Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / SMNTY Classics: The Fake Geek Girl Strikes Back
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha. I don't become to stuff.
- 0:07Speaker 1: I'm never told your protection, but I hiart radio. So
- 0:18Speaker 1: I'm going to cut right to the chase on this one. Samantha,
- 0:21Speaker 1: do you have any like entertainment you're really excited about?
- 0:23Speaker 1: Because we had a lot of stuff that's coming out soon,
- 0:26Speaker 1: the season comes up, all these new shows, movies, all
- 0:30Speaker 1: of it. Am I excited by anything? I feel like
- 0:33Speaker 1: that such a sad like question because I don't know
- 0:38Speaker 1: exactly what's going on. That's part of the problem right now,
- 0:41Speaker 1: and I'm so far backtracking and trying to find things
- 0:44Speaker 1: that I'm sure like, oh, here it is. Because I
- 0:46Speaker 1: was really excited about Legend of shang Chi. I still
- 0:49Speaker 1: haven't watched it, which I was so excited about it,
- 0:54Speaker 1: and then I'm like, wait, oh it's out. Why am
- 0:57Speaker 1: I not watching it? So things like this where I'm
- 0:59Speaker 1: just so caught up and being stressed that I'm still
- 1:01Speaker 1: in my current like oh, I'm just gonna do things
- 1:04Speaker 1: on repeat. I told the story not too long ago
- 1:06Speaker 1: that I had my sad movie on and I didn't
- 1:08Speaker 1: realize I had my sad movie on, which is like
- 1:10Speaker 1: ratatui for way back when, and that's what I've been doing.
- 1:13Speaker 1: So I'm excited to get new things, but at the
- 1:16Speaker 1: same time, I'm not focused enough to see it. That's fair,
- 1:20Speaker 1: what's out there, That's fair. I mean, you can be
- 1:23Speaker 1: excited about old things, you know. Me. I get super
- 1:27Speaker 1: excited about movies I've seen a million times. I'm excited
- 1:30Speaker 1: for Spider Man No Way Home. I'm excited for Boba Fett,
- 1:34Speaker 1: even though I don't really like Boba Fett. Oh yeah, yeah,
- 1:38Speaker 1: I'll say it out there like me not when. And
- 1:46Speaker 1: I'm excited for Hawk. I'm kind of curious, curious, I
- 1:51Speaker 1: got I got a lot of things, a lot of nerves.
- 1:53Speaker 1: Stuff is happening. The reason I want to bring this
- 1:56Speaker 1: up is because I recently kind kind of got engaged
- 2:01Speaker 1: in a word. Some dude clearly thought I was a
- 2:04Speaker 1: fake geek girl, and I was like, wait a minute,
- 2:08Speaker 1: do you not know who I am? So in the
- 2:15Speaker 1: spirit of that, we wanted to bring back this classic
- 2:18Speaker 1: episode on the Fake Geek Girl, So please enjoy. Hey,
- 2:26Speaker 1: this Sanny in Samantha and welcome to stuff I've never
- 2:29Speaker 1: told your protection of I heart adios how stuff. First,
- 2:40Speaker 1: as we record this listeners, Dragon con which is a
- 2:43Speaker 1: convention of all things nerd um that drew over eighty
- 2:47Speaker 1: thousand people last year, is coming to Atlanta. It takes
- 2:51Speaker 1: place every Labor Day weekend in the city, taking over
- 2:54Speaker 1: five hotels in Midtown and pretty much everything in that vicinity,
- 2:57Speaker 1: especially Peach Tree mall Um. I've been going for like
- 3:01Speaker 1: eight years now. I've been going for a while, but
- 3:04Speaker 1: hilariously not while I was a student at Georgia Tech,
- 3:06Speaker 1: which is both close and is known as a geek college.
- 3:11Speaker 1: I didn't even know about it. Um. But Samantha and
- 3:14Speaker 1: I will be there um or we were there, depending
- 3:16Speaker 1: on when you listen to this, and I will be
- 3:19Speaker 1: in costume either as the Winter Soldier of course pick
- 3:22Speaker 1: up from How to Train Your Dragon with a Flaming Sword.
