Challenging The Gatekeepers: Exposing Fallacies To The 'Fake Geek Girl' Argument

"Natalie Zina Walschots exposes the fallacies to the 'fake geek girl' argument often made by gatekeepers of the hobby."

[Root]

That timeline picture in the article is amazing, so true.

No offence I know there are girls on this site so this isn't aimed at you, remember that but there are a lot more fake, female gamers then guys. I've seen so many over the years especially when the Wii made gaming more mainstream and casual.

That "The Cake is a lie" phrase used in the picture is fantastic example because it was something which related to not only video games but also geeks in general aswell because video games had become a big part of the geek culture as a whole. With geek groups over the years becoming popular like a new trend more girls wanted in on it and decided to go along with the flow.

Take Meg from Family guy for example, if you had her in your school she would be the un popular one, if the next COD came out and people started talking about it Meg would get it aswell to talk about it in social groups, just so she can fit it and have something in common with most other people...the only difference in reality though is that instead of face to face she'll get "Shut Up Meg" online through her headset.

Felicia Day for me is using gaming to make her self known, she's an actress but because she's not very well known she uses the gaming industry and her "passion" for video games to stand out and keep her self in a job. Kind of using a gimmick to exploit herself for her own gain at the end of the day. I mean at least with Nathan Fillion you don't really see him do this despite being associated with the video game crowd

I think what girl gamers have to realise real or fake is that gaming has and will always be a guys thing. You can go on about equal rights and how they need to cater to your gender but to be very blunt, tough titties, if you really like the hobby you'll like it for what it is. Back when gaming came out it was targeted for guys mainly, hell look at the PS1 for example, grey, ugly, blocky not something you would try to gain the interest in females and thats where the "lol look at that loser and his video games" stereotype came from, not because people made it up but because it was true. Girls wanted nothing to do with geeks and their video games or computers it wasn't their thing which proves gaming when invented weren't targeting the female audience.

Now I'm not saying their wasn't any female gamers who bought the NES, PS1, Sega Megadrive, that would be silly to say but they wern't the target audience and I think thats what a lot of female gamers have got to understand today, especially when they are online, make a scene, get ripped a part by the large majority of males online then complain how they are treated.

You want to like this hobby, then get with the program or move on.

[Agent Smith]

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[Irishguy95]

Epic speech and Epic Pic

Edit
@ WishingW3L

Instantly googled

[Blacktric]

@Root

Keep that in mind that the article is defending the exact opposite of that image.

Though it's not surprising at all considering it's a site that houses an idiot that named himself a "turbo feminist".

Oh and, I agree with every single paragraph you wrote. Very well put.

[cleft5]

You had a valid point to start with, but you lost me right here:

"I think what girl gamers have to realise real or fake is that gaming has and will always be a guys thing. You can go on about equal rights and how they need to cater to your gender but to be very blunt, tough titties, if you really like the hobby you'll like it for what it is."

Bottom line is that is just wrong. It's not about catering to women and yes there are certainly women that exploit male gamers for their own personal gain. This is nothing new and will continue to happen in various media forms. I even agree with you about Felicia Day exploiting her hobby to keep her in a job. However, gaming is becoming mainstream whether we like it or not and that means more and more women will become gamers and more women will feel empowered to state that they are gamers.

There have been female gamers for as long as their have been male gamers. In the past it wasn't socially acceptable for a woman to admit she played video games but that time is over. Gaming has never just been a "guy thing." It was something that women, not a great deal of women because of societal restrictions, enjoyed as much as men.

Now it is cool to be a geek and into gaming culture, so you are getting all the posers coming out of the wood works to claim that they are something that they aren't. But you are also getting women that are actually into gaming coming out and admit it and those women don't deserve to be persecuted. Those women just want to openly be apart of the gaming culture as much as the rest of us men.

So how do you tell the difference between a real female game or a fake one? Simple, you don't. You treat people right and be weary of folks that try and get something for nothing. That has always been true and it remains true now. Women that just want to be apart of the gaming culture aren't trying to get something that no one would normally give them if it wasn't for their gender. It's not hard to spot women that are basically female gaming gold diggers. Gold diggers are always easy to spot because they are incredibly blatant and disgusting with their actions.

