Yes, I'm a Geek Girl, and here's what that means!

 Yours truly as Kaylee from Firefly at Anime Boston 2008

 So, if you're reading this blog post of mine, you probably know about the recent spike (and by recent, I mean the past 10 years) of popularity of calling yourself a Geek. As someone who has called myself a geek girl for probably the past 10 or so years, and indeed, was called a geek long before I embraced the lifestyle...I want to discuss what exactly this means to me, and to others.

  First, let's see what Wikipedia says about being Geeky in the year 2010:
 "Other people believe that geek chic has become a trend because or the glamorization of "geek culture" in the 2000s decade, such as the use of computers, video game culture, the internet, anime, Superhero films, fantasy novels, along with the high income of so-called "geeky" jobs such as Information Technology. Also, eccentricity youth culture backlash against conservatism, yuppie culture, traditional gender roles, and conformity in general."

Hm....okay.... but what do we have to say about it?

 Why exactly do I call myself a geek? Well, I suppose, it's mostly for lack of a better word. It is hard for me to deny the social need to put a label on one's identity, and in many ways I admit I am as incapable of escaping that need even though as a social scientist I recognize that social norms can (and often will) be broken. When I tell someone I'm a geek, they immediately begin perceiving me in a new light - but that light is defined by whatever they've come to believe a geek truly is. Lots of my friends call themselves geeks too, but not all of them (even though others may call them a geek).

Gizmodo.com has a cute little survey that asks you "What Kind of Geek Are You?" The options include

I'm the Fanboy

I'm the Music Geek

I'm the Gamer

I'm the Gadget Guy

I'm the Hacker

I'm the Otaku

I'm Mr T -- FOOOOOOL!!!!!

I'm Unclassifiable

I'm Fucking Matt Damon

Hi, John Mayer here

I'm Voltron -- all of the above

 Well then...I don't really know what some of these questions have anything to do with being Geeky...but yeah...sure, whatever. This just confirms the point I'd like to make that defining "geeky" is totally not possible. Currently the top ranking answers are "The Gadget Guy," "Unclassifiable," "Voltron -- all of the above," and The Gamer." (Unclassifiable was my personal answer, for the record.)

 To me, calling myself a geek aligns my identity with a lot of other people that I share common hobbies and talents with, but admittedly, the term "geek" is used so broadly now that I suppose it's almost impossible to say what we're talking about when we call ourselves "geeky." Well, yeah, you're geeky, but people are going to ask, "What kind of geek are you?" Do you work in Computer Tech., Design or the World Wide Web for a living? Is science fiction only another label for what you believe to be a seriously possible future? Do you pursue fandom of video games, animation and comic books to a degree that most would consider slightly above "love" and bordering on "obsession?" Do you don foam helmets and swords every weekend to vanquish your foes in a large field? Do you just love all things that fall into that "geeky" realm of definition?

 Really, we see here that "geek culture" is really just a sweeping term used to contain a million subcultures that find their own ways to define what it means to be geeky. And to me, that's cool. It means that those that call themselves geeks aren't just proud of their identity, but that they truly love being a geek. If you ask them, they'll probably take the time to tell you what it means to them and why they've come to define their own view of the geek image.

 We love our action figure or plushie collection (If you're me you have both..hee hee). We wouldn't trade our library of DVDs or Video Games for almost anything in the world. Dungeons and Dragons Gaming night or the All-Night Movie Marathon night with friends is the highlight of our otherwise completely horrible work week. The new operating system is coming out and it's going to make their gaming pc kick so much ass that it's well worth the price tag. There are lots of things for geeks to be passionate about! (and yeah, admittedly, we love stuff - and lots of it!)

The Angry Video Game Nerd is one of the most popular Video Game reviewers out there, and he has a pretty sweet classic gaming collection - complete with an abundance of rare consoles, games, and accessories. Check out his website if you haven't seen any of his videos yet. He is also excellent at film reviews.

 And yeah, right now, society around us isn't just embracing us...it's FEEDING is what we want in massive quantity. Comic book movies, user driven content like crossover video games (did you hear? Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is coming!), product after product based on the geeky things we love. All this is probably because many companies have finally realized that they actually need geeks to stay in business! Let's face it, we're a gigantic profit margin for TONS of the products we love. Without us the Comic Book, Film, Computer and Gaming industries would experience unbelievable and probably crushing losses.

 One of my favorite online stores, Think Geek (Smart Stuff for the Masses), has it's entire company devoted to selling neat and unique items that appeal to us - the Geeks! Fun stuffs include T Shirts, Gadgets and more!

 And yeah, the idea of what a "geek" is, has changed a lot in the past 30 years. Look up "geek" in the 1970's and 1980's (were the internet to exist then) and you'd see lots of google images of people stuffed in lockers with their overflowing pen protectors being crushed and their glasses bending until they break. You'd see rows of kids on Commodore 64 computers who everybody called "losers" because of course "computers were for nerds" and had not yet become the backbone of society and economy around the world. And, of course, you'd see what I find to be the most laughable of stereotypes - the "Satanic D&D kids hovering around some dice in a basement trying to channel the devil himself." Oh man, does that last one make me laugh.

