3 comments

• Comment Link Wednesday, July 18, 2012 posted by voightkampff

  There is truth to the cliche that attractive people are more social, outgoing, and have more opportunity for activities outside of reading, studying, and gaming. That's not to say just because you're attractive you can't have an interest in, and childhood memories of fantasy, sci-fi, and video games. It's just that in my own experience not being "cool" or a jock left me with A LOT of time on my hands. I WISHED I was cool, I WANTED to be invited to parties and I would have spent WAY less time dreaming and losing myself in books and fantasies if I had been. I had friends and I WAS social... with other geeks, hence the cliche. I even had girlfriends, they were attractive to me... and "cool" in a different way, they just weren't the "prom queen".
  So the "unicorn" isn't a female geek/gamer but rather an "attractive" (ie HOT) one. Here's the twist, since the turn of the millennia and the unstoppable wave of mobile multi-media and on-line social revolution and viral popularity in Hollywood blockbuster fantasy/sci/comic movies and conventions, the geek/gamer culture is now creeping fingers into all levels of social hierarchy. Now geek/gamer is a bragging right and cool. AND anything that's cool, attractive people will gravitate towards.
  Unicorns are becoming Zebra's
• Comment Link Monday, July 18, 2011 posted by Jen

  First, I like unicorns. I just don't like being referred to as one, because it causes me to think of the whole "purity; will only attract beautiful virgin girls" kind of thing. It's been a long time since I was a virgin, but I still love unicorns and hope that if I run into them one day they won't reject me, they'll let me pet them. :)
  
  As far as the whole "geek" label, it's just a way for society to compartmentalize us, once again, into something that makes sense to them. That's okay; everybody needs to makes sense of their own world. I make sense of mine by expanding my mind, staying open to new experiences, being accepting of others' chosen lifestyles, and accepting people for what they came into the world with, even if it isn't always palatable for me. It's called tolerance.
  
  I grew up playing pong, simon, Atari, then the arcade games like Pole Position and Pac Man; now I play PC games, xbox 360, PS3, and DS games. It doesn't make me more or less a geek than the 12 year olds that are entering the fantasy adventure worlds adults love for the first time. I believe it is our job to lead them and guide them on their quest for better stories, and to enrich their lives with the best that the "geek" world has to offer.
  
  Being a geek is only a small part of who I am as whole person. Being geeky is just your foot in the door of friendship with me. :)
• Comment Link Monday, July 18, 2011 posted by A Boy Named Art

  So where does that leave us? Well, there is very little we can do about the guys and what they say or think, other than to continue to have the conversation.
  
  You're right, but I think it goes beyond "the guys." As you related elsewhere, the businesses connected to the fandoms we geeks follow have been pushing the Geek Girls as Unicorns myth for decades - to the point where even their own employees have bought into it, it seems. There was a story in Newsweek awhile back asserting that at most of the early Star Trek conventions, the majority of the fan were women.
  
  Our culture tells us that women who aren't ugly shouldn't have deep interests of any sort.
  
  Well, there's also the question of which body types are held up as not being "ugly," which is problematic in a different way. The "Unicorn" tag isn't just about rarity - it's about exotification. One reason I think contributes to the "shitstorm"/backlash is that there's a flip-side to what you're describing: while geekdom for "standard" beauty-types and celebrities is framed so as to make them appealing, when somebody of a different body type is identified as a geek, it's often in a prejorative light. To say nothing of the feelings of disenfranchisement that gamers/geeks of color or LGBT geeks have experienced over the years.
  
  So this is what we do. We support all types of geeks.
  
  The thing is, this support has to involve more than self-identification. If we're gonna go to the wall for the celebrities and "pretty geeks" of the world, then we should be prepared to do the same for black geeks, latino geeks, LGBT geeks, as well. Go to their panel sessions at conventions. Visit the "safe space" websites and learn about their stories, then share those in the greater conversation.