Nerd vs Geek vs Being a Girl

I am a bit of a word-nut. I love discovering etymologies and following the historical changes in word usage. I was never one to sit and read the dictionary for fun, but in some ways I'm a little surprised that I never did.

I have other academic texts that I read 'just for fun'.

But the dictionary isn't much help when it comes to this question. According to Google's dictionary, there is some difference, but it is subtle.

Nerd - 1) A foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious 2) An intelligent, single-minded expert in a particular technical discipline or profession.


Geek - 1) an unfashionable or socially inept person 2) person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest 3) a carnival performer who does particularly wild or disgusting acts.

If you get this reference, I love you all the more.

We can obviously disregard the carnival definition, as it's obviously not the useage most common today. Or else this site would be dedicated to a curvy woman who likes doing odd things to chickens or some such thing.

Both definitions describe someone with a lack of social graces, someone who is not socially desirable, and both have elements of expertise or obsession in a subject (with or without practical application).

In broadening the search to looking into the origins of these words, it also doesn't really clear things up. Geek comes from geck, a Scottish word meaning fool, which some have attributed to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Nerd isn't all that old, popping up in the 50s, and it's not really clear why it started being used. Dr. Seus used the word as a nonsensical in If I Ran the Zoo, and some theorize that kids decided to insult one another with this cool sounding word. Others claim the word knurd (the reverse of drunk) was coined by students describing those of their peers who were a bit too studious.

 I've found myself having a number of conversations with people about the difference between 'nerd' and 'geek'. I'll start out by stressing that the English language has a lot of variation to it - while there are set definitions to words, the way they are used an differentiated varies not only between regions of the world but simply from person to person. 

A collection of what the internet tells us about geeks and nerds:

Venn Diagram from Great White Snark

Geek - Very knowledgeable of a specific topic (electronics, comic books, etc)
Nerd - Very knowledgeable across a wide variety of subjects (book smart)
Dork - socially awkward and not mutually exclusive of nerd/geek. - toomuch at MetaFilter

Geek is a term of admiration, nerd is a term of ambivalence, and dork is a term of derision.  - gyusan at MetaFilter

To me nerd is socially related, and geek is interest related.... I think of geekdom as something you can be obsessed with, something to collect, what do you watch, what do you look up in the internet (which didn't exist during my first experiences in geekdom). To me, a nerd is more of a social position. - Mayim Bialik, (Big Bang Theory, Blossom)

 No nerd calculates so hard, gets such perfect grades, to be called a geek. Likewise, no geek spends 3 weeks putting together the perfect steam punk ensemble to be called a nerd. Too many people use the terms “geek” and “nerd” almost interchangeably. While the key differences between the two may be relatively minor to some, they are critical to those in the know. - WolfGnards.com

How do I weigh in on things? 

For one thing, I think that nerd and geek are far more interchangeable than some word purists want to believe. I actually don't know anyone who self identifies as a geek who would care about being called a nerd, any more than they would care about being called a geek. It would depend on the context in which the word was being used rather than which word was chosen. A geek whose geeky friend laughingly calls them a nerd because they're excited about the way they took out a Legion outpost on the outskirts of New Vegas is probably not going to react differently because of the word choice. Someone who is trying to insult someone by calling them a geek or a nerd probably won't win any points by picking one other the other.

That being said, there are elements of social awkwardness to nerd that I personally don't see applying to geek, just as there are elements of fandom obsession in geek that aren't necessarily in nerd. But it's not like there is a brick wall between the two terms. A male nerd can be a Star Wars geek and not know how to talk to girls without promptly making an awkward ass of himself. A female gaming geek can be a total textbook nerd in an academic subject that interests her (RE: first picture posted in this article).


How does being a girl fit into all of this?

I'll reassure anyone who may feel like any mention of gender differences is an instant warning sign that the writer is about to go into an extreme anti-men rant about how the world would be much better without penises. Far from it. But I think it is interesting to look at how femininity fits into the geek world. 

She has nice boobs, but is that necessary?

 Let's take Kari Byron for example. When she was hired, it was not to be a host in front of the camera. She repeatedly showed up to Jamie's M5 Industries workshops with a desire to get hired by his special effects company. She worked behind the scenes until being put in front of the camera with any regularity, and has said that she found it uncomfortable and difficult to act naturally at first when getting more screen time. Yet she is repeatedly accused of being the token female. 

I feel like I've had challenges constantly while being on "Mythbusters," a lot of backlash like “That's the only reason you're on the show, you're a token girl”, which is absolutely not the case. I worked really hard to get on this show, And I do everything that everyone else on the show does. I laugh at those comments now and I kind of take it as a compliment, like, “Oh, you just said I was pretty. I'll take that.” Because I don't validate anything else that you've said.

 But she's still photographed in a provocatively sexy manner when promoting the show. Is this her fault? No. But it does add fuel to the fire when people think she's only there to be a pretty pair of boobs.