- 3:25Speaker 1: It's gonna be cool Spider Woman with perhaps a joke
- 3:28Speaker 1: about like Disney and Sony and being child or something.
- 3:32Speaker 1: I don't know, snap judgment with my favorite drunk purchase
- 3:36Speaker 1: I've ever made the fans car right? You figured out
- 3:39Speaker 1: that that one, didn't you? Oh? Yeah? I When it
- 3:41Speaker 1: showed up, I was like, what is this huge box? Oh,
- 3:44Speaker 1: it's an infinite college and it's a giant of course
- 3:47Speaker 1: it is. Of course it is, UM and UM. I
- 3:49Speaker 1: have possible side costumes like Ellie from the Last of Us, UM,
- 3:53Speaker 1: Catwoman from The Dark Night and that series. She's not
- 3:59Speaker 1: in that movie, don't write in about it, UM, and
- 4:01Speaker 1: Hella from thor Ragnarok. I just love like black messy
- 4:06Speaker 1: I make up. I'm in UM, but come find us.
- 4:09Speaker 1: We might be recording right UM, and I'm gonna be there.
- 4:12Speaker 1: I will not be dressing up. I'm going to be
- 4:14Speaker 1: the person in the corner staring around in awe and
- 4:16Speaker 1: probably disbelief. I'm gonna assume that's going to be my
- 4:19Speaker 1: reaction because this will be the first one that I
- 4:21Speaker 1: will ever have attended. And the only reason I'm going
- 4:24Speaker 1: is as support an audience for you, essentially and apparently
- 4:28Speaker 1: maybe a backpack carrier. Yeah, because I don't want to
- 4:31Speaker 1: ruin my costumes and that's fair and that's fair. And
- 4:33Speaker 1: I'm gonna be in the corner with the recording equipment,
- 4:35Speaker 1: hopefully if we can get that in UM talking to
- 4:38Speaker 1: different women and with those who have are dressing as
- 4:41Speaker 1: females I guess essentially UM, and see what's going on
- 4:45Speaker 1: in their heads and how they came up with their costumes,
- 4:46Speaker 1: because I will say the one thing about Dragon Con
- 4:49Speaker 1: just going through the parade or even driving through Atlanta
- 4:52Speaker 1: during this time, there's some elaborate costumes and people put
- 4:56Speaker 1: a lot of hard work and a lot of money
- 4:58Speaker 1: in these things. Oh yeah, And that's my favorite part
- 5:01Speaker 1: of of dragon Con is just seeing the creativity of
- 5:05Speaker 1: the costumes. A lot of puns, and you know I
- 5:07Speaker 1: love pun. There's so many puns. Oh yeah, I've got
- 5:11Speaker 1: I got some good pun costume. I mean, snap judgment obviously.
- 5:16Speaker 1: But we're not only talking about dragon Con today, although
- 5:20Speaker 1: it might come up some We're talking about the fake
- 5:23Speaker 1: geek girl and toxic fandom at large. And this is
- 5:28Speaker 1: something that I do know a lot about, and we've
- 5:30Speaker 1: touched on these topics and a handful of episodes, but
- 5:34Speaker 1: pretty sure, unless my memory and Google is failing me,
- 5:37Speaker 1: we've never done an entire episode on it. And there
- 5:41Speaker 1: is a Fake Geek Girls podcast out there. Yeah, okay,
- 5:46Speaker 1: So definition time geek a person who has excessive enthusiasm
- 5:52Speaker 1: for and some expertise about a specialized subject or activity. Yeah.
- 5:57Speaker 1: I used to have like a debate about like nerd
- 5:59Speaker 1: verse is right. They feel like there was work hierarchy
- 6:03Speaker 1: when it came to those types of Oh, I've been
- 6:05Speaker 1: in many arguments about it. People have their opinions and
- 6:08Speaker 1: they're almost always different, and it's the one that they
- 6:11Speaker 1: claim to be is the best one. I would see.
- 6:14Speaker 1: I always a claimed to be the nerd I don't
- 6:15Speaker 1: always call it. Was called a nerd growing up because
- 6:18Speaker 1: of my love for books and writing. And you know, see,
- 6:20Speaker 1: I was always called a dork because I feel like
- 6:22Speaker 1: a dork is a softer. I don't know a goof ear.
