Yvette's Inner Geek Blog

Anything with the keyword geek in it captures my attention because I am always interested in its usage. Not just whether it’s being used as a noun or verb, but whether it’s used in an insulting or admiring manner and how the stereotype is changing over time.

When I assembled the first version of the Geek Test in 1999, the dictionary definition of geek was “1. An odd or ridiculous person. 2. A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.”

In 2002, when I started creating innergeek.us and researching the nature of modern geeks, I was amazed to discover that the entry for geek on (then shiny/new) Wikipedia still reflected the “traditional” definition of geek. Though I’m no Wikipedian, I registered so that I was able to add more current information—and it’s been tweaked and updated over the years by others to create a very full meaning of the word geek.

So as an avid student of geekology, I naturally watched the first season of “Beauty and the Geek” when it aired on the CW network in 2006, plus a few episodes here and there in later seasons. I have mixed feelings about the show as it relates to the stereotype of geek.

Granted, it’s a reality show produced by Ashton Kutcher. But it’s only the third TV series to contain the word geek in the title—the first was the undervalued and prematurely canceled comedy-drama Freaks and Geeks in 1999-2000. Then there was the Comedy Central game show Beat the Geeks in 2001-2002.

Now, I like the idea of expanding people’s world views through forced cooperation between individuals with (apparently) little in common. Many of Beauty and the Geek’s participants also seem to come away from the show with a better sense of self. Or at least episodes are edited that way. What I don’t like, though, is the polarization of the two sides that perpetuate the stereotypes in the eyes of the viewer.

Back in December, I came across this casting call for geeks: Read more…

The feminist geek letter to Toyfare magazine that I posted on my blog the other day showed up in a compendium of links on the fabulous "When Fangirls Attack," which collects links of topical interest to geek girls of all kinds. Officially, the blog is "A Compilation of Articles on Gender in Comics and Comics Fandom."

I salute the efforts of the three women who run the blog, as well as all of the fangirls who create the linked content, for their dedication to the ever-broadening field of Feminist Geekiness.

Dear ToyFare Magazine,

The June issue (#131) of your magazine has a feature article entitled “The Big Picture Show” which boasts that “ToyFare has everything a fanboy needs to know about the 10 biggest summer releases.”

But what about the fanGIRLS, ToyFare? Don’t we also need to know the important things about this summer’s movies?

I know that most of your staff and probably most of your readers are male, but come on. There’s no need to alienate your already under-recognized female readers by using gender-specific terminology.

It’s not that I have a problem with the word “fanboy” (in fact, I love it). I just wish that you would have been more inclusive with your wording. Perhaps you could have used “fanboys and fangirls” instead.

Too wordy, you say?

Well then, I would like to propose a new, non-gender-specific name for fanboys and fangirls. How about “fangeeks?” Yes, I like that.

I would also like the fangirls out there to move away from the sidelines and show these fanboys that we’re not just pretty faces in frilly dresses (or black leather, as the case may be) and that they’re not the only ones who collect toys MIB, read comics, enjoy OCD geek speak, and drool over wonderfully geeky magazines.

Sincerely,

Yvette Beaudoin
Feminist Geek Girl & Loyal ToyFare Subscriber

Leap Day is the day I remember specific people’s birthdays: my little cousin Sophie is 12 (it’s her third birthday) and my friend Jon from college must be 28 (ooo, lucky number seven). I thought that Mozart was also a Leap Year Baby (learned somewhere during my early public school education) but I can’t find any evidence of that.

In other Numbers Notes, I find it interesting that I will be turning 29 in this Leap Year. And my fourth wedding anniversary is sneaking upon me. I hadn’t realized that being married in a Leap Year was considered bad luck in Greece. Oh well. I also walked under a ladder that year and spilled a ton of salt. Plus, a black cat has crossed in front of me almost every day for seven years.

February 29 is also the one day of the year that it is traditionally okay for a woman to propose marriage to a man. There are some interesting vintage postcards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that really encourage women to put on their scarlet bloomers and grab a guy by the balls, which of course was totally inappropriate back then. (It’s much more common nowadays.) Way to embrace women’s suffrage… give them one "free" day year!

