The alleged "Fake Geek Girl" trend

[Ginger Tea]

I've not seen my namesakes movies (got an "Oh Cool" from the girl at the cinema processing my Unlimited Card) except for bad taste, not seen any others, but I do own the extended LoTR Trilogy on DVD and got a dirt cheap book set for me and one to replace my brothers dogeared copies, mine have gathered dust and I would probably reread the Amtrak Wars again before hitting those, unless they release a large print A4ish sized edition, I fear my attention span would not last a few pages with small text.
I have however seen the animated LoTR and IIR they did a Hobbit one too, hell I think most of my knowledge of fairy lore came from animated movies of the late 70's early 80's like Wizards and Fire and Ice, although a few adult ones slipped in there from tme to time that scenes bled into other movies.

I can't get into old Dr Who, I saw it first hand from the tail end of Tom Baker (cos I remember the regeneration scene, He ranks lower than Pertwee, simple Wurzel Gummage) onwards, but having the BBC try and get us to believe the alien races in modern who that were shown in shit rubber suits of old are the same damn thing, that is too much whiplash, it's like going from Prisoner Cell Block H onto the pre break part of Prison Break, they are both prisons, but by christ ...

I have never read Dune, seen two of the Lynch edits and that 6 episode mini from the early 2000's, loved Babylon 5 and didn't mind Farscape.
Classic Trek I'm meh about, never grew up on the show nor do I recall reruns so most of my time with the crew were via the movies, then as with Who, the modern ones come in and everything is shiny and are only meant to be going by the odd classic cameo, less than 50 years later?
I know it's 60's TV production values where a season's money might stretch for an episode or two of TNG, some see the charm, I see Enterprise as fucking it up for looking too modern (due to the production values) didn't see much of that one TBH.

So with that posted, I could say more, I know little about alot of the cult shows and some of the movies (won't list those I have seen as I don't know where the geek check list is ) but I can still talk about them with people who know/care more, but having a dick between my legs gives me a free pass to do this it seems, a girl might like firefly way more than me (easy I only saw the movie) and see B5's Ivanova as one of the most strong SciFi charachters and kept with the show for the characters development and an interest in the story as a whole not caring that it was set in space.

Buffy (and Angel by spin off) could easily be aimed more for women due to the strong female characters, but fandom rules that it is a show that men should like and those who are not men should be watching Charmed.

[BlaqueKatt]

apparently I'm a "fake Geek girl" because(reasons I've been given)-personally I label myself as "human with varied interests" just FYI.

I have a "tom Baker" scarf, and tardis key,and a K9 figurine, but have never watched a single episode of the "new" dr who,can't get into it, loved it as a kid, and fangirls(they annoy me greatly)

I'm not a "gamer", I do enjoy watching others play though, it's like an interactive cartoon to me, but I enjoy "zero punctuation"(actually have and wear constantly a girl imp hoodie.), and I can tell you what the games are about.
*edited to add, I do have several games I do play on the Wii, and my DS, last game I "beat" was Metroid Fusion, I play for fun, not because I care about "beating the game", and the controllers have too many buttons for me to keep track of.

I only read a single manga series, because I like the storyline, and don't watch much anime(old OVAs mainly).

I don't like Joss Wheadon, and actually Hate the "buffy series", but loved the movie with Kristie Swanson.(also can't STAND Dr. Horrible)

Enjoyed the LOTR movies, couldn't slog through the books.

Have zero desire to watch Game of Thrones, quit watching Walking dead(it got boring and predictable, and I felt my time was better spent being productive, you enjoy it-great, don't tell me I have to watch it, I did, got bored, quit doing it)

Won't rush out and buy 321643131 comic books, if I pick one up and like it.

I'm sure there are more, but you get the idea.

[Gravekeeper]

Why is it necessary to know anything about a show beyond "I like watching it"?

Not to deride your point, but knowing a lot about / being heavily invested in a certain subject is the definition of geek. So yeah, while its not necessary to know, you aren't a geek by literal definition unless you do know.

Its the very scenario that leads to the accusation. "Oh I'm a total <topic> geek" "Yeah? Me too! I really like <this> and <that> about it" "Uh, I don't know what those are."

It's starting a conversation without knowing enough to actually hold a conversation. Hell it doesn't even just apply to Fake Gamer Girls(tm). I've know a couple of guys that would do the same thing. There are Fake Gamer Guys(tm) too.

Ultimately, its just the reverse of some dude pretending to like things a girl does just to get her attention.