- 6:27Speaker 1: This is all just right, I looked it up. Um.
- 6:32Speaker 1: So if we look at fake geek girl, this is
- 6:34Speaker 1: a woman pretending to be nerdy to attract male attention. Uh.
- 6:39Speaker 1: There is no other reason for a woman to like something, right,
- 6:42Speaker 1: I have a specialized Yeah, no, just to attracting. That's
- 6:47Speaker 1: why I do things. Oh yeah, that's my whole goal
- 6:50Speaker 1: in life. Right. Um. Usually they are evenually attractive, these
- 6:54Speaker 1: fake geek girls because it is a real geek dudes fantasy.
- 6:59Speaker 1: It's a woman entering their boys only clubhouse. So the
- 7:02Speaker 1: only way that these women can exist in there is
- 7:05Speaker 1: by being a sexual object to be enjoyed by them.
- 7:09Speaker 1: And geeks are generally assumed to be men unless the
- 7:12Speaker 1: girl not woman, by the way, is added, that already
- 7:17Speaker 1: makes them an outsider. So like, just the fact we
- 7:19Speaker 1: have to specify geek is assumed to be male, geek girl,
- 7:23Speaker 1: you have to like have that label. That means the
- 7:27Speaker 1: masculinity of geek culture is just as policed as jocks
- 7:31Speaker 1: are inside locker rooms. And it is a way for
- 7:35Speaker 1: dudes to blame women for rejection. She's just a fake girl.
- 7:38Speaker 1: And so this fake geek girl is a meme. You've
- 7:41Speaker 1: probably seen it. It's um a white woman, a white
- 7:44Speaker 1: young woman with kind of brown hair, bangs, glasses, and
- 7:50Speaker 1: on her hand she has a nerd written on it.
- 7:54Speaker 1: And that's kind of the meme. You'll see the fake
- 7:57Speaker 1: eat girl, and it's everywhere. It is every where. Scott
- 8:00Speaker 1: Snyder's Batman number thirteen had an ad with a woman
- 8:03Speaker 1: wearing a shirt that said impostor on the front, and
- 8:07Speaker 1: the speech bubble said, I basically spend like all day
- 8:09Speaker 1: looking at low cats on Facebook. I'm such a huge nerd.
- 8:14Speaker 1: Then there's Dirk Mannings, who is a comic writer. He
- 8:17Speaker 1: has this Facebook post that said, dear girls who take
- 8:19Speaker 1: pictures in slutty coling and glasses and labeled the caption
- 8:22Speaker 1: nerd l O L. You're not a nerd, You're a
- 8:24Speaker 1: whore who found classes. An angry man he does. There's
- 8:29Speaker 1: no need for that. Unnecessary. We've got another angry man,
- 8:33Speaker 1: another comment, angry man. There are favorites. Okay, this is
- 8:37Speaker 1: from Tony Harris and it's long, so I'm going to
- 8:40Speaker 1: read it. I can't remember if I've said this before,
- 8:44Speaker 1: but I'm gonna say it anyway. I don't give a crap.
- 8:46Speaker 1: I appreciate a pretty gal as much as the next
- 8:48Speaker 1: HEATERO male. Sometimes I even go in for some racy
- 8:51Speaker 1: type stuff, keeping the comments PG for my lady's sake.
