Why The "Fake Geek Girl" Meme Needs To Die
The world of comics, gaming, sci-fi, and geekdom in general is under attack! Oh my god how dare you be a woman and enjoy geek stuff?!
What is the “Fake Geek Girl”? It is the accusation that women are pretending to be nerdy for male attention.
1. You know, because EVERYTHING women do is totes for the menz.
The ‘fake geek girl’ meme is basically this interaction.
It’d be nice to have a Fairy Gamer Momma in times like this.
Comic by Sailorswayze
In reality, there is no such thing as the fake geek girl.
“There is no such thing as a fake geek girl. There are only girls who are at different, varying levels of falling in love with something the society generically considers to fall under the nerd culture category.” - Youtube personality albinwonderland in her video “Fake Geek Girl”
But you can find it all over the place.
This ad was placed on the back of Scott Snyder’s Batman #13. Alienating women in a single bound!
It even comes from professionals in the industry.
Comics writer Dirk Manning posted this image on his Facebok page.
Tony Harris, a comic book writer who worked on Iron Man, Starman, and Ex Machina, posted this rant on his facebook.
tl;dr Women at conventions are imposters! And whores! I don’t respect any women and assume their entire existence is for the pleasure of men! Boobies!
…and it’s not like geekdom isn’t mired in enough sexism as it is.
The Hawkeye Initiative is a project fans started to “draw attention to how deformed, hyper-sexualized, and unrealistically posed/dressed women are drawn in comics.”
Comic by Litebox
People are allowed to like *some* elements of a culture. In fact, this happens all the time!
Getting mad at women for liking what is considered a ‘superficial’ part of nerd culture but ignoring the fact that men also enjoy ‘superficial’ parts of other cultures as well? Oops! Your sexism is showing, again.
Comic by Radrangy
Not everyone has to like what you like in exactly the same way that you like it.
Kindly step off your ‘geekier than thou’ high horse.
And to all those out there who have been accused of being the ‘fake geek girl’…
HOT ON
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122 Responses So Far
- Contributions
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AmandaMacabre a month agoHmm, I wonder what inspired such a passionate article..
Surely not conviction, right? Strange;
I associate with plenty of “haters”,
and have yet
to ever be called
“fake geek”
ever. Just go rant at your Malibu barbies. The realm of the (formerly) intelligent, yet socially awkward crowd clearly isn’t for you. It’s not that great anyway - let alone a fucking fashion statement. -
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Sarah Mandeville a month agoThis entire article is super butt hurt. First of all the reason why geek things are geared towards boys is because for the longest time boys where the only ones interested in these things. They were labeled, disenfranchised by the main stream and chastised constantly for their interests. This article insist there is no suck thing as a fake geek girl. I have about 4 female friends who dress in whatever cosplay they can for attention and attention only. They have no knowledge to speak off and engaging them in a conversation is an exorcize in futility. I’m sorry but what you’re insisting isn’t happening does actually happen. I can name famous fake nerd girls too if you like. I have a ton of examples of that. The problem is acceptance for those girls who have their noses in a manual of some sort or a book that wasn’t made into a movie. The girls who learned Japanese to watch anime better. I’m sorry but there are nerd things that have nothing to do with how well you can do hair and makeup. Kudos to those girls who are great at looking like these nerd things but until you can sit down roll some dice with me, hold your own without playing the girl card in mmo’s, play some mtg with me or do something that actually takes your brain… just don’t attach nerd to your description you’re simply a model, an empty shell. The thing is smart people can tell the difference on site. Also if you didn’t do nerd things when you where little because someone told you it was for boys that’s on you. I was told the same thing, then sat there all night in front of my t.v. and mastered every video game i could, then beat every boy who said that. If you’re not tough enough to stand up for yourself then that again is your problem. Boys during that time that they were fags and losers, they kept doing it because they didn’t take that from anyone. If you’re a girl and your excuse for not gaming at a young age was social stigma you have no idea what being a nerd is.
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terrana a month ago
Hate to say it, but you sound pretty butt hurt yourself lol. I agree that there certainly are girls out there who just do it for the looks and don’t give a crap about the game/anime/manga/comic/on and on the list goes.
However, I do have a problem with a lot of your other arguments. Like that girls didn’t used to be interested in them and that’s why they were labeled as guy things. Um, for a long time girls weren’t really allowed to be into those kinds of things. And when they were, it was frowned upon. You want to talk about boys being chastised for liking such things? It was worse for the girls. It’s like sports. Girls weren’t *supposed* to play sports, so mostly, they didn’t.
And the not doing it when you were little thing mentioned in the article, I think maybe it was more about NOT HAVING THE MONEY FOR IT. Not all of us had cash as an 8-year-old.