Personally my opinion on it is that I don't give a crap that some girls use "geek culture" as a way to get attention. It happens to every type of culture, so the fact that it's now happening to "geek" culture just means that "geek" culture is becoming more accepted in the main stream.

^ I think that about covers it to be honest.

[Ginger Tea]

I'd actually be more thankful of a 'geek' conversation with someone who is casually interested in the topic (as long as it isn't a case of "Oh I saw one episode, but that makes me an expert right.") than someone who seems to live and breath the genre, cos well 24/7 much?
The more either knows the more varied the conversation of the topic at hand can become, the less is equally as good, run out of things about this, well we could always talk about that, when I get talking I could talk the hind legs off a donkey, but also I hate talking too much but can't seem to stop myself once I get going.

I guess some of the 'fake' attributes are more taking things in moderation.

There are some movies that are percieved to be seen by everyone, cos how can you go x years and never see y movie, regardless of gender.
One of the (former?) TGWTG contributers has never seen Back to the Future and refuses to watch it, yet for people my age, it seems odd that anyone around my age could have NOT seen it as it has been on TV that many times.
Captain Dickhead I found, has never seen any of the Alien movies before AVP and last I checked still had not seen them, so did not understand my (and the general consensus) disgust about the changes to gestation periods etc and how they watered it down for such a low rating, I think he had atleast seen preadator and when we came out of the screening of Preadators I commented that that although not good, managed to salvage the franchies name after Requiem and this other guy randomly concured yet he not seeing Alien's prior to AVP could not really get the sence of outrage and dissapointment, I was tempted to loan him the first two from the quadrilogy (as the other two are not worth much).

I could skip Anime now, I don't mind it, but I could easily never watch a new (to me) show ever again, but live acition Asian cinema however I enjoy even if I have not seen a 'new' movie for a while, but I try to avoid ghost stories now cos of Grudge and Ring (not going to use the japanese titles) I might go back to that genre later as eastern ghost stories are different to western so can be interesting, but distributers shoveled a few out hoping to find the next ring to be remade in the west.
My dad had a few possibly obscure at the time Japanese VHS (they were UK releases not imports, but I don't think they are resold on DVD by world cinema lables today) and he had seen a few Kurosawa movies and it was this that had him more keen to watch Shogun and me and my brother joined in (monkey and the watermargin also helped), looking back it was that more than Akira and the Manga entertainment VHS releases that followed that really piqued my interest in Japan as a whole and I'm glad that the crazy goings on over there are exagerated and in some cases confined to smaller areas of Tokyo than the seems like everywhere that is portrayed.
I stayed up late one night to watch an 8 or 12 hour Japanese marathon, hardly any of it was animated which at first dissapointed me, then I got hooked on just watching random shows with subtitles and barely made it through the night, it was as if Channel 4 had just broadcast primetime viewing from one of Tokyo's main channels for the night, id rather have one Outerlimits type show than a dozzen episodes of something kwai inducing and I avoid Jpop due to the amount of loli acts, take away the visuals alot of the songs (even though I don't know what they are on about) suck, there are good japanese artists, just swamped under dross being lapped up by the west, least Kpop isn't as cartoonish.

[Ginger Tea]

Thread necro due to this post from Not Always Friendly.

Again a girl who knows her stuff about the Joker schools a guy.
I only know scant info about the Joker in comic form and most recent info from imgur doing a gallery of some description.

I don't know if Jack Napier is a name used outside of the Burton movie, if Heath's joker had a name even if it wasn't used to directly address him or anything, just maybe a folder from Arkham with his mug shot on it that can only be seen if you have the blu ray, an electron microscope and a bottle of lotion.

Re reading my old posts in this thread I can see ive clearly admitted I know fuck all against others here male and female in numerous 'cult' tv and geek culture.
Yet I don't have to wave my credentials around because I have a penis, it gives me a free pass to be selective of what I am interested in.

As other posts here and in similar threads and articles have said, if you are a woman you tend to find yourself answering questions about fandoms you might not particularly care about and if you fail to name red shirt #5 from ToS' character and actor name, well you cant be a true geek, even if your main focus is the works of Josh Weadon (and I don't even know if I got his name right that's how much or how little I know of his work).

