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

[aliciaaudrey]

I <3 you so much for continuing to fight this fight.

I hate the fake geek girl thing so so so much and I hate that it has started to modify my behavior even more. There is stuff I won't DO anymore that I used to, like play fighting games in public. I'm not a huge fan of the genre--and as a result I'm not great at them--but it uses to be fun to play with friends at the surviving (or reborn) NYC arcades.

But I don't anymore, because I heard too many snickers about how I was trying to fake being a gamer, and I don't like my vision going red with rage I can't express. It's like if I'm going to have any cred as a gamer or any other kind of geek I have to be god tier at EVERYTHING and have encyclopedic knowledge about EVERYTHING even game types I don't really play (like fighting games) and genres of fiction I've never really been interested in (like superhero comics...but even I can tell the difference between someone cosplaying as Storm and someone cosplaying as Emma.)

[dostehseh]

"There is stuff I won't DO anymore that I used to..."

I don't make female characters anymore in MMORPGs, just to avoid the obnoxious behavior.

[aliciaaudrey]

I don't play MMORPGS (I need games that end, I know myself, if I let myself play World of Warcraft they will find my dead body dehydrated to death in puddle of my own pee four days later.) But I did used to be an admin at a really big Final Fantasy website. REALLY BIG. As in, at its height, thousands and thousands of users

[rimrunner]

My husband likes to play female characters in MMORPGs. He only plays with RL friends precisely to avoid the otherwise inevitable result.

[herefox]

This really does continue to boggle my mind that it happens (I know it does but...) For one thing at something as wide as comic con or a world con you can totally fail one quiz while still being a terrible geek. I mean if you asked me about any of the major geek things below:
Star Trek
Star Wars
Doctor Who
DC comics

I would almost certainly fail despite being a furry, board gaming, artist geek that could probably go on about trends in fantasy/sci literature for hours until everyone was weeping from boredom.

It's just weird that the fake geek girl thing is even a thing. I'm glad people are speaking up about it and trying to get people to realize just how stupid it is.

[seanan_mcguire]

Agreed: it's a stupid, exclusionary thing, and I wish it would stop.

You, however, are splendid.

[huggebear]

I think this is one of the reasons I've been reluctant to go to anything like that. I'm a geek, but I'm not a super-geek about the things you're "supposed" to be geeky about. I love "Star Wars," but I've only seen the prequels once because they were awful and painful to watch. I can't really get into "Dr. Who," though I've tried a few times. I don't read comic books, though I do dig superhero movies sometimes. I do read a TON of fantasy and sci-fi, but I tend to concentrate on female authors. I also love romance novels, but there's absolutely no geek cred in that whatsoever. I stay away from geeky gatherings because I felt like my geek cred simply wasn't high enough. But with this "fake geek girl" nonsense and so forth, I'm starting to realize what a genderized assumption that is.

[pernwebgoddess]

THIS. All of this. I'm a geek girl, but I just don't get into stuff like I used to. Now, back in my Pern days, I could quote geneologies of dragons and such, but these days, I just like writing original fiction and playing with my kids. I watch MLP with my CHILDREN (you know, the target audience, young girls?)

I like Dr Who enough to know why it's called that. I have watched a few episodes. I know that there's one Doctor I like more than others. I know I watched it with my Dad *decades* before most of these people even *heard* of it. But I don't get into it, don't know the numbers, etc.

I used to read comics, but my favorite artist died, and I have better things to spend my money on now... like the bills, and gas for my car.

That doesn't mean I"m not a damn geek and don't have every right to stand in line for an autograph from frickin' Nichelle Nichols if I want to.

How about we start running privilege checks?

[seanan_mcguire]

It's so gendered, and so stupid.

Your geek cred is absolutely high enough.

[seanan_mcguire]

If you find a rocket propelled grenade launcher, get me one?

[tibicina]

Just remember, the rocket propelled grenade /launcher/ is legal. The rocket propelled grenades to go in it, sadly, aren't.

[valarltd]

This is an excellent post. Would you mind if I linked it and the one about the SFWA in today's blog entry?
http://inkstainedsuccubus.blogspot.com/2013/07/because-you-keep-asking-that-question.html

I'm talking about women in SF/F/H and the rise in the He-Man Woman Haters Club attacks on us.

I've never been cred-checked at a con. One of my daughter's boyfriends tried it on me after she'd been talking about what a geek I was. "How do you make the Kessel Run in Less than 12 Parsecs?" I asked if he wanted the 1977 explanation, the fanon explanation which I prefer or the EU retcon explanation.

I wonder if cred-checks are a form of lookism as well. Middle-aged, tall and fat is wallpaper to most fanboys. I look like their mom so they don't notice me.

[seanan_mcguire]

Sure! Go ahead.

And it absolutely is.

[valarltd]

Thank you.
I'm seeing so much more of this lately.