Finally, you’ve got some very interesting spelling moments in here… Just saying.
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- Darling Stewie Why The "Fake Geek Girl" Me...
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Psychethos 2 months agoAaaaaargh I can’t deal with this sexist bullshit. You want to know why I didn’t play videogames when I was younger? Because I’d been told my whole life that it was something guys did. When I met my husband, who was very much into videogames, I watched him play a lot, and saw for the first time how much fun they are. Still at that point I actually thought that I might not be any good at videogames, because I’m a woman. Because that’s what I’d been told my whole god damn life. Now, I play more than my husband does (At the moment: Borderlands 2, Assassin’s Creed 3, Skyrim & Dishonored), and I STILL get the whole “Oh, buying a game for your boyfriend? No? So you’re just playing this to make your boyfriend happy?” bullshit speech every time I buy a game. A lot of women are into “nerdy” things now because they are in the mainstream for the first time, and a lot of us didn’t pursue them as interests before because they weren’t “for us”. LET PEOPLE LIKE WHAT THEY WANT TO LIKE, TO WHATEVER EXTENT AND DEPTH THEY WANT TO LIKE IT.
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- nothingxbutxpoison thinks Why The "Fake Geek Girl" Me... is Fail
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Jack Package 2 months ago
I love the tactic of so many morons these days of saying something doesn’t exist in hopes that your mere words can alter reality. There are PLENTY of fake geek girls, just like there are fat girls who hang around gay guys and straight guys who talk about “The Notebook”. If you’re authentic and not pathetically insecure, you know there are fakes as well. I guess you don’t meet the criteria.
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Livid Imp 3 months ago
Fuck you all under 30 (or so). None of you (guys or girls) get to bask in words like “geek” or “nerd”. By the time you were old enough for it to matter, being a geek was no longer socially stigmatizing, and these terms really have little meaning anymore. By the early to mid 90s being an outcast was cool. Previous to that time, you could have the crap kicked out of you just for possessing a D&D book, punk rock music, or a breadboard (just go look it up). Now don’t get me wrong, I am happy that you can enjoy a comic book without being assaulted now. But at the same time, it is grating to listen to the current generation talk about it like it is some kind of a burden.
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CaptainNutSack 2 months ago
It’s not so much physical violence in schools anymore its more being a complete dick to people who play more video games than socializing sure almost every teenager and their dog has played one these so called vidya games doesnt mean the term is irelavent i would just never use it since its such a overused label now a days with people labeling themselves on it that have no actual interest in comics video games other than mainstream crap that was good until it started making big money but saying the term couldnt be applied to current teenagers is not true on any lines just girls trying to fit in thats all it just pissing me off how annoying they are if your in a game lobby with one girl she will try and get the whole fucking internet to notice its really fucking obnoxious
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Chris Slater 3 months ago
OK Girls. Do you have any idea how much we old nerds have had to suffer for our interests? constant bullying over a period of decades. Beaten up, laughed at and rejected by girls, constant ridicule by pretty much everyone in authority.
So you will have to forgive me when I say: Suck it up! So some nerdy guy doesn’t take you at your word when you say you love comics…so fucking what! Would you rather be punched in the face for liking comics? Or have your head shoved down a toilet? Maybe you would like to have your underpants pulled over your head, for the true geek experience?
Be thankful that you no longer have to suffer the trials and tribulations that we did.
It was girls who were the worst at bullying. The only time I was ever close to tears because of it, was from being made to feel worthless through their verbal abuse.
So you will have to forgive us for not immediately trusting you when you claim to be one of us.