- 8:55Speaker 1: But damn it, damn it, damn it, I am so
- 8:57Speaker 1: sick and tired of the whole causeplay chicks. I know
- 9:01Speaker 1: a few who are actually pretty cool and big shocker
- 9:04Speaker 1: love and read comics, so as in all things that,
- 9:07Speaker 1: they are the exception to the rule. Here's the statement
- 9:09Speaker 1: I want to make based on the rule. Hey, quasi
- 9:12Speaker 1: pretty not hot girl, you are more pathetic than the
- 9:16Speaker 1: real nerds, who you secretly think are really pathetic. But
- 9:20Speaker 1: we are onto you. Some of us are aware that
- 9:23Speaker 1: you are ever so average on an everyday basis. But
- 9:26Speaker 1: you have a couple of things going your way. You're
- 9:30Speaker 1: willing to become almost completely naked in public. And you're
- 9:34Speaker 1: either skinny, well some or most of you think that
- 9:38Speaker 1: you are, or you have big boobies. Notice I didn't
- 9:41Speaker 1: say great boobies. You are what I refer to as
- 9:45Speaker 1: con hot. Well, not by my estimation, but according to
- 9:48Speaker 1: a lot of average comic book fans who either rarely
- 9:52Speaker 1: speak to or never speak to girls. Some virgins, all
- 9:56Speaker 1: unconfident when it comes to girls, and the one thing
- 9:58Speaker 1: they all have in common, they are being preyed on
- 10:01Speaker 1: by you. You have this really awful need for attention,
- 10:05Speaker 1: for people to tell you you are pretty or hot,
- 10:07Speaker 1: and the thought of guys pleasuring themselves to the memory
- 10:10Speaker 1: of you hagging on them with your glossy open lips
- 10:13Speaker 1: promising them the moon and the stars of pleasure just
- 10:16Speaker 1: makes your head vibrate. After many years of watching this
- 10:19Speaker 1: go down every three seconds around in front of my
- 10:22Speaker 1: booth or table at any given con in this country,
- 10:25Speaker 1: I put this together, well, not just me, we are legion,
- 10:28Speaker 1: and here it is the reason why all that sickens
- 10:31Speaker 1: as because you don't know about comics beyond whatever Google
- 10:35Speaker 1: image search you did to get reference on the most
- 10:38Speaker 1: mainstream character with the most revealing costume ever. And also,
- 10:42Speaker 1: if any of these guys that you hang on tried
- 10:44Speaker 1: to talk to you out of the con, you wouldn't
- 10:46Speaker 1: give them the same time of day. Shut up, you
- 10:49Speaker 1: damned lyar No, you would not, lying, liar face, You're
- 10:53Speaker 1: not comics. You're just the thing that all the comic
- 10:56Speaker 1: book and mainstream press flocked too at cons, and the
- 10:59Speaker 1: real reason for the con and the damned costumes you're
- 11:01Speaker 1: preading around in that would be comic book artists and
- 11:04Speaker 1: comic book writers who make all that up. Okay, why
- 11:07Speaker 1: is he so angry? Why isn't he just letting it go?
- 11:10Speaker 1: And hey, even if that is the case, you're getting publicity.
- 11:14Speaker 1: Move on, man, you should just send him a note. Man,
- 11:19Speaker 1: you sound sad, and you sound like you've been rejected
- 11:22Speaker 1: a lot. I'm probably gonna get docs just for saying this,
- 11:24Speaker 1: because I'm sure he's somebody's hero who is really sad
- 11:27Speaker 1: and lonely. As he said, like, oh you're staying up
- 11:29Speaker 1: for all men, good job. I don't know how to
- 11:32Speaker 1: stay that would sit down, Calm down, You're insignificant. If
- 11:34Speaker 1: this is what you have to rant about, this is
- 11:38Speaker 1: your issue in life, just sit down. Yeah, it'll be okay, dude.
- 11:43Speaker 1: Just they're pretty, move on you. You don't have to
- 11:46Speaker 1: compliment them. You don't even have to look at that costumes,
- 11:48Speaker 1: don't have any of those things. They don't have to
- 11:50Speaker 1: exist for you. It's fine. Just let them be. Why
- 11:53Speaker 1: are you so sad and lonely? Samantha's turned this around
- 11:56Speaker 1: on you, sir. I'm just saying it's gonna be okay.
- 11:59Speaker 1: Boo boo this it will be okay. And then there's
- 12:04Speaker 1: Joe Peacock, who wrote there's a growing chorus of frustration
- 12:08Speaker 1: in the geek community with and there's no other way
- 12:10Speaker 1: to put this pretty girls pretending to be geeks for attention.
- 12:13Speaker 1: San Diego Comic Con is the largest vehicle, but it's
- 12:15Speaker 1: hardly the only convention populated with quote hot chicks wearing
- 12:19Speaker 1: skimpy outfits simply to get a bunch of galking geeks
- 12:21Speaker 1: heads to turn, just to satisfy their hollow egos. Okay,
- 12:25Speaker 1: I'm so seriously confused about why they are so upset
- 12:31Speaker 1: that pretty girls. Oh well, they're upset about pretty girls
- 12:34Speaker 1: existing in their space and not being sexual objects just
- 12:37Speaker 1: for them to consume. Well, it's that in part too.
