You can check my credentials if I can check yours.

[seanan_mcguire]

So it's been a little more than a week since my glorious return from the San Diego International Comic Convention, where I saw cool things, met cool people, and learned that "Hell" is another word for "being on the SDCC exhibit floor in a wheelchair." I also contracted a horrific cold, and have been fighting my way back to the semblance of health

Comments

[sylviamcivers]

So it isn't really a geek-cred check, its a whats-that-gurl-doing-here check?
Sigh. Hello safe space, it's been nice knowing you.

[seanan_mcguire]

Ayup.

[vixyish]

First, I'm absolutely delighted that a fan dressed up as Emma for you, and I wish I'd been there just for that, because that is awesome. (And boy howdy, is that ever dedication to your fandom! Hi, I dressed up as something that someone I'm a fan of is a fan of!)

Second, I've been meaning to submit something to the Doubleclicks' awesome "Nothing to Prove" Tumblr that touched on this. Because we get lots of stories of women getting "fake geek girl" checked, and then blowing the checker out of the water by having way more knowledge than he expected (or that he had). By being a woman who's been gaming for 30 years, or an artist who drew all the art for that comic he's holding, or Elizabeth Bear.

I'm a fan, I'm a geek girl, and I would fail most "fake geek girl" checks. I love the things I love, but with most of those things, I don't go as deep as some people. And that's okay too.

Because the phrase "nothing to prove" means literally nothing to prove. The video, and the many posts about this, are filled with geeky women going "look, we

[jenk]

Yeah, my initial thought for that was a photo of me with the Microsoft stuff I worked on, with "I worked on this, get your parents to explain it to you." ;)

[erinwrites]

Yes. What you said is very much along the lines as what I've been wanting to say. I still might. :)

[vixyish]

Please do!

[dostehseh]

This reminds me - right before (or just after, I don't remember) the Green Lantern movie came out, I went to the grocery store, wearing my husbands Green Lantern t-shirt. The guy at the deli eyeballed me when I asked for a pound of whatever, and said, "Do you even know the Green Lantern oath

[oneminutemonkey]

Then you bust out the oath of the F-Sharp Bell Corps and blow his tiny little brain away. Bwahaha.

Though seriously, no one should have to know the oath to wear the shirt. Now, if you're wearing a Green Lantern -ring-, you better know the oath, in case you run into a working battery. That's just common sense.

[seanan_mcguire]

Bwahahahahahahaha.

[serge_lj]

"...Captain America probably doesn't like you making fun of women,.."

Cap doesn't like bullies.

[beable]

Cap doesn't like bullies.

Well, except in the Mark Millar Ultimates (where he is one) apparently.

Otherwise known as a recommendation from a vendor at my local Comic-Con that I regretted purchasing after I had read it. It had been recommended for my "knows the MCU but doesn't want to play too much catch-up with AU and reboots and 50 gazillion continuities" criteria, and it met that "I could make sense of the characters and universe without flailing" criteria quite handily but was otherwise quite hateful in characterizations and the ways in which it was violent. And this was with me being the sort of person who enjoyed the Kick-Ass movie even.

[serge_lj]

I tried the "Ultimate" version of the X-men early on and it was quite a turnoff.

[chaos5023]

Ultimate X-Men was the red-headed stepchild of the Ultimate universe. I remember staring incredulously at a ham-fisted block of "as you know, Bob" dialogue from Henry McCoy in what was supposed to be Teh Edgy Realism. Most of the rest of the Ultimate stuff was much better.

[supergasnojutsu]

I never remember having this issue when I went to Anime conventions in high school but then again I was a teenager (even douchy nerd dudes have limits...right?) and never scantily clad. With that said, it really is absolutely stupid to demand women to "prove" their geekdom. Especially since there's nothing wrong with NOT being a nerd and NOT really knowing much about these hardcore fandoms and just wanting to go because you heard it's fun and you like some of the shows that are getting panels. There are so many guys like that but it's women who get called out. Like for some reason you, as any person, being at a comic book convention are not allowed to be there if you don't know everything about everything. It's extremely exclusionary for a group of people who grew up bitter and angry about excluded over things

[seanan_mcguire]

It is very, very ugly, and I wish it would go away.