As my blog title suggests, and the photos from my wedding show, I am in fact female. However I don’t label myself as a ‘geek girl’ or a ‘girl gamer’ as I don’t feel my gender should come into it. I’m a geek and a gamer who just happens to be a girl (Disclaimer: This is just how I see things, you don’t have to agree with me and I don’t mind if you do use these terms, each to their own). I fail to see what set of chromosomes I have has to do with how well I play games or appreciate my favourite tv shows, books and movies. Sadly, there are some out there who do not agree.
I have a Tumblr account but I only really use it to read my favourite Tumblrs like Escher Girls. This morning, this popped up on my dashboard though and I just can’t keep quiet.
It was originally posted by Concerningmishas over on Tumblr (original post here).
Really? There is so much about this that pisses me off, so I’m going to address each point separately.
1. What’s so wrong about being casual anyway?
I play games for fun (though to hear me yell at the screen when things aren’t going well you could be mistaken in thinking I am really not enjoying myself). I know there are people out there who go to tournaments and earn money through sponsorships and there for make money playing games, but that’s not me. I didn’t realise fitting gaming around my work, social life and other responsibilities was such an awful thing. And those games listed? I didn’t realise they were so disgusting to uber leet people. I personally enjoy World of Warcraft, Resident Evil games and Skyrim, I must be DISGUSTING!!! But seriously, there is nothing wrong with being a casual gamer, just as there is nothing wrong with being hardcore. IF THAT’S WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO BE.
2. Does this apply to guys as well?
Is it only girls that can’t call themselves gamers if they like these games? That’s one of the most annoying bits about this. The OP totally skips over the question about that and resorts to insults. I have a feeling the lady is right. If she had been male it would be a total non issue if she wore tshirts for those games.
3. Does the OP only think girls wear tshirts about thing they know nothing about?
Now I’m going to start this section off by saying that a person can wear a tshirt with whatever the hell they want on it if they think its cool, I don’t give a damn if they know chuff all about they subject matter. But this post kind of implies girls will wear tshirts to look ‘cool’ or ‘edgy’ to get attention, and that I gets my goat. See I’ve seen guys come into the pub wearing tshirts with the Ramones logo on it and yet they couldn’t even name one Ramones song, it just happened these tshirts were in fashion for a while. I’ve talked to guys wearing Batman logo tshirts who have barely even seen one of the movies. But that’s ok right? It’s just girls who can’t do it. Bullshit.
4. I don’t dress for you (or anyone else for that matter)
I love tshirts from the websites Qwertee and Teefury. I spend way too much money on them, and I wear my tshirts with pride. I have tshirts from My Neighbour Totoro, Firefly, Labyrinth, Game of Thrones amongst others, and yes, some are to do with games like Final Fantasy. Now why do I wear these tshirts? Let me see… Is it because I seek approval from people? Hmmmm, nope. Is it because my distinctly non geek of a husband like me wearing them? Nah, that’s not it, I could wear a bin liner and he’d not care as long as it wasn’t a used bin liner. So what. Could the reason be… Oh yeah. Because I LIKE to dress like that. Yep, I dress for myself. I get odd looks from some people, and the occasional “Woah, cool shirt!” but neither of those things matter to me. So the OP can shove right off, I don’t dress to please him, and I don’t care what he thinks about girls who wear gamer tshirts. It’s not his place to tell me what I can and can’t wear.
5. Feminists are ugly and can’t get laid
First of all who says all feminists are ugly? Oh, I know about the stereotype, but really, that’s all it is, a stereotype. Feminists come in all shapes, sizes, and even genders. Obviously some won’t be conventionally pretty because not everyone is, but some will also be drop dead gorgeous. A lot will be somewhere in between because that’s how life is. And the implication she’ll never have sex… What does getting laid have to do with an argument anyway? I can see it now… A heated Facebook discussion can be resolved by the first person to go get their rocks off being declared the winner. Seriously though, if you have to resort to comments like that its usually because you can’t think up a decent response and have to resort to insults and its time you just gave up.
Anyway, I’m a feminist and I’m married, I get laid whenever I want, so it’s definitely not right.
6. Your peers frown upon you wearing gamer tshirts
Really? Because my peers have never said jack shit about it. One of my male friends said that he loves seeing girls in game/anime/comic book etc tshirts because he knows the will be something he can talk to them about. A lot of my male friends when asked don’t care if you are a girl who likes something, it’s amazing the conversations I have had with people when I’m behind the bar and not once have I been disapproved of and told I can’t like something because I’m female. So no, I do not believe my peers frown upon me being me. The OP does and he is pretty much alone in that respect. Maybe he feels threatened, or maybe he feels girls should be in awe of his leet skills, but whatever the reason, I believe he’ll find less people agree with him that he thinks.
I really shouldn’t give people like the OP a moment of my time, but it’s that awkward ‘before work’ time and I have nothing better to do. I know nothing said will change him, and whilst that makes me sad I won’t lose sleep over it because I can just ignore him and give my time to people who like me just the way I am. And there are plenty of those out there, it just seems sometime they are the silent majority.
The Geeky Barmaid 