Wednesday 9 January 2013

Geek Girls Unite: The Launch of Capital Geek Girls

LET'S SHARE SOME GEEK CONFESSIONS.

Harley Quinn board I
painted. (original:
Bruce Timm)
When I was 11 years old, there was a power outage at my grandparents' house. I was scared, so Dad gave me paper and pencils and told me to keep busy. I drew a bunch of superwomen, and I just never stopped.

My first serious crush, at a very young age,was on Darth Vader. When he took off his helmet in the last episode to reveal an ugly, ruined man, my heart broke. 

I rallied and turned my attentions towards Boba Fett.

I was raised on Star Trek. I had seen every single episode of Next Generation before I hit puberty...and not just once; at least three times each.

In grade 6, I went to school for Hallowe'en dressed as a Bjorn priestess. Nobody else watched Deep Space Nine, but I didn't care. 

I collected XMen titles religiously until the conclusion of the Phalanx Covenant series, then switched to anything Michael Turner was drawing. 
When I was 14, I made over all my Barbies into superwomen. I lovingly built wire-and-papier-mache claw hands for Penance; I agonized over a bomber jacket for Rogue made out of brown vinyl.

In high school, my parents banned me from playing RPG's (the old-school, in-person kind) because they were worried I was 'running with the wrong crowd'. So my friends helped smuggle me to games. That is quite literally ALL the trouble I got into for most of high school.
I have a tattoo inspired by Battlestar Galactica, and another one which is a quote from V for Vendetta.

MJ as Tank Girl. She can geek you under
the table. (I did her hair!)
So I am, unabashedly, a self-professed geek girl. And if you understood even 30% of what I just referenced in those confessions, you might be one, too. 

GEEK GIRL TROUBLES

Over the last few months, I've heard some concerning rumblings about geek girls meeting with judgment, sexism, and meanness from the male geek world. A recent girls-only event held at the local Comic Book Shoppe on Bank Street (Ottawa, Ontario) caused several fanboys to get their capes in a twist because the event wasn't open to them, too...nevermind that the rest of the year, almost all geek events are heavily dominated by fans who are male. The event was an opportunity for girls to connect with the things they love without feeling hit on, put down, or excluded from the real action. It was an awesome fun time, and I found the criticism really distasteful and, well, dumb.

I was talking to my BFF, MJ (perhaps the queen of girl geekdom), and she said that this wasn't an isolated phenomenon. Apparently, there's a widespread belief that geek girls are 'posers', wearing Flash tee shirts or Super Mario belt buckles just to look 'cool'; that girls can't possibly be as fanatical about our geek things as boys are. 

Well listen up, sexist fanboys: I hear you roll newbie girl Magic players on their first night and scare them off from coming back. I hear that you wanted into the girls-only event so you could check out more than just the merchandise. I hear that maybe you're just bitter that those cool Flash tee-wearing girls don't find your knowledge of Batcave blueprints as sexy as you thought it was.

For the girl-friendly fanboys: I'm sorry you had to hear that. You're +20 to cool. 


ENTER: CAPITAL GEEK GIRLS

Anyway, ranting aside, I've taken steps to encourage the inclusion and engagement of geek girls in the land of Geektopia. I've begun a modest Facebook fanpage for a little fan club I'm putting together, called Capital Geek Girls.  All girls (and girl-identified humans) are welcome to join--as are enlightened males, of course. Capital Geek Girls is a place to keep connected with geeky happenings, new products/shows/games that girls have an interest in, and maybe even some stories about geek girls in geek industries. The geek world is famous for its DIY component, so I'm going to be spotlighting some great geek girl creators here on GIRL, CRAFTED as well. 

I invite you to go 'like' the Capital Geek Girls fanpage right now. Don't forget to click 'get notifications' so you see all the posts. And listen, ladies: don't worry if you don't know the first and last name of every Green Lantern, or if you're only into one kind of videogame genre. There's no geek gauntlet to run before you can earn your geek stripes. If you're a girl, and you like geek things, we want to see you on the fanpage. 
xo

NOTE: Do you have a geek confession you wanna share? Comment below. I dare ya.

16 comments:

  1. I really wanted to name one of my sons Gauis. Not after the character per se, but because I grew to love the name :)

    I also own the movie tank girl. On VHS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice one, Lara! Okay, I'll trade you another one: My thumbs and my feet look just like the thumbs and feet drawn by a comic book artist named Joe Madureira, an artist that I love. Consequently, my thumbs and my feet are probably my favourite body parts.

      Delete
  2. I grew up on original Star Trek series (my dad is a huge fan so we watched the show in syndication a lot.). I also watched the Next Generation series faithfully when it came out (Deep Space Nine too!). By-the-by: I have an autographed photo of Marina Sirtis. Ya, that's right. Eat your heart out. :)

    When I was a kid, ALL the kids in my 'hood lived and breathed Star Wars...girls and boys alike. I didn't have a crush on Darth Vader but I thought Boba Fett was pretty cool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's some life-long, super-proud Trekky love right there!

      Okay, another confession in trade: I used to wear my dad's Star Trek (original series) uniform shirt to school. Dad and I thought I was pretty freakin' COOL.