I can be blissfully ignorant of many a show and come across as the most casual fan that I actually fall closer to an average viewer than anything else, but I can say "I like this sci fi show" and nothing happens, if I was a woman with a keener interest I would have to answer questions like "how long does Leonard Nimoy scratch his balls in the shower? TRICK QUESTION HE BATHES ELEBENTY"

[bex1218]

I don't like comics except the Sandman series. I love Batman. But I also watched the cartoon shows or movies. I collect stuff. I like Star Wars a little bit. Boba Fett is my favorite character. Not a huge fan of it all. I like LotR but can't get through the books. I like new Doctor Who.


If I am a fake geek to someone for liking certain aspects of something, I am not willing to converse with them ever. So far no one has made a huge issue of it.

[mikoyan29]

It seems like anytime a woman gets interested in stuff that men are mainly interested in, she's a "fake" whatever. I mean look at sports fans. Despite the fact there are women that could probably school them in sports, they are just looking for a bangin....OR something like that.

[Ginger Tea]

I want a good story and to be entertained, if it means the stories I read are in comic form I take what I can where I can, but transmetropolitan would probably never be made for TV first.

If I got chatting to a woman and somehow transmet or preacher Y the last man or any of the other Vertigo trades I've read came up (probably more transmet and the tech than the others) it would be nice to chat about something I've read (even if it was a long time ago), I would not expect a 20 question session from her nor would I inflict one on her either, mostly cos I cant name a single character outside of Spider Jerusalem without google.

I would glaze over most marvel and DC convos as my area of knowledge is in Ultimate Spiderman/Xmen/The Ultimates (never got into UFF) and that's cloudy, I don't mean I would be dismissive, I just would not have a sausage of who or what most of the characters were and my DC trades are all elseworlds so nothing I know is cannon or ever was considering all the reboots and crisis and what nots.

I forget which one is which regarding Bruce and David Banner, you could tell me and I would forget within the hour, though I think it's David in the TV show cos someone thought Bruce sounded a bit to 'gay' or whatever the reasoning was that Nash or Linkara said on one of their Hulk movie reviews. I think Betty Ross was the love interest in the original run (when he started off grey till green turned out to be either cheaper or a printing error that stuck) and if she is from Hulk, just be thankful I didn't call her Paige, if she isn't I have no idea who Betty Ross is, but her name sprang to mind typing this up.

But with more holes in my knowledge than swiss cheese, I have thus far been given a free pass and have probably been a living representation of that mixed fandom meme quite by accident.

If I were into sports (which I am not) and a future SO was into the same sports as me it would be great (unless there was a deadly rivalry between teams that would spill out into the living room come match day).
A sane person would say "She's a keeper." a knobshank would ask her to list batting averages and or other statistics and inside leg measurements.

Hell it would be funny to be at a match and be asked how long I've been a supporter of the team and say "Oh she got me into the sport." perhaps followed by "but I still don't know what the hell they are doing."

[wolfie]

It seems like anytime a woman gets interested in stuff that men are mainly interested in, she's a "fake" whatever. I mean look at sports fans. Despite the fact there are women that could probably school them in sports, they are just looking for a bangin....OR something like that.

No different from chicks pretending to like sports or cars to get guys.

Of course, if she can debate the merits of 351W vs. 351C, or Holley vs. Q-jet, and has grease under her (short) fingernails, she's not pretending.

[siead_lietrathua]

Of course, if she can debate the merits of 351W vs. 351C, or Holley vs. Q-jet, and has grease under her (short) fingernails, she's not pretending.

there will always be that one guy that gets into the quizzing game trying to catch her up in one mistake so he can go "HA FAKE!" (yes i know not all guys do this, but there tends to be that ONE douche)

it's why i refuse to play the fuckin quiz game anymore. sorry, but if you wouldn't quiz a dude about the welding patterns on serenity's hull, don't go askin me. it's not even a matter of knowing or not knowing the answer. even if i know the right answer to the stupid questions, i won't give them the satisfaction of thinking i need to prove myself.

and a big part of the problem with geek culture is that it's so broad. i mean, you can be a scifi geek without watching one episode of star trek because there's other scifi stuff to geek on. you can be a comic geek without ever picking up a "mainstream" series like batman. a horror geek with no intrest in zombies, because you like werewolf films, or a RPG geek that knows the Pathfinder 'verse in and out but never plays D&D.

