She Geek: Women and Self-Labeling in Online Geek Communities

[korinna]

She Geek: Women and Self-Labeling in Online Geek Communities @ From Austin to A&M: My intent in this project was to examine the labeling of female-oriented geek spaces on the internet. What I found was that self-labeling of geek women often defeats the potentially subversive act of creating a female-oriented geek community

Comments

[mythrai]

I do think her initial assessment of girl was more accurate; it's meant to be non-threatening, a space that won't be defended against privileged incursions. And really unnecessary to boot; where there are groups of minorities, someone privileged will want to join in to bestow their wisdom - we don't really need to be setting out a welcome mat.

(I wonder if the OP knows g_g is now defunct)

I really did like the graph.

[pewter]

This was written before g_g went defunct (a good month or two ago)

[voyevoda]

I have to laugh a bit that they studied the now-defunct and happily -ist space that was girl_gamers. :P

Regardless, interesting article. Certainly made me think about how I describe myself and my hobby- why use girl gamer? Is it because the double 'g' of 'girl gamer' flows well? Hm.

[voyevoda]

That's what I'm thinking now. I was fine identifying myself by it when I was younger because while some people are searching for labels to belong, that was my sort of label that made me feel good about myself. Now that I'm a grown woman, however, I don't really 'need' to identify as anything other than a gamer because I'm not striving to belong; I'm already a full person happy with what she is.

Then again, having 'safe spaces' in general for women (when you can go here or there in gaming culture online and be attacked because of what you are/identify as) can be comforting, because you don't have to face the same constant b.s. Just to toss out an example, wow_ladies is much more comforting and intellectually stimulating to be a part of, whereas worldofwarcraft is not.

[daisix]

I was only able to skim this post really quickly (have to head to class in a few minutes), but I thought it was interesting how the article brought up the issue of a lot of women labeling themselves as "girls." I can't speak for anyone else, but I often pause when I try to label myself, a 21-year-old. Though I end up calling myself a girl sometimes, it's really because I don't feel old enough to call myself "woman" or "female" yet, and I certainly don't think of myself as a "lady" either since I'm not exactly well-behaved. But are those good reasons to call myself a girl?

Also, this whole thought reminded me of "Not a Girl but Not Yet a Woman." YEAH I WENT THERE

[foxie]

I agree. I'm older than you, but I still don't feel old enough to be a "woman." But I'm making myself use that word more to describe myself rather than "girl," because I care about being taken seriously. Also, I don't think I will EVER feel "old" or like an "adult," really. Not at the rate I'm going. :D

I think the word "lady" is a good compromise. It feels a little like a joke, so it's not as formal as the word "woman", but it's still more adult-sounding than "girl". Also, they use the word "lady" at Tiger Beatdown a lot, and I've gotten used to it because I read that blog frequently.

[daisix]

I don't think I will EVER feel "old" or like an "adult," really. Not at the rate I'm going. :D

I'm not speaking from a lot of experience here, but I definitely agree that I'm not going to be comfortable with the label "adult" for a long time, if ever! Also, thanks for mentioning Tiger Beatdown; it looks like a good blog to read. :)

[foxie]

Yeah. I don't agree with TB all the time, but they're always hilarious even when I don't. Unfortunately, it seems that Sady Doyle (the proprietor/editor in chief) may have retired the whole operation ... there hasn't been a post in a while. I hope it all comes back soon. :(

[maladaptive]

Huh, I did a lot of research on women's communities online for my anthro thesis, so I would have loved to see more about the myth that we're disembodied on the internet. But I guess that's what happens when it's just a paper vs. an 80 page thesis.

I like the point about how many of these groups make themselves non-threatening to the majority (and interesting that she cites girl_gamers which was actively unfriendly to the very people it said the community was made for).

[faoiltiama]

Most of the time, I just call myself a gamer with no qualifying statement about my gender. If I have to identify my gender along with my hobby, I just like the way "girl gamer" sounds as opposed to "woman gamer" or "female gamer". Maybe it's the alliteration, but "girl gamer" just sounds better to me. I have heard some of my female friends who play WoW describe themselves as Women of Warcraft. Maybe I just run in a social circle that likes to alliterate titles.