Nerd Blackface: Girls

As a nerd girl, I find a lot of the stereotypes about us personally offensive.

Firstly, we’re not Hope Diamond rare. I’m going to be spending the weekend with three of them. I organize a board game group, attend geek oriented MeetUps and go to a Dr Who happy hour. Any of these events can be up to 50% female. Yes, most nerd events are gender biased toward men but it’s not Where’s Waldo bad.

Secondly, we’re not ogres. I’m not underwear model sexy but I’m easy on the eyes. I have several attractive nerd girl friends. I see a variety of cute, sexy, pretty, and hot at any nerd event. Nerd girls are like regular girls. We come in all shapes and sizes. Not all girls will be pretty to all guys but if you don’t see one attractive female for the whole of a nerd event, there’s something wrong with you.

Thirdly, the hot girls who cosplay some sexy character at cons but actually know nothing of that fandom? She’s not a real nerd. She’s here with her boyfriend or best friend and wanted some attention. Most nerds, male and female, stop finding her hot and start finding her annoying once she starts talking.

Fourthly, the complete opposite of the above would be the fangirl. When she sees David Tennant, Jensen Ackles, Benedict Cumberbatch, young Will Shatner, or some other hot fandom star, she acts like a mainstream 12 year old at a One Direction concert. Not all nerd girls are fangirls. Some ladies may be totally chill around all but one celebrity. I’ve talked about how nerds embraced their unbridled enthusiasm. Fangirls take it a step too far.

Music: Cathouse Tragedy by Voltaire

Nerd Blackface: Do Be Do

I’ve talked about nerds having a trademark enthusiasm but what are we enthusiastic about and why? Most of our costumes are of preexisting characters or stem from a world someone else created. Nerds are drawn to these other worlds because reality is so boring.

We play games, dress up, read books, and watch movies because those have more adventure and intrigue than leaving our cubicle to discuss who was kicked off American Idol. We use our imagination to escape and stop the evil empire rather than watch the follies of Real Housewives. However not all nerd hobbies are created equal.

Nerd interests include but are not limited to: renaissance faires, video games, computers & code, tabletop RPG, MMORPG, LARPing, cosplay, books, comics, anime/manga, TV shows, and movies. Any nerd may be interested in all or none of these. None of them prohibit an interest in ‘normal’ things.

I know a code monkey and a tabletop gamer who love hockey. I know Rennies who love their guns and motorcycles (they had to get the boots somewhere). My friend’s ex studied martial arts and was seriously into anime. There are lots of people who cosplay characters from videogames beloved my muggles.

Nerd hobbies aren’t that different from ‘normal’ hobbies. Video games are immersive fantasy. The guy who plays Madden knows he’s not a football player just like a cosplayer knows he’s not Han Solo. Collecting Dr Who action figures isn’t that different from collecting plates or spoons. If you want to argue time wasting what do fantasy sports accomplish? Lots of hobbies can be classified as timewasters if you’re feeling judgmental. If you’re enjoying it and it doesn’t interfere with your functionality as a person, how is that time wasted?

Yes, there are some people who lose themselves in this because they have a hard time dealing with the rest of the world. They are the minority and you can find them anywhere if you look hard enough. You just see more nerds because we try not to judge each other. The rest of the world does a fine job of that already.

Music: White and Nerdy by Weird Al Yankovic

Nerd Blackface: Dressing Up

Wearing costumes and role playing doesn’t make us losers.

Let me start by saying that cosplay and LARPing are different. Costume play (cosplay) is just dressing up. Some folks do the full character but most are just themselves. Live Action Role Play (LARP) involves a group all playing characters as part of pre-established scenario. Since LARPing can involve fantasy elements, it is different from the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) which focuses heavily on historical accuracy.

None of the above are automatic losers. People dress up in costume to communicate their passion and excitement for a particular character at events with likeminded people. Since it’s all in good fun, there’s rarely any drama over people being the same character.

Some cosplayers do it for the attention. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a tiny factor in my decision. Mostly, I love finding the different pieces and putting it all together. I have a bunch of funky things in my wardrobe and do the same thing when I go out. I loved playing dress-up as kid. Why shouldn’t I get to do it as a grown-up?

I’m debuting two costumes in the next month or so and I’m really excited about it. I’d love to do a Dr Who cosplay with Boy Toy. I’m doing one with two of my girlfriends for Shore Leave this weekend.

LARPers dress up as characters within their scenario. They play roles and they generally don’t have issues with overlap. It can be fairly similar to the DND-style tabletop games. It can also be very physical which minimizes the fat virgin in the basement stereotype. One I know is quite attractive and a bit of a womanizer.

I’ve never LARPed before so I can’t say too much more about it. IMHO, if cosplay is like dress-up, LARP is like playing make believe with your friends. The main difference is the level of forethought, detail, and quality of weapons. Leather armor and a foam sword beat the hell out of the stick that fell off the tree last week.

Adult life with desk jobs, mortgages, car payments, and bad TV can be such a slog. Nerds have unabashed permission to go out and have fun like we used to as kids. When was the last time you saw an adult more enthusiastic than a kid? Some even get their kids in on it. I saw a Pokémon family at awesome con. The parents were Brock and Misty, the six year old was Ash, and the baby was in a Pikachu onesie.

To quote the Doctor, “There’s no point in being grown-up if you can’t be childish sometimes.”

Music: Do You Want to Date My Avatar by The Guild

Nerd Blackface

Why is it when most shows portray nerds at cons, it is blatant nerd blackface? I just watched the episode of Supernatural (season 5) where they attend a con of the books detailing their lives. Most of the nerds are unattractive and annoying. I’ve seen this in several other shows as well.

The Big Bang Theory toes the line between truth and nerd blackface. It humanizes the characters enough that their issues look like just that, their issues. But it doesn’t show how multi-faceted nerd culture can be.

I’m going to devote a few entries to debunking nerd myths like fat basement dwelling virgins, troll-esque women, and people who can’t function in society. Let some lessons be learned.

Music: Impotent Nerd Rage by Mikey Mason