[BlaqueKatt]

Of course, if she can debate the merits of 351W vs. 351C, or Holley vs. Q-jet, and has grease under her (short) fingernails, she's not pretending.

erm, I rebuilt my first engine(under direction from my stepfather), had LONG GREASE-FREE nails the entire time I was an assistant manager at a "quick-lube" franchise(grease goes on the car, I wore gloves to give me a better grip(arthritis), I was the only person at my location trained to do ALL the preventative maintenance services(everyone else kept failing the tests), I know fully well how to fix cars, and read a Haynes Manual, I know fuck all about what was typed up there. Though I was accused of "pretending" when recruited to assist a friend with the repair of his differential, by a girl who was interested in him, when I most certainly was not. So I guess I'm just "pretending" to fix cars, even though I've been doing it for 30 years*. Or maybe I only care about keeping them running and don't give a damn about that nonsense, because it's not relevant to my interests(performance vs. repair you do not need to know one to know the other).

*Replaced the starter on my ex-husband's Nissan while 6 months pregnant, After giving it a full tune up-you try that with a baby kicking you from the INSIDE.

I'm waiting to hear this at comic-con My partner loves spiderman, me not so much, however, since he wants to dress up, We're doing Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy(two costumes-one casual clothing "it's our day off", and one 50s style-I'm doing a pin-up black cat)

[Ginger Tea]

I'm waiting to hear this at comic-con My partner loves spiderman, me not so much, however, since he wants to dress up, We're doing Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy(two costumes-one casual clothing "it's our day off", and one 50s style-I'm doing a pin-up black cat)

I was reading this part and was going Felicia Hardy, name rings bells, I still didn't get who she was till the next sentence that basically told me.
I know Aunt May, Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy (but her name vanished from my mind for the entirety of this post and I was willing to write "greg hardy" as a place holder.

No one would ever ask a man how the wielding was done in Firefly, it's just not that important.

I've read numerous accounts of grease monkey's who lack 'dip sticks' be talked down to, or other trades, a recent post on not always learning had a substitute auto shop teacher basically say the sole woman who was late for class was only there to pick up guys etc, when she was the one who was acing more practical tests than the guys.

I've never driven a car, wouldn't know the insides from my arse, I'm still less likely to be mis sold a product or repair even from shady dealers.

I would be asking for "That bit that does that thing" and a woman behind me could say "I need a GX125 a PQ11 and an ED12 or factory generic of those parts." numbers pulled out of arse but lets say they were part codes for a specific brand of car's gubbins.

Ages ago I found car tyres had different width and depth and it wasn't just a case of buying some and picking one based on the wheel trim, I know this as a woman who worked for Michelin or Dunlop or had a highly technical job in the auto industry to know that her brand of car needed a tyre type of xyz987, counter monkey tried selling her ABC123 as it gave him a better commission but ABC123 would not safely work or fit on her car and she knew it and called him out on it.

Your average guy going in?
"I need a new set of tyres for my car." if the car is not there, they would probably look up make/model and say "yeah we have that type in stock/we would need to order that type in as these on the wall wont work with yours."

[AccountingDrone]

My first career was as an inside outside mechanic and ended up as management for the company. Then I was a rad whore for Henze-Movats repairing nuke plants. I got into playing MMORPGs with Everquest 1 back in 1999, and was customer service for SOE for EQ1. I was a member in one of the top raid guilds in EQ, and my secondary account was a member in the third oldest guild in the entire game. I alpha, closed beta, open beta and mass tested various MMORPGs and stand alone games for years. I could be seen at the occasional con in the computer room on my laptop with headphones on jamming to heavy metal and raiding. Nobody seeing me there ever tried calling me a fake gamergrrl. Even in P&P gaming I had an evil rep. In a warbots based game a friend was writing back when we lived in Norfolk VA I and my team [my first hubby and a friend of ours] took on a team made up of teacher-officers at the War College there and trashed them. [John and Kenny were only there to more or less bulk out my team so it was 3vs3.]

[Amanita]

Truth be told, I'd probably fail quite a number of "prove you're not a fake geek" pop quizzes.
I like Star Wars and sometimes cosplay as a Jedi or a Sith, and am learning how to build some detailed lightsaber props. But I'm not as into all the minute little details as some fans are. I hardly ever read comic books, and I'm not a horror fan either.

I love to go to cons and cosplay, but really, I'm an architecture geek, a costume geek, with sides of Sci-fi/MMORPG fandom, and I've found a way to mash all that fun stuff together.

[blas87]

All the geeks I know (the ones I work with) are such snobs and jerks towards anyone that they don't think is a "legit" fan of something, the last thing I'm going to try to do is try to fit in with them. I can't shove stuff that far up my ass and pretend I'm better than everyone because I liked something "before it was COOL!"