Jezebel 
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New York, 3:29 AM
Thu Nov 26
64 posts in the last 24 hours
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08/08/09
Wow that was a tangent. But yeah, I found the "how to woo a nerdy girl" thing a little odd when I read it. (Girl) geeks are people just like everyone else!
08/08/09
My current/longstanding obsessions are Robin Hobb (it's like brain candy), Garth Nix, DM Cornish (just started, really love him), and MT Anderson. Oh! And John Green, beloved of all geeks everwhere. NERD FIGHTERS!
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08/08/09
But painting yourself the colors of your favorite sports team and participating in fantasy sports leagues isn't obsessive at all? I do think there is an extent where certain "obsessions" are simply more socially acceptable than others. And in some cases, there's even a gendered component to it: World of Warcraft is becoming more mainstream, but "geeky" pursuits like fanfiction, which tend to have more women involved, are less accepted. And it is really not a matter of intelligence - looking at baseball statistics makes me cross-eyed, but I can follow and easily recall complex plots and large sets of characters. And yeah, sure, there's the point where you've written that fifth twelve-page essay about why Kirk is better than Picard when, yeah, its' about being obsessive, but I don't buy that it's only about geeks having a greater tendency to be obsessive in their hobbies than others.
08/07/09
Re #2, remember the girl geek in Real Genius? She was a compulsive knitter.
08/07/09
1515-1916 A "fool, dupe, or simpleton"
1916-1970s A circus sideshow performer who bites the heads off chickens.
1970s-1980s Derogatory term for a socially awkward or unattractive person. Usually male.
1990s A computer genius with stock options. Possibly worth billions. (In the 1980s, these were called "nerds".)
2000s and beyond Actors, models, talk show hosts, iPhone owners, fans of the top grossing movies of all time, anyone whose job description is more complicated than "shopping".
08/07/09
I'm a story nerd, basically. But I'm definitely, for instance, an LOTR nerd/geek because I can discuss it academically AND from an obsessive detail, fan place.
But I'm not, so far as I'm aware, overly socially awkward. Although I can be, for instance, dorky.
I think the overall point is that geek culture has a lot of different subset, or things about which people are geeky, and no one is "better". And geek girls need to be less invisible because frankly, I'm tired of people acting like it's an alien concept that I like comics AND books AND movies AND anime AND Sci-fi AND lotr...etc.
08/07/09
I've had a hard time with the "geek" label. Yeah, I'm a geek if a geek is an intelligent woman who loves a variety of things including art, literature, movies, television, computer games, and has a deep appreciation for science fiction and fantasy. But why do we have to label that as "geeky" or "nerdy" or any label at all? Why can't I just be who I am and have the interests I do without a label?
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08/07/09
This is a pretty perfect explanation of me now. I am a teenager, though, so I'm still firmly mired in the awkward (and seemingly eternal) adolescent struggle between wanting people to like you but only wanting the RIGHT people to like you, which, when filtered through the brain of a largely misanthropic aspiring hermit bookworm leads to snobbery, pretentiousness, and looking a fool more often than not. Unless, of course, this is just the basic human experience, in which case this paragraph has just been set as gas mark egg on my face*.
*Those references do creep up everywhere. It is a terribly difficult habit to break - but I don't think it's necessarily about exclusivity. Oftentimes people make these references as a way of searching for people - just casually dropping in quotes or trivia serves as a flag to others who like those things that you share an interest, and it helps to know other people know about the things you like when you're surrounded by people who have read five books in the past year, all of them by either Stephenie Meyer or Jodi Picoult.
08/07/09
But, really, some geeks of both sexes do have a definite sense of superiority because of how esoteric alot of their pastimes are. I remember I asked one of my geeky co-workers some of his favorite movies and he said, "Oh, you won't know any of them." I was like, "Try me." He says, "Rashomon." I say,"Oh, I love Akira Kurosawa! Have you seen Ran? That's my favorite of his." He replies, "I don't like it because of some actor." Akira Kurosawa is the highly acclaimed director. I also read alot of classic sci fi short stories like Lovecraft, Asimov, and Clarke and some people have tried to quiz me on the spot about some of their more famous stories if I claim to be a fan. I answer all their questions and follow them up with questions about stories that haven't even heard of. So I completely agree with the last point. This might have more to do with my being a black girl that doesn't act traditionally geeky so maybe my experiences may differ from most.
08/07/09
08/07/09
I know I'm coming across as overly defensive when they're just trying to find an ice breaker. But a lot of them seem to have a set answer they're expecting me to give. Maybe I should start answering "why did you join this site?" with "well, I saw Chuck..."
08/07/09
And she don't wear no miniskirt, either. They dropped that pretty damn fast in TNG and never went back.
08/07/09
@nourbatta: And men wore miniskirts too in the first season of TNG!