- 12:41Speaker 1: There's this sense of if you were a child and
- 12:46Speaker 1: being a nerd was not cool and you got beat
- 12:49Speaker 1: up for it, perhaps that you had to go through
- 12:52Speaker 1: this stuff and it's like an exclusive club. And now
- 12:56Speaker 1: people are just in their minds they just look good.
- 12:58Speaker 1: Don't understand it coming into our world. So is the
- 13:01Speaker 1: whole world of I'll listen to them before they're popular.
- 13:04Speaker 1: I like this before they were cool mentality. Yeah, and
- 13:07Speaker 1: there's definite gate keeping and entitlement and we're going to
- 13:11Speaker 1: talk about some of this more later. And also just
- 13:14Speaker 1: um a geek anything that depends on expertise to like
- 13:19Speaker 1: your credentials of how much of a geek you are
- 13:21Speaker 1: depends on how much you know about a certain thing.
- 13:24Speaker 1: Then they're automatically with that is a level of judgment
- 13:28Speaker 1: of thinking, like, I can understand it. They're upset because
- 13:30Speaker 1: someone else is making money on something they didn't dedicate
- 13:32Speaker 1: themselves too, but just enjoying it. Yeah, it seems kind
- 13:36Speaker 1: of harsh. Well, and also, and we mentioned this a
- 13:42Speaker 1: little bit in fan fiction, there is a people look
- 13:47Speaker 1: down on how women more traditionally celebrate fandom, like writing
- 13:52Speaker 1: fan fiction or making costumes, because if you look at
- 13:56Speaker 1: arts and crafts, who are more likely to engage in that?
- 13:59Speaker 1: It is women. So women are making these costumes, and
- 14:04Speaker 1: some of these men are looking down on that as
- 14:07Speaker 1: that is not true fandom, that is not true nerdom?
- 14:12Speaker 1: How dare they? How dare they? And who agrees is
- 14:16Speaker 1: Dr nerd Love who responded being sexy as great as
- 14:20Speaker 1: long as you've passed this ideological test that shows that
- 14:22Speaker 1: you are indeed a true geek and not one of
- 14:25Speaker 1: those hideous posers. I'm sure Peacock, who is the person
- 14:28Speaker 1: whose comments we've just read. I'm sure Peacock means well,
- 14:30Speaker 1: but what he is saying is, ladies, you're only allowed
- 14:33Speaker 1: to express yourself sexually if you follow my rules. This
- 14:37Speaker 1: is continuing the long running attitudes still prevalent in geek
- 14:40Speaker 1: culture that women are allowed to partake in fandom and
- 14:42Speaker 1: geek culture if and only if they fulfill specific criteria,
- 14:46Speaker 1: and even then only if they participate in preapproved manners.
- 14:50Speaker 1: The fake geek girl is the nerd equivalent of the
- 14:52Speaker 1: welfare queen, a semi mythical beast who somehow ruins things
- 14:57Speaker 1: for everybody by well, nobody's entirely sure confusing their poor
- 15:02Speaker 1: sad boners. Evidently nobody has ever been able to explain,
- 15:06Speaker 1: to my satisfaction just how this hurts geek culture. Somebody
- 15:09Speaker 1: dressing up in a sexy costume because being ogle makes
- 15:12Speaker 1: them feel good doesn't affect me or my friends participation
- 15:15Speaker 1: in geek culture in any meaningful way. Putting the blame
- 15:18Speaker 1: on these fake geek attention grabbers for narrowly defining the
- 15:21Speaker 1: role of women and keepdom only serves to resolve the
- 15:24Speaker 1: men who act as gate keepers, insisting that the only
- 15:27Speaker 1: role open to women is to be a sexual object
- 15:30Speaker 1: rather than a full partner, while denigrating them for doing so.