In the same interview, Kari and Mayim talked about the pretty girl nerd:

Bialik: I was on the floor at Comic -Con and there as a gorgeous, five-foot-nine, busty woman in a teeny, tiny Ewok outfit with tattoos and her belly out, and she wore a button that said “I love nerd girls.” And this is my bias, you know, but I thought, “You don't look anything like a nerd girl. You're stunning, you have an awesome stomach, you're wearing an Ewok bikini, you're busty, you're tall.” And I'm thinking, wow, how much the image has changed. She was at least ten years younger than me. And I was thinking, its like the 3rd wave of feminism... 3rd wave is like “I can look however I want, you still have no right to challenge me about my intellect. But it was just so funny because that would never have been my image of a geek...

Byron: I've noticed sort of a backlash against attractive girls that happen to be nerds or gamers, almost constantly challenging the fact that's they're nerds or geeks as if there's no way that's a possibility...

 Female attractiveness is often a source of social division. Traditional beauty adds social value (statistically more likely to get hired for better paying jobs, get services at discounts, etc.) and is many times used to categorize women into the physical haves and have-nots.

What I find interesting and strange is how the geek/nerd community has twisted this hierarchy around somewhat. Lots of geeks want to go to conventions to see the busty cosplaying Slave Leias, but also deny them a level of legitimacy as nerds because of their attractive appearance. On the other hand, a Catwoman whose got a little extra weight on her than the comic book ideal won't be as flocked-to by those snapping pictures, but is taken more seriously if she starts discussing the intricacies of Dungeons and Dragons.

On a personal note, I think that these kinds of hierarchies or fights over who is a 'real' geek do more harm than good. It's similar to a branch of the body acceptance movement that berates the slender body image popularized by the media, saying that "real women" are larger and curvier. Does that make the women who are naturally thin somehow not real? Are you less of a woman because of the size and shape of your body? Who gets to decide what is the "real" body that typifies womanhood, because isn't that the kind of behavior that you're objecting to in the first place?

The Downside to Boob Armor

Fantasy armor and femininity. Fun topic, huh?

College Humor's recent short on the subject makes for a good laugh. It got me thinking on the subject though, in relation to my endless search for attractive armor.

 

I tend to struggle with armor in games, because I will always play as a woman if I am given the option. I simply prefer to play as a female. (Even when I was a little girl, I'd be wondering why there were only two female Power Rangers, or why there was only one woman I could kick ass with in the original Mortal Kombat, until the second one, where three more were introduced. I didn't want or expect an all woman roster in the shows and games I was into. It just bugged me that they were always outnumbered. Just had to get that out there. Back to the topic at hand.)

Pictured: the Topic

When it comes to female armor, I am almost always at a loss. Games with female armor are usually in one of two camps: the "realistic" or the ridiculous. The 'realistic' essentially believes that women would just put on armor designed for men. After all, even though this is a world in which women fight, why would they want or need anything different than the menfolk? The ridiculous plays right into the hands of the concept of the male gaze. Women are dressed for the benefit of their male companions - most importantly, the player who is assumed to be male. They are there to look sexy to the observer, having armor that is essentially useless when put into a battle scenario.

Don't believe me? Rooster Teeth tested it out with Ivy and Sophitia from Soul Calibur.

 Many of the games I play will give you lots of options in bulky plate armor, but they look huge and awkward on their female bodies. I tend to play as rouges rather than tanks, so I want to maintain the illusion that my character can move around swiftly without sounding like an Everything Must Go sale in the kitchen section of a Bed Bath and Beyond. I want something that is attractive, but obviously functional as armor.

Functional - definition: not this.

Outside of what gender I play, I like having attractive and custom armor. I like mods that let me pick and choose the aesthetics of the game I am playing. Custom eye colors, hair styles, and of course custom clothing and armor. If I'm going to be staring at the outfit for hours on end, I'd like it to be something that appeals to me.

 

Thus, my dilema. See, many (if not most, depending on the game) mods will give you the ability to role play that Battle Stripper you've always been dreaming about, but not much else. I gave up on looking for mods in Oblivion for females, as most of what I found were focused on giving them breasts that are individually larger than their head and next-to-nothing to wear to cover them up. 

Oh, and the argument that it's to maintain their agility is BS. You can maintain your agility while still covering your vital organs and wearing something that won't cause your ta-tas to fall out. Boob flashing is most likely not going to be a very effective form of self defense if the person you're fighting really does intend to kill you. 

Now, I'm not going to say that super "sexy" female armor shouldn't be available - far from it. What right would I have to demand that sexy armor mods not exist simply because they don't fulfill the needs I'm looking for? Hell, I've even contributed to the sexification of female armor in art, albeit my motivations were more out of humor rather than fappery. 

My take on the "mage's robes" from Dragon Age.

I just wish there was more variety. I wish there was something in between the very masculine and the grotesquely masturbatory "feminine". Those designs to exist.  

These armors: Protection + being hotter than you ever will be.

So there. Rant over, I suppose. I guess I just need to take some time to learn to make my own armor mods, so I can kick ass as a woman who doesn't look like she's just there to encourage splooge production.