Jimquisition: Fake Nerd Girls

[garjian]

I disagree.
It annoys me because these people are hired to appeal to what I believe is the largest demographic of gamers, young males, and it makes me feel that whichever publisher or producer hired them thinks that i will buy their product or watch their show because my penis told me to.
It makes me feel like by supporting that product, by watching that show, I am also supporting this mentality that anything can and/or will only sell as long as you put breasts on it.

Why should people who know nothing of what they're talking about be made presenters of that subject when there are thousands of people more equipped to do that job?
Answer: Boobs, and that stupid long, wavy hair they all have.

Its not they themselves that annoy me, its that that's what whoever hired them thinks i ultimately want. They don't think i would be interested in actual news or passion for the subject... no, they think the only thing i'm interested in is boobs.

I don't think its any real threat to the industry, other than making it seem more immature, but i don't like it, and it certainly lowers my disposition towards certain companies... and i can never watch those shows. I cannot provide the views that attract the advertisers that fund the show that pays the wages of somebody who doesn't give a flying fuck about what they're talking about, while at the same time insulting me, saying that i'm some braindead idiot who only buys things because the hot girl told me to.
And no, this does not mean i do not believe in the existence of female gamers, nor male non-gamers in these positions, but i do not like being pandered to.

 

[ms_sunlight]

This thread is incensing me.

#1 - Booth babes are not the same thing as geek girls! Booth babes are paid professional models!

#2 - You think geeky girls don't get picked on in school??

FFS...

 

[fmatthew5876]

Its because these angry virgins so desperately want a woman that likes games just like them. Whenever they find one they get so hurt when they find out she was lying to them. Its a personal betrayal. The more beautiful (and thus the stronger the fantasy) the more it hurts. She is not the dream whore they imagined while masturbating.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... This- this is a thing? A thing that is going on? Now? Right now? Right now, people are getting there panties in a bunch because an attractive lady likes playing CoD, Silent Hill, Rayman, whatever? Didn't this... Wasn't this... Like, it was a thing... But I thought it was a little thing... And it was over... I- I'm... But surely pretty ladies playing videogames is a good thing, right? Y'know, show that we're not all a bunch of sweaty guys who get all up in arms over women and what not... Like, does anyone miss the days of being ostracized for playing videogames? Like- I mean- really? Really? Seriously there are MEN who dislike this? MEN and BOYS who, not wanting to generalize but, may have a harder time getting to common ground with members of the opposite sex disapprove of women liking similar things?

That seems... Stupid...

 

[SaikyoKid]

-Snip Snip-

This is one of the most depressing posts I've read in a while. You don't want to let people join in on your hobby simply because they didn't have to deal with the hardships of your childhood? I honestly don't know how to properly respond to this other than grow up a little bit dude. People don't have to be beat up anymore or go through any sort of initiation just because they claim to like a certain thing.

OT: Well, I hardly even knew it was that bad a thing before I read some of the posts in the thread here. If someone, guy or girl, wants to be in on something I say let 'em. Maybe they really do just think that they are a nerd and really do kinda want to be one. If they're just doing it for attention, shrug your shoulders and move on then. You'll live, trust me. It's unfair and unjustified to grill people and force them out just cuz they didn't have to put up with social stigmas or because they don't know every minute detail on every game ever. I'd like to think we kinda get over that stuff as we get older.

 

[bunji]

I'd agree with Jim if it was so simple that people get angry at a non-gamer girl wearing a mario shirt just because of that. I think it's a little more complex; nerds don't like that popular culture is co-opting our culture to be some kind of new fad, it feels disrespectfull.

It's still not right that women get more scrutiny than men, but thats probably because traditionally nerdculture is male-dominated. Not saying it's moraly right, im just saying its understandable.

Now to go hide in my flame-proof bunker.

 

[Entitled]

It's a horrible term regardless, that puts the focus of the blame on the women themselves. And the stuff I've seen hasn't been about this manipulation, it's attacked hard working people, and just women in general -- usually just *concepts* of them, with nobody singled out as an actual basis.

Well, YOU also just attacked a *concept*, with nobody singled out, or as some people like to call it, a "straw man".

Quote the actual people who actually said something general and deluded/mysognistic/petty, and attack them, but not the vague concept of anyone ever accusing certain women of being manipulative. Just looking through this thread, you can find several commenters who are willing to defend the term and it's basic implications from several angles, without the pitfalls that you attacked.

That alone proves that even if you are not intentionally strawmanning your opponents, you were at least WRONG in your belief that people always use the term that way.

And it's not just an issue about the puppetmasetrs of booth babes and actresses designing them in a certain way, but also about individual posers who are jumping on the nerd stereotype's shallowest "fashion" elements now that it's popular and fetishized by the media, while also shitting on the kind of social outcasts and obsessive basement dwellers who reclaimed the term from being an insult into their subculture.

