Are you a geek girl? Or a nerdy woman? If you are either of those, I’m going to bet that you don’t self identify as meek or easy to please.
Recently, XOJane published an article that eviscerated an irritating article on Elite Daily that terribly miscategorized geek girls. Sure, geeky and nerdy women are smart (and yes, they are most likely smarter, or at the very least more insightful than the Elite Daily bro of an author), but the rest of the Elite list is pretty damn painful.
As most of the women in the comment section of the article said, and as the XOJain writer penned, girls who are into comics, video games, horror, etc., are not all the same. And just because a girl can nerd-out over a great graphic novel just like a dude can, doesn’t make her some magical, science-obsessed, manic pixie dream girl.
Since more and more women and young girls are becoming more vocal about their obsessions with niche things, and cult shows and films, men (and more accurately, traditional media pop culture reporters), have started to classify this large group of women as sexy geek girls. The big problem with that is that every woman in one way or another is a nerd, and shouldn’t be pegged as a one-note character a bunch of dudes who have no idea what they are talking about coined while sitting at their potato chip crumb ridden computer chair. Every girl or women who is obsessed with something, be it “Game of Thrones,” or anime, is totally different. We’re not all the same and we sure as hell aren’t easy to please.
The piece at Elite Daily claims that geeky girls are:
1. Ridden with breathing ailments, such as asthma: “Geeky girls are a breath of fresh air – much like the inhaler they might keep inside of their canvas satchels (alongside some pamphlets on quantum theories).”
2. Are low maintenance because they don’t care how they look: “Of all the random sh*t geeky girls might obsess over (long algebraic equations, anime flicks, “GoT” memes), their personal appearance is never at the forefront of that list.”
3. She likes totally thoughtless gifts because she’s so self sufficient: “I mean, you could probably buy her a box set of one of her favorite television shows (probably “Thrones” or “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern”) or a gift certificate to the mall – and you won’t hear a complaint out of her for months.”
4. She’s cool because she hasn’t peaked (ew): “That said, nerdy girls typically don’t have the fondest of memories when it comes to (any level of) public schooling, so they’re still budding from a social standpoint. Who knows what the future has in store for her; give her a few more years, and she might look like Jodi Lyn O’Keefe by the end of ‘She’s All That.'”
Geeky girls and nerdy women are deep people who have many passions, probably like to shower and put on a nice lipstick from time to time, and will probably look at you like you’re a thoughtless fool if you just throw a Best Buy gift card at her at her next birthday.
Are you a nerdy or geeky girl? Do these stereotypes creep you out?
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