However, I’m amused by the fact that if a man declines a proposa under that tradition, he has to "soften the blow" by giving her a kiss or buying her gloves, a silk dress, etc.  I’d be proposing like mad during that time period just to get a bunch of lovin’ and cool swag. If a guy accidentally took me seriously, I would have said j/k because there doesn’t seem to be a traditional penalty for that. Other than breaking a guy’s heart… oh, cry me a river. Payback’s a bitch!

Wow, I suddenly feel very cynical. I assure you that everything’s just fine with me. *twitch* 

Sorting through things the past couple days had left a small stack of books on my desk, including "Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe" by Nancy Goldstone, published this year. I picked it up at a used bookstore in Brooklyn while I was there (staying with my aunt) on business in early October. This is the first time since then that I picked it up.

I like many things Medieval, feminist and historical, and so far this book seems to fit the bill.  There’s a little summary explaining that the troubadors were "roving poets who set their words to music and played to the elegant audiences of the aristocracy." I’ve heard about the troubadors, but I didn’t know about what I read next (p. 2-3):

"Women, too, felt the allure of poetry and rambled around the south of France composing songs; they were called trobairitz. Although known today primarily as songwriters, they were also by turns journalists, political columnists, war correspondents, gossipmongers, actors, writers, directors; they were satirists, pageant artists, spin-doctors, and spies."

 Neato, I say, and I think I might enjoy reading this book during my 4-day Christmas weekend. Especially if it continues to be, according to the dust jacket blurb, "a compulsively readable narrative" that "shatters the myth that women were pawns in a society that celebrated physical prowess and masculine intellect."

I do love a good myth-shattering. 

On a more personal note, I had a bunch of crap to finish at work today, so I was the last one in the office. Add on top of that the fact that it looks like there is no company bonus for me this year and I didn’t even receive well-wishes from the company.  So I popped open a dusty bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon when I came home and retreated to my office. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had wine, and after only one glass I’m starting to feel more relaxed and more pleasant. I’ll probably not feel the same way tomorrow, especially if I have another glass with dinner (boxed lasagna is in the oven now). But I’m enjoying it now.

Any magazine that uses the word "clusterfuck" in an article has my vote. BUST magazine is published 6 times a year and I love the ads almost as much as the articles themselves.

But what does it say about me if I reveal the guilty little secret that I also subscribe to Martha Stewart Living. The other print magazines to which I currently subscribe are Toyfare by Wizard, Smithsonian and Real Simple

I get the local Sunday paper, but other than that I read my news online. I subscribed to Wired for a little while, as well as Archaeology, The New Yorker and Creating Keepsakes (that was a gift subscription from work… I just read the scrapbooking industry magazines at work now because there are always copies floating around). I still devour magazines when they arrive, though sometimes it takes a couple days because of work and stuff. It allows me to get sucked into reading without the inevitable hours of time-sucking that occurs when I pick up a novel.

I also keep meaning to pick up a copy of Geek Monthly, but I mostly shop for books online so I don’t go to bookstores very often. Maybe I’ll do that this weekend. In between writing chunks of words to catch me the hell up on NaNoWriMo.

Any other suggestions for magazines I might like? 

Last week, when Friday the 13th was almost over, I was doing a string of searches for some geeky stuff related to my website.  I came across a call for submissions for an anthology of essays entitled "She’s Such a Geek," to be released in book format this fall.
The problem was that it was due at midnight on Sunday the 15th, and the word count requirement was 3,000 to 6,000 words.  I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to do it.

But I did!

I wrote a little about the story of the Geek Test and about the acceptance of my own inner geek as time progressed.  That’s a summary.   I think that I was able to put it in a more descriptive, literary form.  The final word count was just over 5,000 words.  Unfortunately, I was writing and editing right up until midnight, so the piece that I submitted was probably not the absolute best that it could have been, particularly towards the end.  The actual ending was good, I think, because I had already thought it out.  My husband read it and said he like the Tarantino/jumping-around-in-time effect.  But nobody died in my essay, so I don’t think I would ever call it true Tarantino style.  I wanted to keep fixing it, like every non-published writer out there, but I decided to submit it as it was because the other option would not have even allowed for the chance to be published in this anthology.  The subject matter requested was just too irresistable not to submit something!  I do, after all, consider myself to know a few things about geeks, and certainly my own experiences as a geek.

