You can check my credentials if I can check yours.

[seanan_mcguire]

So it's been a little more than a week since my glorious return from the San Diego International Comic Convention, where I saw cool things, met cool people, and learned that "Hell" is another word for "being on the SDCC exhibit floor in a wheelchair." I also contracted a horrific cold, and have been fighting my way back to the semblance of health

Comments

[lollardfish]

I am a geek,a nerd, and a fan of many things. All of my deep knowledge is reserved for my day job (history prof), my music, and to a lesser extent baseball - not the shows I watch and the books I read. I couldn't answer any quiz about any superhero ever. Here are two points:

1. I'm still a geek, a nerd, and a fan.
2. No one has ever asked me, because I'm male.

That anyone might have the gall to question anyone's fandom drives me batty. Who cares? We enjoy things. This is the good.

That it's so powerfully gendered just infuriates me.

[seanan_mcguire]

That it's so powerfully gendered just infuriates me.

Me, too.

[lollardfish]

It happens in sports too. A woman shows up at the ballpark and people start a) hitting on her b) mansplaining the game and c) questioning whether she's a real fan or not. It's part of the broader gender dynamic of our society. But I keep believing that the world of geekdom can be better.

[mariadkins]

that keeps me out of ballparks. seriously.

[the_gneech]

I wouldn't know Emma Frost from Big Barda, but I still think this is cool. :)

-The Gneech

[seanan_mcguire]

And you would never just start taking pictures of a woman without consent, so you would have passed with flying colors. :)

[the_gneech]

^.^

[seanan_mcguire]

Oh, hey, I don't think I ever got around to telling you this, but:

Fan of your work since I was in high school. :)

[erinwrites]

*cries*

That's a wonderful story.

It's never actually happened to me...I think mainly because I don't attend the large gen cons...but I feel more anxiety than I should about possibly being called out as a fake. (I was going to ramble on here, but I think I've got a thing of my own brewing...)

Anyway.

I will SEE YOU SOON! <3

[rowyn]

... I am pretty sure it has happened to me, if not at cons than at gaming events. But I can't give you any examples because it is part of the background noise of my existence. It is so common - it was common long before the "fake geek girl" flap a year ago -- that it is literally not noteworthy, not worth the trouble of remembering. it happens and I go on and don't think about it, because that's just the way the world is.

It is kind of heartening to have people questioning now whether that's the way the world should be. I mean, it's a start at least.

[tibicina]

It was interesting, I remember getting it when I first attended gaming cons (though not so much as 'fake geek girl', but as 'you must be here with your boyfriend', and while I was there with my boyfriend - and a number of other friends who formed our gaming group - I'd been playing role-playing games long before I met him, thanks.) But after a year or two that stopped happening because the GURPS and In Nomine players pretty much all knew me, and that was most of what I was playing. (I'd still get it every once in a while when I did a playtest or something.) Of course, I haven't been in years, so if I went back I'd probably start getting it again, but who knows.

But yeah, it kind of shifted from 'you must be here with a boyfriend/brother' to 'you are here to somehow take something from us', which... means that it seems to have gotten nastier in recent years. Or maybe we're just more aware of it and aware that it's really not cool.

[seanan_mcguire]

You are not fake. You are best Erin.

BEST ERIN IS BEST.

[beccastareyes]

Christ. I was taught that was basic camera etiquette -- ask before snapping. Especially since the cosplayer will usually pose and face the camera for you AND it gives you a chance to tell someone that their costume is fricken awesome (and to ask if you have no clue who they are but it is still an amazing costume

[seanan_mcguire]

I agree: there should be ZERO obligation to know your costume's entire back story. And photographers should ask before snapping. Let's see if we can make these rules standard, shall we?

[beccastareyes]

Yes. If you feel like the person would say no to a photograph so you don't ask first, then you should probably check your motivations. Heck, there's even the option of asking if there would be a better time or a planned group photoshoot if the cosplayer is obviously busy* and can't pose now.

* Depending on the type of business. Washing one's hands in the bathroom or eating or waiting for a panel to start allow for conversation. During a panel or while the cosplayer is trying to buy something is probably not the best time to even ask.

[ravynwitch]

Also, I hate that I can't like ANYTHING without being expected to know all the tiny details of it. I can be a fan of Star Wars without knowing the canon that didn't pop up in the movies. I can be a Star Trek fan and still dislike Deep Space Nine (seriously, can't get through more than one episode at a go). I spent two years fawning over Fullmetal Alchemist before being introduced to Brotherhood. And for some reason, that lumps me into the category of "fake" or "not really a fan." I mean, there are definitely things I am obsessed with, and most of those I can tell you every last living canon/not-exactly canon but widely accepted fan canon of. But I shouldn't have to feel that way about everything in my life. I don't have the time, for one, and it's unfair to expect it.

[vixyish]

Exactly. This this this.

And it doesn't even matter what your reasons are. If it's that you don't have time, or you just don't feel like getting that deep, or a space station once bit your sister. Or no reason at all.

Even your reasons why you aren't as deep into that fandom as someone else don't have to be "good enough" for anyone but you.

[herefox]

Just had to say, I love the idea of biting space stations ;-)

[tuftears]

Shodan is glad you approve!... Meddlesome insect. >_>