- 15:33Speaker 1: At the exact same time, the idea of the fake
- 15:36Speaker 1: geek girl only serves as a way of dismissing or
- 15:39Speaker 1: diminishing the presence of women and keekdom. If she doesn't
- 15:41Speaker 1: conform to some arbitrary standard, she's clearly a fake, only
- 15:45Speaker 1: in it for the attention. Because if there's anything women do,
- 15:48Speaker 1: it's been hours upon hours of time and effort just
- 15:50Speaker 1: a ryle dudes up with absolutely no payoff. That's what
- 15:54Speaker 1: I'm doing here, isn't that you're doing here? Yeah? I
- 15:56Speaker 1: love rolling dudes up. Yeah, never mind, never mind, never
- 16:04Speaker 1: mind about that. Um. And So from my personal experience
- 16:08Speaker 1: being in costumes at conventions, I've had men come up
- 16:12Speaker 1: to me and quise me for sure, how much do
- 16:14Speaker 1: you know about this character? Do you know every Russian
- 16:17Speaker 1: word that sets off the winner soldier? Can you do
- 16:19Speaker 1: them for me? Um? I I can do. I can
- 16:23Speaker 1: do what I would assume is not very great Russian pronunciation,
- 16:26Speaker 1: but I know the general sounds have more. I'm like,
- 16:29Speaker 1: I'm more, not more imprised, but I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
- 16:33Speaker 1: of course you wouldn't know. Of course you're annie, of
- 16:36Speaker 1: course you wouldn't know. I have watched Winter Soldiers several
- 16:39Speaker 1: several times. I almost watched it last night. Couldn't because
- 16:42Speaker 1: you weren't there. We gotta wait, we gotta do it together.
- 16:45Speaker 1: Men ask if they can pose with me in sexy ways,
- 16:48Speaker 1: take pictures where I'm in like some kind of sexy pose,
- 16:51Speaker 1: like holding my breasts, are making out, or carrying me
- 16:53Speaker 1: on their shoulder. Um. I've had men accused me of
- 16:56Speaker 1: knowing nothing about the character I was dressed as men say,
- 16:59Speaker 1: um that they see me every year and they know
- 17:02Speaker 1: quote exactly what I'm doing. What I don't know, they
- 17:07Speaker 1: know I don't know. I'm just trying to have fun here.
- 17:12Speaker 1: On the other side of the spectrum, I've had men
- 17:15Speaker 1: act offensively impressed that I know literally anything about nerd
- 17:20Speaker 1: him and immediately act as though we must have sex immediately.
- 17:24Speaker 1: We've we've got a date. We were soulmates, obviously. Um.
- 17:28Speaker 1: The first year I went there, an old man bought
- 17:30Speaker 1: me a bud light. The first year I went to
- 17:32Speaker 1: drunk on and then asked me up to his hotel
- 17:33Speaker 1: room a bud light. A bud light. That's not that's
- 17:36Speaker 1: not the joint to go to to be like, hey,
- 17:37Speaker 1: come hang with me in my hotel room. And I'm
- 17:39Speaker 1: so oblivious. I was just thrilled at a free beer
- 17:42Speaker 1: that I saw someone else before. Look, if you're gonna
- 17:46Speaker 1: buy me a beer, I'm gonna move on. Like that's
- 17:49Speaker 1: not a promise, that's as you being dumb. Future episode.
- 17:52Speaker 1: I actually want to re examine that because I've always
- 17:55Speaker 1: kind of been torn on what to do anyway, Okay, UM,
- 18:00Speaker 1: all kinds of un want to touching. We've done episodes
- 18:02Speaker 1: about that, and you've probably heard it in the news. UM,
- 18:05Speaker 1: and the attitude that since you're dressed up as a
- 18:07Speaker 1: certain character is totally cool, like you're no longer human anymore.
- 18:11Speaker 1: They're this rendering of a character that they have an
- 18:13Speaker 1: idea about. UM. Or sometimes they think it's just funny,
- 18:16Speaker 1: especially because I gender bend, so I'm usually dressed as
- 18:19Speaker 1: like of a female version of a male character, So
- 18:24Speaker 1: a lot of dudes think that's hilarious. Um. I've had
- 18:28Speaker 1: cops make inappropriate comments and asked me out when I'm
- 18:32Speaker 1: dressed in costume, and we have literally not said anything
- 18:34Speaker 1: to each other. It just comes up. You know what,
- 18:36Speaker 1: I'd like, take you out of date, no, sir, No sir.