It's disrespectful to nerds in the same way as EA releasing an "indie bundle" is disrespectful to indies, or as turning Che Guevara's face into a commercial brand icon is disrespectful to communism.

 

[acosn]

It has very little to do with who's getting attention, and everything to do with something we call, "Authenticity."

We like to think that within our interest groups the people we involve ourselves with are, in fact, actually wanting to be there. We like to think that our peers meet or exceed our own knowledge about a given hobby. The problem with faux-nerds is that they're paying lip service, and you can find as many male examples as you can female examples. You just need to look. No, you're not a nerd for reading a book (to say nothing of Harry Potter). No, you're not a nerd for playing a video game for 2 hours a week. No, your thick rimmed glasses, which you don't even need, and the pocket protector don't make you a nerd.

Most of this really is a reaction to the fact that the gate keeper for the term, "nerd" isn't really there anymore. Nerds don't own their own language anymore, and this is a reaction to that.

Ultimately, the reaction to faux-nerds is the same as you'd see in any other hobby. When someone can't meet an incredibly low-set gate for acceptance into the group they're called posers, and summarily shunned.

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

Great point on the judicial microscope upon women in gaming.

Excellent point on the non-geeks in and running the gaming industry.

Poor low-blow attack that we don?t look much better than you. Jim, I am fabulous. Not everyone involved in gaming looks like a Boggard: http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs37/f/2008/247/3/e/Boggard_Champion_by_ilkerserdar.jpg

 

[C4tt4nn4]

although Jim makes some good point, I disagree with him.
I think what irks me the most about these "fake nerd girls" is that they are pretending. Its the same reason i dont like "fake photographers" (ie girls with big cameras taking selfies): they say they like something, but they dont know anything about it and have no desire to learn any more. My issue is not that they might not like mario or mass effect as much as me: its the fact that they've never played it, and yet they pretend that because they've heard of video games and own a pair of fake glasses (sweet jesus dont get me started on the glasses...) that they are "nerds". Although the definitions of "nerd" and "geek" vary greatly, im fairly sure that the terms dont apply to this situation.

 

[Xdeser2]

I half agree and half not. And I'll tell you why.

Yes, there are girls that use games to get attention, just like there are guys who will drop a group of friends in high school if they're "invited" into a clique that makes them more popular.

Both men and women CAN be fake, it matters not weather or not theyre called out on it, but the part I agree with you on, is that its blown WAYYYY out of proportion. I've met many a girl that can whop my ass at pretty much everything I play, because (and heres the shocker) THEYRE JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. -_-

Captcha: Play in style

thats....suprisingly fitting.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

No, you're not a nerd for reading a book (to say nothing of Harry Potter). No, you're not a nerd for playing a video game for 2 hours a week. No, your thick rimmed glasses, which you don't even need, and the pocket protector don't make you a nerd.

So, what does make someone an authentic nerd, and what makes that label so important?

 

[Phasmal]

Ditto. When anyone learns that I play a lot of computer games they get this look: I like to call it the 'what's wrong with her? Is she secretly a man? No, she's probably just lying' look and it drives me mental. Similarly, the fact that people feel you can tell a fake geek just by looking at her is absurd. It's the worst kind of judgemental bullshit, but people feel they can get away with it because the people they usually judge to be fake are people who are fairly popular/mildly attractive/well-dressed/confident and/or female, and so have automatically been dealt a better hand in life and should be ok to get some insults sent their way. It's ridiculous.

It is at the point that I will not `out` myself as a gamer unless I'm pretty sure I'm not going to catch any hassle.
I'll chat to dudes in game shops (I love doing that), but if I'm just out and talking to people and the subject turns to games, I'll usually stay quiet. (Especially after I made a comment about some daedric quests in Skyrim to a dude at my boyfriend's work who was into games and dude just kinda stared at me and froze). Not worth the hassle.
It's funny, considering many guys moan about how their aren't enough female gamers.

Also, cant figure out how to get this into an image but THIS: http://sailorswayze.tumblr.com/post/35678126959/am-i-right-ladies

 

[acosn]

No, you're not a nerd for reading a book (to say nothing of Harry Potter). No, you're not a nerd for playing a video game for 2 hours a week. No, your thick rimmed glasses, which you don't even need, and the pocket protector don't make you a nerd.

So, what does make someone an authentic nerd, and what makes that label so important?

It's not about what makes a nerd so much as what makes one not a nerd. The first is hard to define, the second is very, very easy.

