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

So many comics...
Well, as long as you explain what the importance of Power Girl is, other than the obvious, that'd be cool or something.

 

[Newblisk]

I'm so tired of being told to shut up and eat it by people i respect. Yes the fake geek girl thing isn't that big a deal, but why are you telling me to shut up and be happy that the "cool people" have decided to grace us with their presence? why should they have a safe and comfortable ride into the world we had given up so much for? I don't have a problem with anyone being a part of anything they enjoy, i do however have a problem being told "it's a win" for me too because it isn't.

First jim, now bob. both intelligent, entertaining men and completely unable to take a step back from the "girl in trouble" window to get a better view of the big picture.

 

[shadow1423]

The reason their is this outrage out of "fake geek girls" is that it has less to do with misogyny and more to do with the double standard of geek girls being found attractive while male geeks are still stereotyped as socially retarded neckbeards not to say that the reaction to "fake geek girls" is okay but it is still far from unfounded.

 

[Johkmil]

I'm so tired of being told to shut up and eat it by people i respect. Yes the fake geek girl thing isn't that big a deal, but why are you telling me to shut up and be happy that the "cool people" have decided to grace us with their presence? why should they have a safe and comfortable ride into the world we had given up so much for? I don't have a problem with anyone being a part of anything they enjoy, i do however have a problem being told "it's a win" for me too because it isn't.

First jim, now bob. both intelligent, entertaining men and completely unable to take a step back from the "girl in trouble" window to get a better view of the big picture.

Because the days of geekdom being a place only reachable through suffering is now long gone, as simple as that. It is now acceptable to be a nerd, so anyone can try it without repercussions, anyone can try it out for a while without becoming a social outcast. This opens up our world for dilettantes or amateurs, some might even stay, or reach more complex levels of nerd. This includes "cool people."
All of this is a good thing. Period. Nerds are now being somewhat less bullied, ostracized and outcast. Are those things something to be nostalgic for? I understand that it might feel unfair that one is of the last generation (if we are lucky) of those who had to give anything up for becoming a part of geek culture, but still everything must be seen in perspective; reading up on the Battle of the Somme usually works for me, no matter how bad things might feel at the moment, that was worse.

 

[Jegsimmons]

Original Geek Girl

In this installment MovieBob shows us the creation of Supergirl.

Watch Video

ok, hold up bob....hold the fuck up.....


dont be bashing on power girl....power girl is awesome. she's like if bruce waynes money, went to rule 63 superman with the sense of humor (until the second half of her series) of spiderman.

power girl rocks. she's a satire of the over sexualization of comic book female characters and its hilarious. you can actually read her stories because of her personality as opposed to her boobs....her boobs are nice though.



Also, where did this 'fake geek girl' controversy come up? i never heard people whine about it unless it was a shallow marketing scheme. im starting to think this is another artificial controversy spun out of the 'war on women' bullshit.

 

[Jegsimmons]

Wait does anyone really give a crap about the fake geek girl thing? I assumed it was all just a media construct.

because it is, it came from the war on women thing (that i remind everyone was started because some horny ***** didnt want to shell out 10 bucks for condoms and wanted taxpayers to pay for birth control...so much for wanting the fed out of their vagina) that the media has been using as political ammo to antagonize (mostly) the right. And then somehow some one brought it up and thought it related to nerd culture....when in actuality the only reason this is seen as a problem is when its a marketing gimmick.

It not geek girls (because fake or not they all join us by the end....always)it when people PANDER to geek culture by useing sexy women for marketing (though i personally dont mind, just keep them out of the VGAs...especially when we KNOW they arent geek, give me Jen Taylor, not that whore tilla tequila).


i knew right when Jim made his vid we were gonna have one massive shit storm that wasnt needed.

 

[90sgamer]

Damn Bob, you sure are going on a moral crusade about sexism lately and no straw is out of your reach. It's entirely possible that a 15 year old girl is expected to lack wisdom, maturity and self discipline because... that's what most or all 15 year old people tend to lack. But no, no, no, it's because the writers are SEXIST.

Last I checked, 1950s America is pretty different, culturally, than 21st century America.

Last I checked the maturity, wisdom and self discipline of teenage children, and adult's observations of those things, has always been the same in America. BOOM, non-answer to a non-answer.

 

[90sgamer]

Damn Bob, you sure are going on a moral crusade about sexism lately and no straw is out of your reach. It's entirely possible that a 15 year old girl is expected to lack wisdom, maturity and self discipline because... that's what most or all 15 year old people tend to lack. But no, no, no, it's because the writers are SEXIST.

Then why aren't 15-year-old boys attacked with equal vehemency?

I do not know whether 15 year old boys were attacked with the same "vehemency" as 15 year old girls in comics during that time frame; and if they were not, as you claim, then I do not know why that would be. Either way, it's not relevant to the question of why writers wrote an accurate portrayal of the behavior expected of a 15 year old of any gender, but who happened to be a girl.

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

Damn Bob, you sure are going on a moral crusade about sexism lately and no straw is out of your reach. It's entirely possible that a 15 year old girl is expected to lack wisdom, maturity and self discipline because... that's what most or all 15 year old people tend to lack. But no, no, no, it's because the writers are SEXIST.

Last I checked, 1950s America is pretty different, culturally, than 21st century America.

Last I checked the maturity, wisdom and self discipline of teenage children, and adult's observations of those things, has always been the same in America. BOOM, non-answer to a non-answer.

Ah, deterrence. Well played, Reagan.

 

[inquisiti0n]

But they're just actors. Instead of going after the girls, you need to go after the men who put her there. Those marketing execs (who are largely male) are the ones who are hijacking the culture to turn a profit, not the girls themselves.

Even assuming you're gonna blame anyone, not that I would, how is it that "actors" get to dodge responsibility and have marketing execs take the blame? No one forced them to do it, stop trying to find the nearest guy to blame.

 

[Strazdas]

When you suffer 14 years of torture for being a "nerd" and then suddenly people start going "i turned on a computer today im such a nerd" and that becomes the norm and suddenly they are "As good as you" i think i have a pretty damn big right to rage at those fake nerds.