I don’t consider myself a hardcore fan–I tend to watch whatever my (male) geek-buddies are into at the moment. But when I do get into a series, I probably go farther than they do; not merchandise-wise, mind you, but creatively. I love writing fan-fiction and drawing fan-art, as it makes me feel like I’m really part of this wonderful world the original creator has woven together.
And I tend to be a little turned off by the reaction I get from people when they find out that I’m 1) into anime and sports, 2) a girl and 3) Chinese. When they’re all “OMGBBQ”, I’m thinking: “Wow, that’s a really shallow reaction to some person you’re talking to over the internet. You are so not in my dating pool.”
I think a lot of the stereotypes about geeks are simply wrong. First, science fiction conventions aren’t overwhelmingly male. They are perhaps 50% to 60% male. They may have been overwhelmingly male in the mid-1960’s, but that started to turn around about the time Star Trek started showing. Perhaps it was Star Trek that caused the beginning of the change. (Incidentally, not very many people at cons wear costumes. Perhaps 10% of all regular congoers have ever worn a costume at one.)
While it may be true that somewhat more congoers are less physically attractive than average, it’s not by a large amount. Furthermore, the notion that such less physically attractive people who go to cons date (or hook up or however you want to put it) less than they otherwise would is also wrong. If anything, going to cons improves their chances. Fandom tends to be less prejudiced about looks than general society. Indeed, it may not even be true that fans tend to be less physically attractive than average. Twenty years ago I heard someone express the opinion at a con that, for instance, it’s not true that fannish women are heavier than average. This person said that there are proportionately just as many fat women who don’t go to cons than ones who go to cons. It’s just that the tendency of fans to be less prejudiced about looks means that fat fannish women socialize more than fat non-fannish ones do. Being fat is so taboo in general society that fat women don’t go to most social events because they fear being shunned. At cons they are accepted more.
The idea that technically trained people are less likely to be female is increasingly wrong. Again, forty years ago it might have been true, but it’s less and less so. 25% of all math Ph.D.'s are awarded to women, and about 45% of all math bachelor degrees. The idea that women geeks tend not to be pretty is wrong too. Most younger female mathematicians I know are average or better in looks.
I think this is true. I understand the fanfiction scene is largely made up of women, for example. A couple of weeks ago I went to the Fanime convention in San Jose, it seemed to be split about 50/50 overall, but there were way more females in costume than males. They were all pretty young too; I’d guess the average age was around 18-20. I was clearly an outlier on the high end of that bell curve, at any rate.
I agree with this too. I got my bachelor’s in computer science in 2002. There seemed to be slightly more women than men in most of my classes; interestingly, the women were more likely to be nonwhite than the men. I don’t know if I’d describe them as outwardly geeky in the sense we’re talking about here though, just studious.
I go to science fiction conventions, not comic book ones. Most science fiction fans don’t really consider comic book conventions to be the same thing at all.
Me too–well, except for that Doctor Who t-shirt that no one gets anyway. I don’t look or sound like a geek, but I’m right there watching Stargate and MST and reading Neil Gaiman.
My sister, however, is a full-blown geek–CS major, anime obsession, and all.
I once went to an anime convention in Tampa under the misapprehension that it was a general SF con (anime ain’t my thing), and it seemed to me practically all the attendees were girls under 20 in costume. But the geekiness quotient of the anime genre’s fanbase is debatable. [supercilious sniff]
There is one stereotype that is true; women are evaluated more strictly in social skills and looks.
They get more feed-back in those areas and therefore develop the skills (yes, looks are a skill). So even women in technical fields know how to present themselves attractively and have good social skills.
Well, relatively, in general, the curve is shifted to the right …
Feedback no doubt helps, but the evidence is good for a strong genetic component, inherited from the mother. Women with a genetic disorder where they are missing an X chromosome have social skills that vary according to which parent contributed the surviving X; if it was from the father, they have skills no better than males, on average.
There’s another factor in that girls learn a lot about fashion and makeup from their mothers. Unfortunately, mine doesn’t know much about those things, so she couldn’t pass on much knowledge. I suspect she regrets that, and, if I have a daughter, no doubt I’ll regret it a bit too. On the other hand, I don’t regret learning there are more important things than looks.
How are looks a skill? (I know they might take trouble and effort, but that’s true of many things that are not skills.)
“Right” politically, or in reference to the IQ bell curve, or what? If the latter, I know SF trufen like to think their (OK, our) community is far more intelligent than the 'Danelaw average, but is there any real proof?
The main difference between a freshman at Georgia Tech and a senior is not what you have learned, what you have failed, how many classes you passed even if you failed every test, or how awesome you did at some LAN party. Mostly, it’s the difference between sitting in Brittan after a month your freshman year and counting 10 girls to the 50 guys and remarking to the people you’ve met (all guys) how weird it is. Not only that, but you witness, several tables away, another group of guys doing the same thing: counting, laughing, looking distressed. However, when you have a month left to graduate, maybe, maybe you’ll stop and go - man, in my 50 + class on analytical aerocivil wizardry, there were no females. Most, however, don’t realize - they become institutionalized.
(Oh, I’ve also known people who pick their majors on it being one fifth females! WOO HOO!)
Similarly, I now work at a college radio station. I know the indie world extremely well, have seen dozens of shows, whatever. I think out of our 120 DJ’s, probably 12 are females. There is one chick on the executive board along with the rest of us dudes. All touring bands are all male, all the time. Probably less than 10% are female, probably less than 20% in attendance are the same. I don’t know why, but them’s the breaks. I will also mention that most DJ’s tend towards the eccentric side, especially us on the exec board. We are total geeks about the music world, or sports or whatever.
Those women will start to wonder real fast why he keeps relating most of their talk to things that happened on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. Guys are generally more willing to put up with girls who are socially awkward, but still good looking.
Speaking of Buffy, which relationship seems more real: Willow and Oz, or Xander with Cordelia and then Anya?
How are looks a skill? (I know they might take trouble and effort, but that’s true of many things that are not skills.)