 

[GloatingSwine]

Look, if the perception gets around that nerds can be normal people who might even be physically attractive, all the pale fat smelly nerds covered in cheeto dust and wankstains might not have an excuse any more.

And that would be terrible.

 

[Hollyday]

It is at the point that I will not `out` myself as a gamer unless I'm pretty sure I'm not going to catch any hassle.
I'll chat to dudes in game shops (I love doing that), but if I'm just out and talking to people and the subject turns to games, I'll usually stay quiet. (Especially after I made a comment about some daedric quests in Skyrim to a dude at my boyfriend's work who was into games and dude just kinda stared at me and froze). Not worth the hassle.
It's funny, considering many guys moan about how their aren't enough female gamers.

Also, cant figure out how to get this into an image but THIS: http://sailorswayze.tumblr.com/post/35678126959/am-i-right-ladies

Love the cartoon!

My situation is a little different. I don't have ANY friends who are gamers, so thankfully I don't often get quizzed on my knowledge by some nerd gatekeepers (the only time it really happens is online, or from my students. And since I can hand out revenge-homework at whim they tend to back down when I tell them to!). I get the opposite, which is that most of the people I know think that all games are CoD, overly complicated flight sims or kiddy platformers and judge me to be a hyper-violent, boring woman-child accordingly. Oh, and I forgot lesbian. Apparently playing games automatically makes you a lesbian. Who knew?

Whilst waiting for the Mass Effect 3 launch a friend asked me why I was getting so worked up about it. When I explained that I really wanted to know how the story that I'd sunk 60+ hours into ended, she said, in all seriousness, 'don't be stupid. Games don't have stories'.

There are no double face-palm memes emphatic enough to describe the people I have to deal with on a daily basis!

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

I cant believe people actually believe such things as

"WHEN I WAS A NERD I WAS BEATEN UP! NOW WHEN THEY DO IT THEY GET LAUDED! THATS SO UNFAIR!"

Didnt you always fight for acceptance? To not let gaming define you totally but instead just to be a thing you LOVED like everything else people love?

Which makes as much sense as an elderly black man who fought for the right to vote saying:

"WHEN I WAS A YOUNG MAN VOTING I WAS BEATEN UP! NOW THEY DO IT AND ITS ENCOURAGED! THATS SO UNFAIR!"

Which sounds petty and disgusting. Your previous suffering isnt any excuse to hate peoples current lack of suffering. Thats pathetic. So totally pathetic. How low. Can you be. As to wish pain onto others because they are now free to do something you used to be hurt for. To wish them to suffer too... just because you did. Its so arrogant and self absorbed i cant even begin to describe it. Im sorry. I cant even start to relate as to why you would feel that way.

Lemme steal this from a wonderful wonderful friend of mine who showed this to me:

Spoiler

At the core of it all, for some insane reason, you are so threatened by the presence of women in your interests that you insult, you cajole, you harrass, and you embarrass the rest of us who are just happy to share. You slam women who are attractive and cosplay as NOT REAL NERDS, THEY'RE PREYING ON US POOR WIDDLE MENZ! And when they?re not as attractive as you'd like, you slam them for not meeting your standards. Or you slam them for daring not to give you the time of day when you grope and harass and hit on them. And if you look like me while doing it, that?s even more hilariously hypocritical and out of touch with reality. She's not there for YOU, bro.

She's not there for you.
She's not there for you.
Let that sink in, guys.
She's not there for you.
She's not dressing up for you.
She's not interested in comics for you.
She's not playing games for you.
She's. Not. There. For. You.

You are not the center of the universe, you never were and you never SHOULD be. It's time to share your toys, guys. It's time to be more mature. It's time to drop the entitled attitude that insists our standards and our standards alone should be met. You do not hold the keys to the kingdom, for the kingdom has no lock.

My friend Kat - a geek with a cool job making awesome videogames like NFS The Run and mad cosplay skills - said something on Twitter earlier that summed the whole Fake Geek Girl BS up perfectly;

"That's just it- "fake geek girls" DO NOT EXIST. There are only WOMEN WITH VARYING LEVELS OF INTEREST IN DIFFERENT HOBBIES."

Many of the women cosplaying at these conventions probably know more about the current state of comics than I do, but I'll never be asked to prove my nerd cred if I roll up in a Superman tee - and I haven?t bought an issue since the New 52 launched.
Fucking afford them the same courtesy. Don't be a douchebag.

My favourite part is "The girls wear skimpy outfits when cosplaying for attention!"

Uhuh. So erm. They are copying the character. A character created specifically to appeal physically to men by men for men. And they cosplay that character because they love the fandom and the character. And its THEIR fault its skimpy. Even though it was created when WE the "Real nerds" had the say in what characters were created. We should have demanded better characters, not expected "Better" female fans to share our interest with.