Geek girls get their own Con
Erika D. Peterman is a Florida-based writer and editor, and the co-founder of Girls-Gone-Geek.com.
If you’re a woman who loves anime, gaming, comics, cosplay, sci-fi and any other geeky pursuit, Geek Girl Con, this weekend in Seattle, Washington, is for you.
Billed as a celebration of the geek sisterhood, the volunteer-driven GGC is a newcomer to the con scene, but it has generated plenty of excitement in the months leading up to its debut.
It also has an impressive lineup: Among the guests are television writer/producer Jane Espenson (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) and comics writers Trina Robbins, Gail Simone, and Greg Rucka. Cheezburger Editor-in-Chief Emily Huh is on board, as is filmmaker Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, director of the independent documentary “The History of the Universe as told by Wonder Woman.”
The seeds of GGC were planted in 2010 at San Diego Comic-Con. GGC Marketing Director and President Erica McGillivray said that year's “Geek Girls Exist” panel drew a huge audience, despite being scheduled opposite a Scott Pilgrim panel.
“The room was packed with people and it was getting to the point where [they] had to get the fire marshals there to make sure everything OK,” McGillivray said. “It was even more amazing considering how popular Scott Pilgrim was with women.”
The panel’s success inspired a group of attendees to start planning a full con with women in mind. GGC session topics include women in science and technology fields, feminism and race in geek culture, the heroine’s role in society, and even raising little geeks. The organizers already have been asked whether GGCon might be held in other cities.
“That made me feel so great about what we’re doing and how many people we’re reaching,” McGillivray said.
Geek Girl Con is being held October 8th and 9th at the Seattle Center. For more information, visit GeekGirlCon.com.
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This article on geekout.blogs.cnn.com gives the light in which we can observe the reality.
Do you not understand the deuoeeritls effects printing money has on the economy and people's savings? In turn what that does to the economy?You speak to the superficial short term effects it has on the economy. But what about the fundemental problems it causes? What about it's long term effects?Jeremy Siegel, I'm sorry, you look like a loveable guy. But if your understanding of economy and economic history is this flawed you should not be teaching. Especially not at the university level.
...And it was AWESOME!!!!
I'm honestly not very impressed with GGC. While they have the comics and sci-fi pretty well-covered, there is no programming, except 1 panel, about anything technology-related.
When I think of the term 'geek,' I think of computers – hardware and dev. Gadgets. Why Linux is better than both Windows and Mac OSX.
If anything, GGC should use the term 'nerd' for the audience it's trying to reach, but I guess the definition is different for everyone.
Microsoft defines a geek as an 'obsessed computer user: somebody who enjoys or takes pride in using computers or other technology, often to what others consider a excessive degree.'
Ummm...as a tech geek, I'm excited about Geek Girl Con. Yes, there's only one programming about coders, but there's another about getting women into STEM careers, one about science, one from Cheezburger (tech start-up), and it looks like 3-4 about women who create video games, which is sure to include programmers.
Besides, I didn't know Microsoft had the monopoly on what a geek is.
YES!! Amy, that would be so awesome!! After you ritesger I can send you some fabric swatches and we can work together to create totally coordinating outfits for them all.. And then you get the images!!
You also have to realize that this is the first year for GGC. Give it a chance! If anything, propose your OWN panel to the organizers.
I'm going to GGC with my sister and bff, and we're very excited. For one, because getting a con up here in the PNW is like pulling teeth; yes we have Emerald city Comic con, but if you aren't a comic geek then there isn't much there for you (or at least there wasn't last time I was there, a few years ago). I'm almost 40 and very secure in my geekhood, yet I am really looking forward to bonding with other women like me, who wear Startfleet Academy pins and Browncoat patches on their jean jackets and ignore the people who look at me funny. 🙂
GGC seems a tad like a wolf whistle coming at you whilst crossing a parking lot. Sure, I'm pleased and it makes me smile discreetly; yet, on the whole it's pretty offensive, even though it may have been crafted in a purely jovial nature. As a chick, I didn't need a constitutional amendment to tell me I was equal; as a dork, I don't need a separate-but-equal Con to tell me I exist. Yet, hey, some girls may not be very secure and might need this for bonding purposes. If so, rock on, Chicas!
Geek Papers of Proof: http://jenniferdevore.blogspot.com/#!/2011_07_01_archive.html
I, on the other hand, love that this exists. You may think you don't need a constitutional amendment to tell you that you were equal, but try telling that to the women who had to fight tooth and nail to get their rights recognized so that you don't have to worry about it.
Geek culture is often pervasively misogynistic. Perhaps unintentionally so, but it's a problem. What GGC shows is that the numbers of geek girls is enormous, and that we can start to be taken into consideration as an audience, a consumer market and serious contributors to "geeky" media and goods. I.E: If I have to play another version of Soul Caliber with only scantily clad sexbots for women characters, I might just give up on fun arcade fighting games all together.
It's not about self esteem or insecurity, it's a positive event about changing perceptions.
A good article about misogyny in geek culture: http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/22786_To_My_Someday_Daughter.html
If you like comics: http://www.eveninarcadia.com
An article decrying the stereotyping of female geeks filled to the brim with stereotypes about male geeks? Boy, THAT sure came as a surprise.
Can you explain how solving the problem of "treating women as outsiders" is going to be improved in any way, shape or form by increasing the amount of segregation in the geek culture? From here, it looks like a leap of faith of the absolute highest order.
The vast majority of male geeks do not act in the misogynistic stereotypical manner detailed in this article. Women geeks who want to be treated as equals (or in your perspective, "merely" equals) will be. Is that the perception you want to change? You want to parade a convention like this around and say "see! Women geeks don't want stinky men around, they're mean!"