[Root]

"There have been female gamers for as long as their have been male gamers"

Theres been female gamers but very very few exsisted back then and even then wern't as interested as most men were

Consoles were targeted at the male audience, where do you think the "What a geek, playing with his computer and his video games" stereotype came from.

As I've said above aswel it wasn't even marketed towards females, it was targeted at males who liked computers and stuff.

"So how do you tell the difference between a real female game and a fake one? Simple, you don't. You treat people right and be weary of folks that try and get something for nothing. That has always been true and it remains true now."

Easy...you just do, it's pretty obvious when you talk to them where they stand and the majority of them I've talked to have been fakes

If you a girl on here, who has made enough time to sign up here, look at Pozzle for example then I'm guessing your a true gamer who likes the hobby for what it is. However you get the odd black sheep like Mika.

[DragonKnight]

I don't think that gaming should cater to anyone's needs in the way feminists want. Sure, you can make games that would appeal to a certain audience or whatever, but it's like the debate we had here in Canada about the Vancouver Olympics and groups wanting our National Anthem, traditionally sung in French and English, to be sung in Hindi as well. The argument was that Canada had become such a diverse country that it was only right to change our national anthem that way. It was eventually dismissed because national anthems don't work that way because they are heavily rooted in tradition. Someone joining in late in the game has to accept what the game is and always has been from the start.

It's the same thing with the Christmas vs Happy Holidays. Here you have a tradition, admittedly rooted in religion, that many wanted to change out of offense to their religions and sensibilities.

Is it right for any gamer to spew off racial or sexist slurs? No. Should people have to deal with that? No. But that's just idiots. Idiots are universal. You won't stop idiots no matter how much progress moves anything forward. That's simply just a fact. If you're a guy, then idiots will call you homophobic names regardless of your orientation, if you're a girl idiots will use sexist slurs. It's not going to change, but in the meantime people who just want to game shouldn't have to have the stigma of sexism thrown on them thanks to some people who had bad experiences with a small group of idiots.

[StillGray]

I can completely relate. Women have an extra hurdle to gain any sort of credit in this hobby because of the gatekeepers.

[jut420]

Ive seen guys and girls be accepted and shunned for the same reasons....if a girl can game or is fun to game with no one shuns them for being girls but little kids

[Blacktric]

http://www.dailydot.com/new...

"Under the psuedonym SolInvictus, Cheong had inserted himself as a moderator at many of Reddit’s largest forums, including r/AskReddit, r/Politics, r/WTF, and r/TodayILearned, all of which boast more than 1 million subscribers."

Hi Ian. Do you think, as a white, straight male, should I check my privilege? I forgot to do it today.

[wishingW3L]

does anybody know who Pooksie is? She's a hardcore League of Legends player with a video on pornhub. XD

[banjadude]

OH ... my! lol

[Root]

COUGH COUGH link COUGH COUGH COUGH

...Who said that

[TechOne]

link ?

[cleft5]

Dude we need more hardcore gamers like that, I am all for it. Don't get why she gets all the hate for showing what we all want to see.

[DragonKnight]

While I don't care what a woman wants to show the world, idiots will make the link between what she did and sexism. They'll say she's making it harder for women to be taken seriously because guys will make a response like you just did. It's her body, and her choice, but too many women identify themselves by how other women act as a whole and how other people treat them as a result.

[Megaton]

I gamed frequently with a girl back in the early 90's while I was in elementary school. Probably a big reason why I've never considered female gamers to be the unicorn that so many others see them as. Same thing happened in middle school and high school. Even today I know a girl who could probably beat any of you in any fighting game all day long.

[rainslacker]

I've known, and know quite a few myself. It's just the crowd I hung out with because we had common interest in video games. Some are good at games, some are bad. Some like certain types of games that other don't, and some like other types of games that others don't. There is nothing special about being a "girl gamer" to me. You either like games or you don't. I'll give as much attention to someone talking about games regardless of if they are seeking attention or not because from the outset I don't know if they're seeking attention, and I really like talking about video games. As far as how I treat them, that comes down to a lot more qualities than their interest in video games.