In any case, the pain of waiting should last until Febrary 15th.  If I don’t hear back from them by then, I am supposed to assume that they have thrown my essay into the trash or into their slush pile (to be discovered years after my death, I’m sure).  Here’s the actual post on Seal Press’ website:

SHE’S SUCH A GEEK
An Anthology by and for Women Obsessed
with Computers, Science, Comic Books,
Gaming, Spaceships, and Revolution

Slated for Fall 2006

Geeks are taking over the world. They make the most popular movies and games, pioneer new ways to communicate using technology, and create new ideas that will change the future. But the stereotype is that only men can be geeks. So when are we going to hear from the triumphant female nerds whose stories of outer space battles will inspire generations and whose inventions will change the future?

Female geeks are busting out of the labs and into the spotlight. They have the skills and knowledge that can inspire social progress, scientific breakthroughs, and change the world for the better, and they’re making their voices heard, some for the first time, in the upcoming anthology She’s Such a Geek. This anthology will celebrate women who have flourished in the male-dominated realms of technical and cultural arcana. We’re looking for a wide range of personal essays about the meaning of female nerdhood by women who are in love with genomics, obsessed with blogging, learned about sex from Dungeons and Dragons, and aren’t afraid to match wits with men or computers. The essays in She’s Such a Geek will explain what it means to be passionately engaged with technical or obscure topics—and how to deal with it when people tell you that your interests are weird, especially for a girl. This book aims to bust stereotypes of what it means to be a geek, as well as what it means to be female.

More than anything, She’s Such a Geek is a celebration and call to arms: it’s a hopeful book which looks forward to a day when women will pilot spaceships, invent molecular motors, design the next ultra-tiny supercomputer, write epics, and run the government.

We want introspective essays that explain what being a geek has meant to you. Describe how you’ve fought stereotypes to be accepted among nerds. Explore why you are obsessed with topics and ideas that are supposed to be "for boys only." Tell us how you felt the day you realized that you would be devoting the rest of your life to discovering algorithms or collecting comic books. We want strong, personal writing that is also smart and critical. We don’t mind if you use the word "fuck," and we don’t mind if you use the word "telomerase." Be celebratory, polemical, wistful, angry, and just plain dorky.

Possible topics include:
• what turned you into a geek
• your career in science, technology, or engineering
• growing up geeky
• being a geek in high school today
• battling geek stereotypes (i.e racial stereotypes and geekdom, cultural analysis of geek chic and the truth about nerds, the idea that women have to choose between being sexually desirable and smart, stereotypes about geek professions such as computer programmers)
• sex and dating among geeks
• science fiction fandom
• role-playing game or comic-book subcultures
• the joys of math
• blogging or videogames
• female geek bonding
• geek role models for women
• feminist commentary on geek culture
• women’s involvement in DiY science and technology groups
• Stories from women involved in geek pop and underground cultures. These might include comic book writers, science fiction writers, electronic music musicians, and women interested in the gaming world.
• women’s web networks and web zine grrrl culture
• Issues of sexism in any of the above themes

EDITORS: Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders are geeky women writers. Annalee is a contributing editor at Wired magazine and writes the syndicated column Techsploitation. Charlie is the author of Choir Boy (Soft Skull Press) and publisher of other magazine.

PUBLISHER: Seal Press, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, publishes groundbreaking books by and for women in a variety of topics.

DEADLINE: January 15, 2006

LENGTH: 3,000-6,000 words

FORMAT: Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and paginated. Please include your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio on the last page. Essays will not be returned.

SUBMITTING: Send essay electronically as a Document or Rich Text Format file to Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders at sheissuchageek@gmail.com.

PAYMENT: $100 plus two books

REPLY: Please allow until February 15 for a response. If you haven’t received a response by then, please assume your essay has not been selected. It is not possible to reply to every submission personally.