Fake Geek Girls
The “Fake Geek Girls controversy,” so-named, exploded on the Internet and social media in 2012, with an article by Joe Peacock titled “Booth babes need not apply” in which he asserted:
There is a growing chorus of frustration in the geek community with — and there’s no other way to put this — pretty girls pretending to be geeks for attention.
San Diego Comic-Con is the largest vehicle, but it’s hardly the only convention populated with “hot chicks” wearing skimpy outfits simply to get a bunch of gawking geeks’ heads to turn, just to satisfy their hollow egos....
They decide to put on a “hot” costume, parade around a group of boys notorious for being outcasts that don’t get attention from girls, and feel like a celebrity.
One of the many outraged counterpoints, “In defense of lady geeks” by Genevieve Dempre, replied in part:
It’s pretty clear that geek men don’t object to sexy women.
What some of them DO object to are sexy women in skimpy outfits who expect to be treated like people....
The other problem with this whole conversation about which women are legitimately geeks and which women are just faking it for male attention is that it still assumes that men are the ultimate arbiters. It’s another reminder to women that while we may be appreciated for our decorative qualities, we certainly shouldn’t expect to be welcomed beyond that as active participants. It’s another hoop to jump through, and a glaring indication of the fact that we’re seen as girls first, geeks second, and that we’re always going to have to work harder to prove that we belong.
The flame fest was centered on contemporary comics, cosplay and gaming fandoms, but Worldcon and literary fanboys don’t get a pass, as is evidenced at least as far back as 1949, and the brouhaha over Miss Science Fiction.
See also Gamergate.
| Fanhistory | 2012 |
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