It will change over time, but for now, deal with it. -
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lisam52 3 months agoNot all girls but SOME girls who call themselves nerdy, taking pictures of what is probably their brothers xbox or ps3 saying it’s theirs. The one thing that pisses me off is when people, not just girls post pictures of say, a nintendo 64 and say ‘i’m playing mario on my sega, lawl i’m such a geek’ the mind fucks of the ‘gamer gurls/boys’ etc. I wouldn’t consider myself a full blown nerd, i’ve just watched a few films marvel/DC and play pokemon and halo (and whatever xbox/nintendo game takes my fancy) but i can relate to getting pissed off at the girls who write nerd on their body and do fucking duck lips, you can tell they’re fakin it if they go duck lips and popped the lenses out of 3D glasses
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jennifers81 3 months agoI’m a bit of a closet nerd. Not because I’m afraid of the social repercussions, because let’s be honest, non-nerds can pick up that scent from a mile away. Rather, I don’t like to identify as a nerd because my experience with nerd culture has been that it is very judgmental and rigid. Much of this impression comes from the fact that my nerdy interests are not ones that actually give me common grounds with almost any nerds. As a concrete example, my most intense areas of nerdiness are: I adore dating sims and really most widgety video games that emphasize quirkiness, uniqueness, or visual flair over gameplay; I’m deeply interested in the history of video games’ development as a medium; I enjoy many cult tv shows, movies, and some anime. Even though my interests are nerdy (what can you call someone who’s played through almost every 16-bit JRPG if not a nerd?) and I understand the reference pool, I really have as little in common with most nerds as I do most regular people. And nerds are waaaay meaner about it. Non-nerds shrug, and find something else to talk about. Nerds, on the other hand, get mad when I identify as a nerd but don’t like the same TV shows or video games as them… even though my preferences are equally removed from the mainstream. I’ve had people write me off because I didn’t pick up on quotes/in-jokes from shows or movies I had in fact seen! When I hang out with people who identify with nerd culture I find myself feeling pressured to fill in the “blanks” in my nerdy knowledge, even though the blanks are there in the first place because I am totally not interested in that show/book/game. I’ve wasted more time than I care to admit “educating” myself this way. Eventually I realized it was easier and healthier to pursue my nerdy ways in solitude. This was a VERY ROUNDABOUT way of saying that I haven’t encountered the Fake Geek Girl meme, or been subjected to the “are you a geek girl” interrogation, but that’s mostly because I consciously avoid the whole culture. Due to finding it to be too often judgmental, reactionary, and with a whiff of sexism hovering about it. So I totally buy the original article’s premise and argument. There are probably some fakers out there, I guess? But this hostility seems drummed up and part of an overall vibe towards women that does not surprise me given what I’ve seen of the culture.
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craigt13 3 months agoDisagree massively with this. Its all too kneejerky.
There ARE fake geek girls out there. Thats not to say all or even a majority of geeky girls fall into that category but there certainly are some who for one reason or another fake an interest in geeky stuff. For some of them its innocent enough, they pretend to have a clue to keep their geeky boyfriend happy. But again there are a small minority who do it for less nice reasons of wanting attention et al. -
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girlwithbowler 3 months agoI do get what the article is trying to get across. However, there is such thing as a fake, in all sexes. The “fake geek girl” meme started out as a way to poke fun at the “special snowflake” dichotomy. These were people who believed they were superior to others because they like something the other person does not (“She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts”). This type of behavior is incredibly snobby and childish. It does nothing but isolate oneself, and that goes for men and women. However
The meme became mean-spirited very quickly. In so many branches of culture-politics, music, art, writing, or business- women have had to constantly prove themselves a worthy opponent to men. Now, in a subculture that has been defined as one of acceptance, one that will embrace the underdog when they have no where to go, I am shunned and berated. I am constantly quizzed on obscure questions about my favorite characters, told that my costume makes me look like a whore (then why the fuck did you draw it that way?) and humiliated for loving something passionately. I don’t agree with everything the author has to say and I do believe she hasn’t done proper research. That being said, in some of these little comics I can see a lot of the pain I’ve gone through. -
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xohillaryxo 3 months ago
I know the girl with “nerd” on her hand & trust me, she’s one of the stupidest people I know.
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vickyv3 3 months agoThis is a good article, though I only started to like it half way through. To be honest I’m still not fully convinced this meme “needs to die” there are considering my age range and gender, I am POSITIVE there is still quite is disturbing ratio between genuine fans and “fake nerd girls”
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jeremiahs2 3 months agoIf a girl shows even a remote interest in me and my interests whether feigned or not…I can dig it :D I always found ‘Geek girls’ to be cute. Also didn’t use to be if you were a geek or nerd you would never even catch the eye of a girl? Seriously which Transgender queer decided to drive away females and make fandom only a girl thing? Sexy cat woman cosplays on cute girls!! Thats what i stand for here!
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Nick A. 3 months agoI remember when you didn’t want to be called a nerd or geek. I spent all my childhood playing video games and now since its “Cool” of course people of both genders are gonna jump on the bandwagon. In a male dominated subculture of course any attractive female will be questioned. I do think there are a lot of fakes, especially the “cosplayers” who sell images of themselves and calendars and what not. I mean do what you love but if your doing it for profit or attention that’s just sad. I know plenty of attractive girls who game or read comics or like “nerdy” things, and none of them get pissed or have to prove if they’re real nerds or not.
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clovertail13 3 months ago
If you are a nerd, you shouldn’t have to prove it to other people. They’re just hobbies like anything else. I’m not saying you can’t have pride in it but it just feels like some people try too hard to convince other people…
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