Defending Female Geek Rights
GIRLS CAN LIKE STAR WARS, TOO.
And not just for, like, squishy, happy romantic fanfic, either.
I like the blowing-stuff-up-ness, and the lightsabers, and Boba Fett. I've read the EU almost start to finish from ANH on (and I'm even beginning to be tempted by prequel-era stuff). I know a great deal about the GFFA, thank you very much.
Last night, I closed the library with a couple of guys who noticed my teeny Lego Millennium Falcon bag chain on my Jack-Pack (ie, my big, fatty messenger-bag-like purse). And one of them assumed I was just Han Solo-obsessed.
Which, okay, I am.
But then we started having a conversation - in which I inevitably outgeeked him by reminding him that it was Zahn who created Mara Jade, though, really? Isn't that like the easiest bit of trivia to know ever? - and it became abundantly clear to me that this guy couldn't fathom a fangirl who was not heinous-looking or only interested in the romance part of the tale. Fangirls, he told me, were by definition emotional and character-obsessed, and he couldn't help the fact that he found it interesting that a girl had grown up with the series and been enchanted by the tried-and-true battle scenes and more action-oriented parts of the saga.
I wasn't truly offended. But a little miffed.