Being a woman on the internet is …interesting. Navigating the seemingly endless unsolicited dick-pics slid into my DMs is one thing; I can safely assume every woman with any sort of presence online has experienced the dreaded “Other”-inbox messages from random strangers.
But then you have a whole new can of worms: Being a geeky girl on the internet. For whatever reason, dudebros think it appropriate to question my “geekness” whenever I mention a fandom I’m a part of, or worse yet – mention a fandom they’re a part of, and therefore are naturally superior in all knowledge about said fandom compared to me – a mere woman… Whether or not that is actually true doesn’t even matter: They are dudes, therefore they are ~better at being geeky~ by default.
Hilariosity ensues whenever these dudes are younger than myself, though.
I was born in 1984, which makes me roughly the same age as the OG Nintendo NES (right smack inbetween the releases of the Japanese Famicom console and the North American NES console – 1983 and 1985 respectively. The European NES console came a year later, in 1986).
Some of my earliest memories include fiddling with the family computer, which ran MS DOS and used 5 1⁄4-inch, and 3 1⁄2-inch floppy disks, and playing Space Invaders for hours on end. I was about 3 or 4 years old, and had taught myself to load the game from floppy. I grew up reading Donald Duck comics, as those were readily available to me in my native language, Norwegian, and DC and Marvel comics weren’t as available here at the time. By the time I was 6 years old, the Norwegian Broadcast Company (NRK) had started airing the original Batman and Robin TV-series from the 60s starring Adam West and Burt Ward. I was hooked from the first na-na na-na na-na.
When I was about 13 years old, in 1998, my household got an internet connection, and of course a serious upgrade of the computer along the way. I gorged on Doom, Diablo, and most notably Duke Nukem 3D, and spent more time online than most of my peers – I found likeminded people, and began long-lasting friendships with people I had never met in person. I delved into forums and message boards devoted to various fandoms, most notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer, wrote lengthy LiveJournal-posts, and talked to my friends via IRC (Internet Relay Chat) about the meaning of life and all in it (…42).
Suffice it to say that I have lived in geekdom for quite some time now.
And yet… if and when I assert my geekiness online, the inevitable happens: Some dude – often younger than myself – starts grilling me about the fandom or topic I’ve mentioned interest in. If I don’t regurgitate his exact knowledge of the thing, I’m deemed a “fake geek girl” and ridiculed for it. Happens every time – without fail. I don’t claim to know everything about every single fandom I’m a part of, because that would be a seriously monstrous task to undertake, but that does not make me any less of a geek than you.
It’s ridiculous, and annoying, and shit that happens way too often: Geeky dudes whining about there not being any girls in their fandom, and when a girl does enter their precious fandom – they do everything they can to ensure she never returns. All the while claiming they’re “not like other dudes” and they “totes love geek girls”, mind you.
You don’t get to decide whether or not I’m a “real” geek. I just am. Fuckin’ deal with it.
The Geeky Saga 