      Delete
    2. I went to Ottawa Comic Con 2012 dressed as Deanna Troi on the final day. I saw her at her table, and walked up to her. I asked her if she had a minute for a picture with me, and she said: "OMG! It's ME!!" and then I died. And then I revived myself and I squeed, and then we took a picture together. I now have a photo on my phone that I shall never ever erase ever. And whenever I feel blue, I look at that picture.
      I developed a love for STNG when I was young. My mom and I used to make dinner and watch STNG together and eat dinner on the couch. :)

      Delete
  3. I just about had a heart attack yesterday when Maddie, my almost-7-year-old daughter, claimed that Star Wars was for boys!!!!! Gasp!!!! Clutch my heart!!!! What are you doing to me? She was flabbergasted when I said that it most definitely was NOT for boys and that the Star Wars movies were Mommy's favourites when growing up (I have to admit to a fondness for Han Solo). I think it's time to introduce her to the awesomeness of the original Star Wars, Episode IV.

    I knew we were kindred spirits - I also had to secretly play RPGs (dice and all). Ah, the good old days...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love that you also had to play RPGs in secret!!!

      Maddie needs to embrace Star Wars. We may need to make her something on the theme. :)

      Delete
  4. Ha, how much do I love this? Here via FB and just liked your page. I too grew up watching Star Wars and Star Trek and playing AD&D. I named my kid Luke partly because of my girlhood crush on Luke Skywalker and partly just so my husband could milk the "Luke, I am your father" line. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice to have you here, Dani! I LOVE that 'Luke I am your father' thing. Ha, never even thought of it!

      Okay, trade you a confession, too: I once almost ditched a friend at a social event when he pointed to a model of the Enterprise and said, "Is that the spaceship from Star Wars?"

      Delete
  5. I was raised on the classics: Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars. My favourite books, as a whole, centre on fantasy, mythology and legends. And my family is currently building a Dalek, named Souffle, to debut at Ottawa Comic Con in May. I used to have a Warhammer army made up of Wood Elves (yeah, yeah, I know, not too powerful against my BIL's mass of Orcs) and my favourite Nintendo video game was Wizards & Warriors.

    So there you go. Say it loud, I am a geek and I am proud!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So I'm guessing the 'confession' part of that was your affection for the weakling wood elves? ;)
      K, let me think of one to trade you...

      In grades 4 through 6, I opted to play with the younger boys in my brother's grade at lunch. We would go out to the deepest snow in the field and dub each of ourselves different superheroes. We would then pummel the snot out of each other by body-slamming each other into the snow. The yard monitor would walk all the way across the field to tell us to stop, but once she left we'd go back at it because we knew she wouldn't make the trek again.

      Delete
  6. Hey Danger, great post, awesome blog!

    So, i name all my cars and motorcycles. My current bike (sv650) is called Misery (long story) and she has a glow in the dark transformers decal over her headlight. My 85 VW cabrio is called Bean and will have Stormtrooper decals once she's back in one piece.
    http://gabrielramsay.wordpress.com/


    On the trekkie side of things... I just hacked my apple tv to get netflix USA cuz i just finished going through all 7 seasons of TNG. Now on Voyageur... I Vulcan hate you Tuvak,

    What's your V for Vendetta line?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Danger, great post, awesome blog!

    So, i name all my cars and motorcycles. My current bike (sv650) is called Misery (long story) and she has a glow in the dark transformers decal over her headlight. My 85 VW cabrio is called Bean and will have Stormtrooper decals once she's back in one piece.
    http://gabrielramsay.wordpress.com/


    On the trekkie side of things... I just hacked my apple tv to get netflix USA cuz i just finished going through all 7 seasons of TNG. Now on Voyageur... I vulcan hate you Tuvak...

    What's your V for Vendetta line?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hey Mr Gabo,
    Them's some good names for your automobiles. Well done!
    Voyageur was never as good as the previous series.
    My V for Vendetta line is "Vi veri veniversum vivus vici." It looks lovely and reminds me everyday.

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  9. Hey Danger!
    This is a great idea!
    I think this is cool because as I grew up showing my "geeky ways" my mom shut it down because she wanted the perfect girly girl daughter. So I hid my ways and likes and as I am older I am coming more out of myself, and I am really into League of Legends and Anime. Not to mention I love my N64 and 22 games to death!! Oh yeah grew up secretly staying up late to watch Star Wars with my bro!

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  10. Bah! How dare you! I love Voyager! It's my favourite, though I often hesitate to voice this opinion since nobody seems to share it and don't want to be scoffed at by other geeks (ordinary humans can scoff all they want, their opinions matter not in matters of the Trek). But c'mon - has there ever been a more badass series finale than Voyager's? Emerging from an exploding Borg cube into the Alpha quadrant in front of hundreds of your peers? Janeway FTW!

    Two confessions: First, I have in the past been described as a "sexy She-Spock" owing to my tendency to approach all matters with a logic and science. I consider this my most treasured compliment I have ever received.

    Second, I became so attached to my night elf character in WoW that I very nearly went back to school to become a Master Herbalist in real life. In fact, I may still do that.

    ReplyDelete

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