Here are two articles from one Alyssa Rosenberg in Slate. The first is about how there is no such thing as “fake geek girls”. The second advocates feminists in science fiction push their ideology on the SFWA and push out and censoring established male SF writers.
Of course, Alyssa sees no contradiction between these two asserations; in fact, linking to the former article in the latter.
As someone who enjoys SF, among a variety of other nerdy hobbies, I would like to comment on this.
I have no problem with women writing SF, reading SF, or participating in any other nerdy activities. I also have no problem with women who participate in some nerdy activities and not others, for whatever reasons. There’s nothing wrong with a girl (or a guy) who likes Dr. Who, but doesn’t like D&D.
My problem is not women who engage in whatever nerdy activities they enjoy to whatever extent they like and avoid what they don’t. My problem, is that some women, turn what should be some enjoyable hobby into a crusade to destroy what others enjoy.
That is where the ‘fake geek girl’ meme comes from. It has little to do with women who enjoy or not enjoy certain nerdy activities and everything to do with women acting like they enjoy geeky activities while actively try to destroy those same geeky activities.
The ‘fake geek girl’ is not the girl who likes Dr. Who but doesn’t care for BSG; it’s the girl who watches Dr. Who then demands the next Dr. Who should be a woman. (Dr. Who was just an example I saw recently, I don’t watch the show and don’t really care). It’s the girl who actively tries to destroy a nerdy activity so whatever BS political crusade they happen to be on at the time who is the ‘fake geek girl’.
Why do some women, who claim to love whatever nerdy activity they are talking about, insist on changing the very nature of what they profess to love? If the geeky activity a women claims to love is only acceptable to her if it is entirely changed, then she is definitionally a ‘fake geek girl’.
Why can’t you just enjoy something for what it is? If you don’t enjoy it, then simply avoid it rather than trying to change it.
The question is not, “whose participation in genre fiction is more valid?”
The true question is, “why the hell won’t you leave us alone?”
If ‘women like SF’, but are put off by cheesecake in SF or other sf tropes, then why don’t women write their own SF without cheesecake, then leave those who enjoy cheesecake SF alone?
If ‘women like comics’, but don’t like heroines with skintight costumes, then why don’t they write their own comics with heroines portrayed however they want, and leave Powergirl alone?
If ‘women like video games’, but don’t like damsels in distress, then why don’t they create and sell their own video games with ‘strong, independent women’ and leave Princess Peach alone?
But the feminists, in their usual entitled, narcissistic uselessness can not leave alone. Instead of creating their own characters, their own games, their own stories, they have to attack everyone elses’. They demand the entire industry of nerdy entertainment cater to them and their preferences because in their narcissism, only the feminists’ desires matter; fuck those loser male nerds who built the entire industry.
Goddess forbid that males should be allowed to enjoy what they enjoy without some hateful harpy hectoring them for it.
Are they so thoroughly incompetent they can not make nerdy entertainment that fits their preferences and others would enjoy, but must rather content themselves with destroying what everyone else enjoys?
Are they such emotionally fragile and pathetic people, that they can not live and let live, but must muster up umbrage every time someone enjoys something they don’t like?
Mario would not be Mario if he wasn’t rescuing Princess Peach. If you don’t like it, don’t try to change Mario to ruin him for everyone else, go make your own game where Maria rescues Prince Apple. If the idea is good, people will buy it, if not, they won’t.
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Sidenote: Vox has had some fun with the SFWA on this issue. I’ll link the series here, as it is an enjoyable read, as most of Vox’ rabbit-poking is.
http://voxday.blogspot.ca/2013/06/women-ruin-everything-sfwa-edition.html
http://voxday.blogspot.ca/2013/06/the-dangerous-vision-of-sfwa.html
http://voxday.blogspot.ca/2013/06/sfwa-burns-witch.html
http://voxday.blogspot.ca/2013/06/seriously-fascist-womens-association.html
http://voxday.blogspot.ca/2013/06/stampeding-herd.html
http://voxday.blogspot.ca/2013/06/a-black-female-fantasist.html
http://voxday.blogspot.ca/2013/06/sfwa-forum-moderated-posts.html
http://voxday.blogspot.ca/2013/06/sf-vs-science.html
http://voxday.blogspot.ca/2013/06/rejecting-lie.html
Tangentally related:
If we could assume the best about the girls in question, then your line: “Why do some women, who claim to love whatever nerdy activity they are talking about, insist on changing the very nature of what they profess to love?” could be similar to those who move to a place they like better, but then insist on changing their new place to more like their old place.
It might not be nefariously motivated. Although, I wouldn’t rule that out either.
It is about Power, naturally. Women try to exercise control and re-engineer systems to their liking as part of their fitness test protocol. They actively try to push, in order to see which men push back. Because those men who push back will the be confident and assertive, and quite possibly leaders, and thus the dominant males which they, women, are constantly in search of. In other words, it is all about sex.
It’s mostly a matter of the men’s geek hobbies already having an infrastructure and funding in place. Women, instead of securing their own funding or building their own infrastructure from the ground up try to appropriate that which belongs to the men (after all, aren’t women naturally morally superior than men? Wouldn’t a woman know how to manage those resources better and to greater purpose than those small minded, misogynistic men?)
It’s a fact that women’s media tends to appeal mainly to women, while men’s media appeals to both sexes. Men fear that if women muscle in on their hobbies and acquire their resources, they’ll shut down the production of media that appeals to men, in favor of media that appeals to women. (This is changing as more women have learned how to make media which appeals to both sexes, but there are still many women who want to shut down production of any media they find “offensive” (ie: that which appeals to male sexual sensibilities.)
