When thinking “geek girl” it’s doubtful that phrase conjures up the female equivalent of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Gary Gygax, Steven Hawking or other brilliant geeks involved in technology, science, math and general culture.
Despite huge in-roads having being made by women who identify as geeky – we true geek girls, a minority, are either thought of as lollipop sucking, bespectacled, Catholic school girl uniform wearing sex kittens; or, as undesirable, a-sexual brainiac versions of Julia Sweeney’s SNL character Pat.
Sadly, being geek is still a male dominated area.
Below are commandments for all you geeky girls to follow and boldly go where few geek girls have gone before and carve out your place in the geek-a-verse.
#10 You shall not buy 1st gen Apple products.
I don’t care how much you want a new iWhatever, you will not queue in line for sixteen hours to get it on the day the Cult of Jobs releases it to the public for consumption.
You will not do this.
Why, you ask?
First, it makes you look like a n00b tool wannabe geek. Second, everyone knows that Apple products are for ca-ca until 2nd or 3rd generation releases. Third, if you buy a brand new iWhatever you will kick yourself for not having the patience to wait three months until the slimmer, more powerful, CHEAPER iWhatever is released. Fourth, geek boys will make fun of you buying 1st gen Apple products for the above reasons.
#9 You shall use elan, obscure Sci Fi references in conversation.
Try saying ‘Take it easy, McCoy it’s just another work assignment’ or ‘Don’t get all Chewbacca on me!’ to colleagues when they’re getting a little too Type A for your tastes. This is a great way to test how detail oriented, old, well read and worldly your colleague is if they get it. I call this the Dennis Miller strategy,” says uber geek and educational author, Autumn Tooms.
#8 You shall not steal thy sister’s ideas.
Brainstorming with fellow geek girls is the way many of us germinate and generate our best ideas. Be they blog entries, big inventions or even just strategies on how to get ahead at work. We like to talk, share and cooperatively develop ideas together. It’s in our blood.
There is a sad trend developing in the girl geek-a-verse – one which we seem to have picked up from the boys – involving stealing ideas of others, claiming them as one’s own and then throwing the originator (and, once friend) under the bus to get ahead/destroy evidence that the idea burgler isn’t at all innovative or original.
This is… well, sleazy. And, while it may have been going on with men in the business world for ages, it is definitely not a trend we want to emulate so as to compete with them.
So don’t steal ideas from your geeky sisters; it’s bad form and not becoming of such amazing creatures as we all are.
#7 Be not afraid to sing your own praises and network like a pro.
“I guess if there is one thing I would want to impress to women in this male dominated industry is not to be afraid to network or pitch for themselves,” says Maria Diaz of One Sharp Broad.
“I think a lot of times the only difference why men can get so much farther than women is that women are prone to play down their talents or contributions, (are there any women out there who are as loud with Twitter as say Robert Scoble? Or Jason Calacanis? Not even Julia Allison is!) It’s because as women we are not encouraged to toot our own horns.”
#6 You shall use your brain to impress, not thy countenance.
Darlings, wearing a pair of nerdy glasses and a short Catholic school girl skirt do not a true geek girl make. Geek girls have been fetishized for years, giving individuals like the NonSociety girls ample opportunity to capitalize on their good looks, branding themselves as “geek girls” when they really should have branded themselves as “brilliant PR girls” or “self-promoting girls.”
Not to slam them – they’re good at what they do – selling themselves. And, certainly all three are very attractive. They actually rely on that to propel them forward in their given careers.
True geek girls are sexy because of their big, voluptuous, gorgeous brains.
Yes, they may be drop dead gorgeous in addition to those beautiful brains; but, the grey matter is what they use to impress, rather than T&A. Thereby, earning them respect in addition to physical admiration.
#5 Remember the Trilogy & keep it holy.
Han shot first. George Lucas should never have been told about CGI. Jar Jar Binks and Ewoks are abominations.The Force is like duct tape; there is a light side, a dark side and it holds the world together.
#4 You shall learn multiple languages.
Whether you’re learning Klingon for Comic Con; or 1337 to translate that email you just received from your teenage niece, being multi-lingual is a tool that every geek girl should have in her back pocket so as to communicate across the geek-a-verse.
Languages can also keep you competitive. BASIC, CSS and HTML are basics which are highly recommended for all geek girls who want to compete in the tech industry. (If you know C++, Javascript, dBase, PL/SQL, Perl or any of the other languages, you are geek girl gold!)
#3 You shall not put down other geek girls to raise yourself up.
BitchBuzz editor, Cate Sevilla comments:
“Women tend to treat each other like competition and do the stereotypical, two-faced, catty thing to each other; we should being supporting each other and trying to make things easier for other women in tech so we can set a positive example for younger generations of geek girls.”
So ditch the bitchy BS, ladies – retract the claws from the eyes in favor of patting each other on the back – building each other up, instead of tearing each other down is essential for survival of our species!
#2 You shall exalt the glories of Math & Science studies to young geek girls.
A recent study published in the journal Science showed that girls measure up to boys in math abilities in every grade from second through eleventh, women are still only taking home 48% of undergraduate degrees in math – even fewer in physics and engineering.
A 1998 study showed that only 29% of high school girls have reported taking biology, chemistry and physics.
Though things have substantially improved with organizations like The Girl’s Math & Science Partnership creating interactive websites like BrainCake.org to encourage and empower young women to create change by studying and pursuing careers in math and science, clearly there is still work to be done to level the playing field.
#1 You shall remember these words, “Girls Rule, Boys Drool.”
Says the amazingly awesome geeky-artistic, Adrienne Gonzalez:
“It's true that somehow boys are more encouraged as kids to take up math and that it's far more acceptable for a guy to admit (even embrace) his complete geekiness; however, geek is still the scurvy of the girl world - except for a small group of said boys who fetishize 'geek girls' in the sense comic books and s***** Internet pr0n has force-fed them. Well guess what? The boys are just scared."
"They're scared because we're cooler than them and we're going to come and slash their lame little lvl 70 wizards across the nuts and steal their gold. They're mostly scared because we have boobs.Never forget that.”
Truer words were never spoken. Amen, sisters – go forth and be geeky!
Kate Kotler is the Content & Community Manager at Meez.com and a freelance writer. She currently writes the blog Adorkable Grrl and contributes op-ed pieces to various publications, including Fray: a Quarterly of True Stories.