Fair warning: I’m about to use a lot of swear words.
I’ve heard a rumor that women don’t belong in geek culture. It’s not a new rumor, by any means; it’s been hanging around for the past thirty years or so, but it’s come back into the spotlight recently. There have been some really awesome responses in the blogosphere to all of this, but I’d like to add my voice to the masses. So let me throw this down for all of you jerks out there (male AND female AND gender-neutral) who seem to think that women don’t belong in your happy little world of geekitude:
This content is censored.
I don’t need to prove anything to you. I don’t need to have loved something from THE VERY BEGINNING BECAUSE OH MY GOD THAT’S ALL YOU CAN DO in order to be on your level. I don’t need to know every nook and cranny of Doctor Who in order to be a fan. Look, [Censored], I like the show. Matt Smith is my first Doctor. Get over it.
I don’t need to defend myself for claiming to be a geek. I’m getting a graduate degree in [Censored] literature with a focus on comic books and paranormal romance, you self-serving, misogynistic [Censored]. If anyone has the right to claim the geek crown, it’s me. I risk my academic career with every article I write because I think it’s important that geek culture be included in academia. I may not be involved with cosplay (yet, I might add) and I may not be able to name every single incarnation of Green Lantern. But you know what I can do? Research that [Censored] in less than 30 minutes and make you look exactly like the tool you are. So, [Censored] [Censored] and go back to the hole that you crawled out of in the first place.
If you think that it’s EVER okay to tell ANYONE that they don’t belong, you’re part of what’s wrong with the world. Why do you give a [Censored] if someone’s only seen one flipping episode of Star Trek? They like the same damned thing you do, but you don’t want to open up your myopic sphere of “appropriately geeky” in order to welcome them. Newcomers to fandoms have fantastic insight, always. They can look at things differently. They can make you see things from another point of view. If you have a problem with that, you obviously have a problem with expanding your mind and contemplating ideas without absolutely accepting them. What sort of [Censored] philistine do you think you are? Get over yourself.
Furthermore, if you want to claim that “booth babes” are only modeling for attention from men that they wouldn’t deign to be sexually involved with, I have news for you: the sexuality of “booth babes” isn’t any of your [Censored] business in the first place, and your inability to credit a woman who is attractive according to mainstream media with the mere idea that she might actually know what she’s talking about? It’s disgusting. You’re disgusting. Why are you disgusting? Because you seem to be under the impression that women display themselves solely for you. Get a life, [Censored]. And get a clue while you’re at it. If I decide to dress in next-to-nothing or if I decide to dress in a burqa, I’m not doing it for your [Censored] pleasure, I’m doing it because I [Censored] want to. I exist for a hell of a lot more than your spank bank, thanks very much, and my decision to dress a certain way or act a certain way or portray a certain character is done for me. Go worship yourself in the closest pond, Narcissus; we don’t want you here.
I wish I could say I’m surprised by the fact that any of this is still even an issue, but I’m not. Not even in the slightest. Why? Because patriarchy. Because no matter how hard a woman tries to just be herself and express herself, she’s always going to be judged for it. Because when men dress up as Spider-Man and Batman and Wolverine, it’s totally cool; but when a woman dresses up as Emma Frost or Red Sonja or Slave Leia, it’s because she’s a slut who wants attention. Because people still blame women for being sexually assaulted when they dress in a sexy outfit instead of blaming the [Censored] morons who assault them.
Geek culture is for EVERYONE, and it’s supposed to be one of the ultimate safe spaces. If you can’t accept that, maybe you should be the one getting all of the offensive questions.
