A day or two ago, a friend posted a link on Facebook that went to
Alli Thresher's rebuttal to a blog post about "fake geek girls." I read it and then went in search of the original piece, written by Joe Peacock and published on CNN.com,
Booth Babes Need Not Apply. A more well-intentioned but misguided thing I have rarely read. Go ahead, go read for
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Comments 23
Yeah, dude, attention from male geeks is such a valuable commodity. And so hard to come by!
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That said, there were a lot of attractive men in the pictures too.
But, still, I don't really get ComicCon. I might not be the target market.
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I'll admit that I have something of an issuing with costuming... but I can't work out whether or not that's because I just don't really get it, on the whole.
That said, looking at, say, Olivia Munn (google her for images) in the TV show where she routinely dressed in lingerie, bikinis, costumes and fetish gear to report on video games and SF... that leaves me feeling deeply deeply uncomfortable at an intelligent, highly capable actress (based on The Newsroom) basically being a slab of meat to titillate guys.
Where I have more of a problem with Peacock's central thesis is that women are dressing in sexy costumes to attract attention. As was said above... for the average geekish guy, you REALLY don't have to try that hard. Well, ok, I might be generalizing, but just saying ;)
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That said, I still feel some of this crosses a line from self expression into something else. Olivia Munn dressing in a PVC maid's outfit and jumping into a pool of jelly on Attack of the Show doesn't strike me as sexual self affirmation but pandering.
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But there is a contingent of fandom and the geek culture that seems to disdain and dismiss geek girls who like to wear a little eyeliner as if, somehow, it makes us less sincere, knowledgeable, or sociable. Maybe it makes us a little intimidating. It might actually require someone to up his social game--and that? Might not be such a bad thing.
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My only comment is that I wish there were this many girl geeks when I was younger...
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But then it occurred to me -- this guy has a problem with somebody -- who has he got a problem with? Not shallow guys, who want to ogle women and judge them primarily on appearance. No, he's got a problem with "fake" geek girls who, in his perception, cater to that male gaze. Right. It's always the woman's fault.
I had a similar problem with the film Death Becomes Her -- although I enjoyed the performances and thought it was funny, it seemed to blame the female characters too much for their all-consuming obsession with maintaining youth and beauty, as if their shallowness were entirely a personal shortcoming and not in any way the result of external cultural forces.
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I wrote about this as well, and I sorta sum up the root problem thus: Geekdom is about sharing the things we love with others. If that happens to be cosplay or walking around cons wearing nothing but body-paint - why not? Just because you don't approve the things someone else geeks out about doesn't give you the right to dismiss the person or judge them as not worthy to participate in your geekdom.
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That said, if I wanted to dress up as a female character, most of them are a) way more in shape than I could ever hope to be b) showing way more skin than I would ever be comfortable with, even if I was in super duper shape.
Yes, there are great female characters who wear clothes (Rogue springs to mind) and they are often young. I would feel weird dressing as a character half my age. I think that is part of why steampunk has taken off. It is good for any age and shape.
I have always been the girl outsider. Sometimes it has been uncomfortable listening to the boys drool over women. I noticed when the female characters weren't as tough as the male characters (and I always notice the skimpier costumes) but I never felt actively discourage.
So this guy is a jerk. Ignore him and move on with life. Or maybe get a pile of geek cards and stamps so you can approve someone's
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