- 18:41Speaker 1: UM and Smith and I at our upcoming convention, we're
- 18:45Speaker 1: gonna take a tally of how many sexist comments we
- 18:48Speaker 1: receiver over here. We're gonna do a little survey, Yeah,
- 18:51Speaker 1: find out how prevalent that is. Because last year they
- 18:53Speaker 1: did have an incident UM, and they actually had a video,
- 18:56Speaker 1: I think of a woman being accosted and they were
- 18:58Speaker 1: trying to find this man at Dragon con. So I
- 19:00Speaker 1: know that people have become a little more aware of
- 19:03Speaker 1: what's happening and how inappropriate this is. I have certainly
- 19:07Speaker 1: observed so much sexism at cons and it is certainly
- 19:11Speaker 1: deterred some of my friends from going. And I have
- 19:13Speaker 1: seen women judge women dressed for too sexy, for essentially
- 19:17Speaker 1: being fakey girls. I have friends of mine that used
- 19:20Speaker 1: to do that before they grew up and realized the
- 19:23Speaker 1: error of their ways, right, But I've seen women do it.
- 19:26Speaker 1: That's the thing is like, again, I know I've said
- 19:28Speaker 1: repeatedly one of the reasons I don't go to convention
- 19:31Speaker 1: like this as an Asian woman, there's a whole level
- 19:33Speaker 1: of fetishism that happens already. So when you go into
- 19:37Speaker 1: and for me, even though there's so many other things
- 19:40Speaker 1: that dragon con animal is one of the first things
- 19:42Speaker 1: I think of, and that's typically one of the right,
- 19:46Speaker 1: you know, I was like, oh no, oh no, no,
- 19:47Speaker 1: we can't hang out if you're obsessed. It's one thing
- 19:50Speaker 1: to have an interest, and it's the one thing to
- 19:51Speaker 1: like it. But to me, there's a whole level of
- 19:53Speaker 1: why you want to talk to me, right, So that
- 19:56Speaker 1: to me, like, even though I think it's getting less
- 19:58Speaker 1: and less, but that's still very, very, very existent. I
- 20:02Speaker 1: definitely get asked out based on me be an Asian
- 20:06Speaker 1: and now my sexy voice just getting up. Um, But
- 20:09Speaker 1: I'm just like, that's one of the reasons I stay away,
- 20:11Speaker 1: far far away, and I typically don't dress up. If
- 20:13Speaker 1: I dressed up, it's going to be a funny character
- 20:15Speaker 1: than a sexy character typically for me. Yeah, and caveat here.
- 20:21Speaker 1: I do normally have a pretty good experience. This is
- 20:24Speaker 1: making it sound horrible, but I want to say this.
- 20:28Speaker 1: All of this stuff happens to me when I'm alone. Um,
- 20:32Speaker 1: I think when we're together, I'm not sure that this
- 20:34Speaker 1: is going to happen. Well, it's kind of like that
- 20:35Speaker 1: pack mentality, and I'm sure, Well we could go into
- 20:37Speaker 1: that later on. But men have this thing about women
- 20:41Speaker 1: being alone versus being in a pack. But sometimes it
- 20:43Speaker 1: doesn't even determine in general, especially if there's a male
- 20:46Speaker 1: in the group, then that kind of like or someone
- 20:49Speaker 1: of the opposite sex or someone of different sex, that
- 20:51Speaker 1: that just kind of pulls everything apart for the right
- 20:55Speaker 1: pray versus predator meant any what it kind of is.
- 21:01Speaker 1: So yeah, I could definitely say, especially at these types
- 21:04Speaker 1: of conferences, if you're not with a group, that obviously
- 21:06Speaker 1: means you need friends. Quote unquote yeah mm hmmm. Look
- 21:10Speaker 1: at that lonely winter soldier. I think I'll go up
- 21:13Speaker 1: and harrass her. That's what I think every time. Yeah. Sure.
- 21:16Speaker 1: And another thing I want to add in here is
- 21:19Speaker 1: something that I've only started to think about after being
- 21:23Speaker 1: on this show is being feminist and wearing costumes that
- 21:27Speaker 1: were designed with the male gaze of mind, so sexy costumes,
- 21:31Speaker 1: and feeling conflict about it, especially when there are young
- 21:35Speaker 1: children around. Because it's one thing I've said it before.