I found the above video in high school back in 2003 and couldn't help but wonder if this was what some people thought when I told them I regularly played D&D

 Oh boy, are those beaten-up and out-cast geeks from the '70s and '80s laughing now. If they played their cards right over the past 30 years, then they're probably in some of the most high paying jobs in America right now. Steve Jobs, anyone?



 
Oh, and this kid is totally thinking, "Homework? What the hell are you talking about? I've been playing a Role Playing Game for the past 8 hours and it finally convinced my Dad to buy me my own computer? SWEET!"

 Of course, the last thing I want to mention is the Internet. I shouldn't really take much to explain (you already know, right?), so I'll just say that the Internet is what has brought us to our time of awesome. In many ways, it's everything we want and crave at our fingertips.

 There are a ton of other sites, like the ones I mentioned above, that I read on a regular basis because they write articles I care about (along with tons of other geeks). I should also mention that I'm a regular listener of Giant Bombcast (video game podcast) and The Geek Show Podcast (geek stuff in general). The Geek Show has really pulled me in because it's a bunch of regular geeks like you and me who sit around in their basement talking about what's going on in geekdom - whether it's movies or comic books or video games or other random stuff. I like it because they cover a lot of random stuff and they're not afraid to just say whatever the hell they're thinking (and yeah, this includes profanity and ridiculousness, but that's really a big part of the appeal to the show... because, let's face it, we all sit around and have ridiculous conversations about geeky stuff!) Also, they're great about getting news out in a creative way. I could easily get my news from Kotaku or any other geek site, but I like hearing the Geek Show talk about it first because they have personality to go along with it! I'm not just reading the facts. That being said, I don't always agree with what they have to say, and I certainly miss the presence of a permanent female contributor (they sometimes have a female guest on RARE occasion)...but no show is perfect and it's definitely worth listening to despite the lack of a female voice.  

Well, at least they offer women's tees on their store! I do like their use of the Ramone's Logo.

 So, let's see, I suppose this brings me to what I tell people when they ask me why I'm a geek...

 A long time ago, in a not-so-far galaxy away, the year 1986 brought another geek girl into this world. Practically no time passed before Nintendo controllers and Atari joysticks were permanently glued to her fingers and all the pets in the house were named after her favorite video game characters (like her Turtle, Yoshi). Soon, it became apparent that the parents and relatives would spend every Christmas and birthday buying her and her brother video games, consoles and video tapes of their favorite Ninja Turtles episodes.
Punishment for wrongdoings often included the removal of video game consoles from the house, which meant she was an extremely well behaved child who did all her homework, got straight A's and ate all her vegetables for fear of not being able to beat A Link to the Past before that boy Matt whom she vowed would never best her in games. Just because he was a guy, didn't mean he would win.

As time passed, the girl spent increasing amounts of time at her computer desk writing Star Wars fan fics and dreaming of the day when she'd have a career acting in science fiction films (I wish that had come to fruition!) Aside from her copious other random interests, there was always a staple of geek fare to draw her to new friends and relationships. She learned that being the one of few geek girls in a group of geek guys could be awesome, but it could also be the most difficult thing in the world. Any geek girl out there knows that defining friends and relationships in a group as the "geek girl" can be all sorts of crazy wrapped up in all sorts of challenges.

It changed her. It defined her. And throughout her life it would bring her through some crazy adventures - through Renaissance Fairs, All-Night Sci Fi Movie Marathons, Anime Conventions, Presidency in the most awesome Gamers Club in New England, Arcades, IMAX Theaters, Gaming Events, Archaeology Expeditions with Anthropologists who also happened to be Geeks, to Boston, Quebec, Orlando, Tokyo, and more...

Today, it has brought her to Japan, where she studies Anime, Video Games, Cosplay and other Otaku culture while of course indulging in it herself and trying to understand what the hell she wants to do next with her life. She has met some awesome geeky people who came to Japan for all sorts of reasons and make adventures even more amazing. She spends an awful lot of time (too much) on facebook, her cosplay project and debating what to write on this blog, while still wondering if California is too far away when they are soooo definitely going to start casting extras in the next Star Trek film soon...

In fact, as she's writing this post, she remembers that there's a Dance Dance Revolution Machine in Shibuya that she still hasn't gotten the high score on, and that her husband behind her is watching Full Metal Alchemist without her and possibly she won't know what's going on in the episode when she returns to his laptop to watch. She turns to grab her box of Japanese candy and thinks about all the crazy adventures geekdom will bring her over the next year.

 And she smiles - because being geeky in the year 2010 is fricken awesome.

Lady Jones