So Tumblr has been abuzz lately, with the recent issue being girls and the pains they go through in order to prove that they are geeks.  I just want to take this time to throw in my two cents

Now I myself have not seen any first hand examples of girls being called out as “fake geeks”, but I have heard the stories.  Stories of girls who say they aren’t take seriously for their nerd knowledge simply because they have boobs.  I’m just going to go right out and say that this is a load of crap.  Just because the person doesn’t have a Y chromosome shouldn’t negate any kind of right to be a geek.  Girls shouldn’t have to prove that they are into geeky culture; they shouldn’t have to answer your questions.  Even if the female population came into nerdom a little later than males, they are just as entitled to the same parts of the culture as men.

I think what the source of the problem may be is that nerd culture, such as comics, anime, and video games, are all becoming a lot more mainstream that girls have just as much access to it as guys.  I could be wrong though.  I don’t want to assume anything; this is just my outside interpretation.  A prime example would be when the Marvel movies started happening, like Iron Man and Thor.  All these movies featured amazing actors and I loved every single one of them.  Now from where I am, I see that a lot of girls are fans for these movies, mostly because of the actors.  I’m guessing from my point of view, this sets some of the more veteran nerds off a bit because they were the ones that have been collecting the comics, the cartoons, and the cards, for many many years and all that defines them as geeks while to them, girls were exposed to only a few movies.  Again, I’m not trying to assume anything, this is just my point of view.

I’d like to use World of Warcraft as an example.  Back in the day, when WOW didn’t have any expansions and barley any patches or DLC, it was considered very difficult to get to the highest level and getting good gear, weapons, and mounts was a huge hassle.  Today however, with 4 expansions and so much more content, WOW became much more accessible to the public, with questing and gear requiring a lot less effort to complete than it did back in the day.  Everything is easier now; I would know, I play WOW a lot.  Now to almost all of the vet players of WOW, they don’t consider all of the newer players true WOW fans simply because they didn’t go through all of the hassle and work it took the play the game back in the day.   There is little to no difference between this issue and the issue of girls and geek culture.

Let me level with you all.  Girls shouldn’t at all have any problems with proving themselves to be geeks.  The issue is that they have to prove themselves period.  During my many adventures at different conventions, I’ve met a lot of people, many of them of the female gender, and I never once felt the need to question how much they actually knew about what they claimed to like.  I fail to understand why older nerds seek the need to try and bar access to what they like.  You are not the gate keepers of Superman or the Incredible Hulk.  If someone likes something, let them like it.  It’s not going to harm you at all.  I literally cannot see any kind of downside to allowing girls to love any facet of geek culture.  It’s because there isn’t any downside.   I also can’t think up any reason as to why men would feel the need to pressure girls into proving their geekdom.  Do they feel the need to question any girl because if you let someone in with not as much knowledge as you, you become less powerful as a group.  Does that mean you’re fighting against another group?  No, it can’t be that.

Well, I can’t think of a reason, so I guess that means there isn’t one.  To all the guys out there, I want you to really think about what you’re doing.  Try to think through this process of events and then ask yourself this: “Is it really as bad as it seems?”  To all the girls out there, continue to push for equality when it comes to being nerds.  You deserve your place here and you got my support.  Girls should have all the rights to comics, cosplay, and games that guys do.

Now I know that this has nothing to do with voice acting and that’s what I mostly post about here, but I felt the need to speak my heart out about this issue.  Besides, this is my site, I do what I want here.  I just hope that soon no one has to prove that they are as much a nerd as everyone else.