Kind of related are any number of female “tech evangalists” who try to impose themselves in offices and at conferences. They make tons of demands and think they should run everything in spite of the fact that none of them have written a single line of code in their lives and they cause trouble when they don’t get what they want (or sometimes when they do).
Just a few months ago, a self-righteous bitch by the name of Adria Richards eavesdropped on a conversation between two men that included an off-color joke. She then snapped a photo of them, uploaded it to Twitter causing one of them to lose their job and had the audacity to compare herself to Joan of Arc.
Now, I would be perfectly happy to see more women in my profession, but it seems like when you add a single woman, the whole culture of a department changes because you have to walk on eggshells around them.
You don’t understand activists of the Left. You do not have the right to be “racist”, “sexist” or whatever ANYWHERE…
It’s funny you mention Dr. Who. In the early 80’s, their writers went liberal and lost viewers. It ended as a series for 15 years. Now, the writers have been quite apprehensive to do the same thing. They brush it now and then, however they keep the men in charge. Even the weak men of the last few seasons have become more masculine as the series went on.
The diversity of TV options will lead to the market being determined by demand fortunately. They care about money still over ideology.
Women want the change…but they don’t want to do the work it takes to change it. So they complain until the men are forced to change it. All power, no responsibility.
Ladies if you want change the world…come up with an idea organically and put some effort into it. Or get pregnant…that’s basically the same thing.
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2. Mark Flowers is a fighter, a man that will never bow to any evil corruption, to DEATH.
3. Mark Flowers has had the fatherhood of his children stolen by the masons / system / The Australian Government.
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If I fall in this good fight it will be into the arms of my saviour Jesus Christ.
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http://www.markflowers.org/
You don’t understand activists of the Left. You do not have the right to be “racist”, “sexist” or whatever ANYWHERE…
…but THEY do. It’s somehow magically okay for them to hate white men.
I was a huge fan of SF between 12 and 14, then mostly wandered away. I still read a little bit, say Neal Stephenson and Richard Morgan, These women complaining? I’ve never heard of any of them. That means they must be pretty damned bad writers.
Let them take over SFWA. The men can leave, then watch the whole place collapse.
Great post.
Now that Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who, the PC brigade is pushing hard for a black or female doctor. The girl geeks seem to be pushing for the former, particularly Irdis Elba. Their screaming quest for this seems entirely based upon the fact that he’s the only black english actor they know and that he’s ‘sexy’, (adding the potential for more relationship *yawn* drama).
If it happens, it’s the end of the show for me. I’ve already sat through enough strong, courageous, independent women companions, to the point where they seem more alien than the Doctor in their unrealistic depiction of your average English female.
The writers will destroy Doctor Who again. They probably will go for a black woman lesbian. That will destroy the show forever.
There are literally NO BARRIERS LEFT for creating comics or video games. You can be an individual, make your own comic and self-publish it on Amazon or any of a dozen other ebook or print-on-demand sites. You can be a sole person in their kitchen and make a game and publish it on any of the appstores, or get it on Kickstarter, or just self-publish it and take funds via Paypal. They could be doing it today, but the assault on existing institutions is more important than what they claim they actually want. That they could depower these institutions by establishing their own is never even conceived. They are not creators, they are destroyers.
Reblogged this on Errant Buckeye and commented:
I shared this article with a few friends and asked them for their thoughts. A female pen pal named Adonia in the USA had this to say. She mentions how she enjoys how female characters like Catwoman show their power by being sexy. It’s a point that’s lost amid the debate over how women are portrayed in this genre. She goes on to note how “Fake Geek Girls” and how they know next to nothing about the characters they like or the genre they enjoy playing. She is, in essence, talking about posers. Posers are the problem here: Those who show up thinking they know it all, but really don’t. The ones who are doing it for the attention. Nowadays it’s the popular thing for a woman to call herself a “Girl gamer” and barge in demanding extra special care about her opinions on games and gaming. Read and enjoy…
Thank you for sharing this.
Everyone (some) who goes to look into my profile would know of my hobbies that I enjoy very much.
In all honesty, I don’t want feminists to change any images to something that I enjoy and many others who enjoy.
The sexualized of many female characters shows their power by being very sexy besides being superhuman. I love Catwoman. I love how Batman gets weak in the knees with her skin tight cat suit and whip. To change that, would lose all meaning.
As for video games, the Legend of Zelda comes to mind. Link always has always had to rescue Princess Zelda (except for a couple games he didn’t had have to such as Majora’s Mask). The whole point of the game is to go through many trials to save the Princess and I enjoy it very much.
If these so-called geek girls should know that Samus (Metroid Prime) Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), Faith ( Mirror’s Age) Princess Kitana, Milenna, Jade, Sonya Blade, Sindel, Sheeva, (Mortal Kombat), Chun Li, Cammy (Street Fighter) and the list goes on are women who kick major asses.
I had to face everyday, fake geek girls. I have to see all these girls bragging about dressing in Cosplay but don’t know the life story of their character they’re portraying. I have to deal with girls who said they play Battle Field or Call of Duty considered themselves ‘Gamer Girls’ but never heard of Shinobi or Onimusha nor heard of any Classic Video Games. I have to deal with girls wearing these stupid ‘nerd’ glasses and call themselves Nerds. I have to deal with girls wearing superhero shirts but do not know the differences or which Superhero belongs either Marvel or DC. To me, these girls are fake just for guys to like them.
I do not want to see any changes nor do I care what if they feel offended because these characters (purely fictional characters) are too sexy. If they do not like it, they can stop reading, playing video games or anything the deals with the Geek/Nerd culture. Leave my shit alone!