This whole sexism debate is getting rather tiring. There are idiots out there that criticize female gamers due to ignorance or lack of social ability. The majority of male gamers treat female gamers just like they would any other female, either with the same respect as any other human, or some kind of need to seem like they are more significant because they are women.

I'm really tired of being lumped in with a small minority of people that choose to be vocal.

[TechOne]

Down vote me all you want, but this is kinda true.

[Pushagree]

It hits the nail on the head, really. Girls wonder why they aren't taken seriously in the gaming community and this is exactly why. I used to get mocked back in the day for playing video games. They said I was wasting my life for liking video games and called me nerd, basement dweller, and all that kind of stuff. I didn't care because I liked gaming and anyone who didn't like that could go F themselves. That's what being a nerd is about: doing what you love and not caring about what is trendy or not. Girls only got into gaming once it became socially acceptable for them to do it (ie when the wii came out) and never cared about it before then. You have no right to call yourself a nerd if you wait till it's trendy to like it.

[adorie]

I'm female and I agree with that picture. Because I'm not part of the typical female demographic.

I don't do attention whore, but I guess this comment can be taken as hypocrisy. :T

[Qrphe]

I hate those girls who take on the "gamur gurl xD" role easily (actual girl who games or not) just for attention, but I also despise those losers who suck up to them.

[banjadude]

lol, this about sums it up:

http://i245.photobucket.com...

[rainslacker]

Unfortunately it seems that they are all lumped into the attention seeking group, even though people will say there are exceptions. Male gamers seem to take a defensive view on the situation, immediately assuming it's for attention. I've been guilty of this myself on another post on here, although I feel I had good reason for that assumption, it may not have been true.

And yes, those that empower them to be attention seekers don't really help. Doesn't mean we have to immediately disparage the attention seekers. Attention seekers aren't confined to one gender after all.

[Sketchy_Galore]

The image would be perfect if it stopped at 2009. I have my issues with the whole 'video games objectify women' argument but that's really not an argument put forth by the fake girl gamers. Fake girl gamers are too busy talking about how they're sooo nerdy because they just played ten minutes of Angry birds to actually notice what's going on in the industry.

Still, like it or not, the fake 'omg I'm such a nerd' girl 'gamer' is a real phenomenon that has become huge over the past few years. Of course there have been women in every aspect of the videogame world from the beginning. Amy Hennig is widely considered one of the best writers in the industry and I don't think anybody could accuse her of exploiting her sexuality to get where she is today. Kim Swift is a relative newcomer to the industry but already deservedly well respected for her creative work.

Unfortunately for every one of these women there are ten thousand girls taking half naked photos next to their brother's old Snes that they've never even plugged in just to appear hip to the whole nerd chic thing. It's this whole new wave of shallow dolts who have latched onto a culture they would have mocked mercilessly a few years earlier just because its the latest cool thing that these kinds of memes are based on. Maybe it would be more accurate to stop saying, 'this is a history of girls and videogames' and start saying, 'this is a history of the average fashion conscious female of 13-35 and her relation to the videogame industry which actually includes many highly accomplished women' but having to phrase everything like that kinda kills the comedy.

I don't want to sound callous but if you're offended because you can't join a single multiplayer game online without getting cyber-stalked or can't get a job in the industry due to your gender you have legitimate complaints. If you're complaining because a comedy meme didn't specify that there are exceptions to most social trends, you might just need to lighten up a little.

[Thirty3Three]

Nerds.

[-Gespenst-]

Absolutely nothing wrong with girls playing and loving videogames, but there are defintely girls who pretend to like them just to seem quirky and cute and to attract certain types of guys. Maybe in other cases it's acting out an inferiority complex, (seeing videogames as the domain of losers and geeks) and seeking attention that way, I don't know. Just like everything else you have your good and your bad. I know girls who sincerely like videogames and it's great. "Fake gamer girls" are just another part of a culture that seems to encourage being a poseur. Think hipsters.

They make the rest of us sincere folk look bad, but nonetheless, we, the sincere folk, do exist. Sincere gamer girls, do exist. You shouldn't base your judgments off of impressions (i.e. fake gamer girls) who are themselves based off of impressions. (i.e. fake gamer girls having a shallow, ill-informed understanding of games.)