- 21:39Speaker 1: I love dressing up in sexy costumes every now that
- 21:41Speaker 1: not all the times, sometimes I'm not in the place,
- 21:43Speaker 1: but sometimes feeling it. I do it for myself, but
- 21:48Speaker 1: I don't think it's perceived that way because our society
- 21:51Speaker 1: has not set it up to be perceived that way
- 21:52Speaker 1: for so long. So I worry that kids see that
- 21:55Speaker 1: perception as opposed to just the strong woman who wants
- 21:58Speaker 1: to dress sexy. Um. So that's in the back of
- 22:01Speaker 1: my head now too. That's something I think about. Well,
- 22:03Speaker 1: if you think about old comics and the characters and
- 22:06Speaker 1: the way women were drawn in general, they're like, what
- 22:09Speaker 1: the hell they're wearing? And now today's translations into our
- 22:15Speaker 1: movie in you know, Wonder Woman. It's kind of like
- 22:17Speaker 1: that fine balance. And that's another thing that I hope
- 22:21Speaker 1: we'll get to come back to because a lot of
- 22:23Speaker 1: people have written about it, is why is it that
- 22:26Speaker 1: women when during Halloween say they it's become like sexy costumes?
- 22:32Speaker 1: And I think I subscribe to the mean girls theory.
- 22:36Speaker 1: That is because we're judged so harshly any other time
- 22:39Speaker 1: for dressing sexy. So it's like the one time we
- 22:41Speaker 1: feel like we can. But there's a lot of other
- 22:43Speaker 1: stuff at play. I haven't done the research yet, so
- 22:45Speaker 1: if you disagree, please don't yell at me quite yet.
- 22:50Speaker 1: But that's something we'll returned to me is just wearing
- 22:52Speaker 1: all black with some kind of animal ears. That's the
- 22:55Speaker 1: best way to go that you're costume wearing all black
- 22:59Speaker 1: and then cattiers. Well I did rabbit ears one year.
- 23:03Speaker 1: Comfort is key, Yes, comfort is key. So why does
- 23:06Speaker 1: this whole fake girl thing exist? Well? Has always for
- 23:11Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. One nerdum has long been seen
- 23:15Speaker 1: as a male alternative for being traditionally male. So it's
- 23:18Speaker 1: the alternative if you're not that buff, strong, do you
- 23:22Speaker 1: that is. You know, when we think of the most masculine,
- 23:25Speaker 1: manly man, that's the image, the sports jock type thing.
- 23:29Speaker 1: So nerdum has been the alternative to that. And in
- 23:34Speaker 1: our movies we see it all the time. You got
- 23:36Speaker 1: the jocks and the nerds, and the nerds always get
- 23:39Speaker 1: the girl. They're entitled to the girl because the male
- 23:43Speaker 1: dude wrote it and that's what they think. Um. Having knowledge,
- 23:47Speaker 1: being a nerd was another way to be competent. So
- 23:50Speaker 1: if a woman started doing this, then does that mean
- 23:54Speaker 1: nerd them is less manly or nerds are only passing
- 23:59Speaker 1: as men and or if it is defined on how
- 24:02Speaker 1: much you know, then it fosters gatekeeping, like we said,
- 24:05Speaker 1: and men have traditionally done this gatekeeping, and women who
- 24:08Speaker 1: got past that frequently had to give up a part
- 24:11Speaker 1: of their identity to do so, so be a less feminine,
- 24:14Speaker 1: not this pretty fake geek girl. Um. So it can
- 24:17Speaker 1: be easy to lash out against people women in this
- 24:22Speaker 1: scenario that didn't give up a part of their identity
- 24:25Speaker 1: in our eyes, um, like you have to do that.
- 24:29Speaker 1: Fans of something see it as part of their identity.
- 24:34Speaker 1: Hardcore it is hardcore, but it doesn't have to be
- 24:38Speaker 1: there different there different levels of fandom. And like I
- 24:42Speaker 1: said earlier, I think a part of it too is
- 24:44Speaker 1: that nerdom used to come with this rite of passage
- 24:47Speaker 1: of getting beat up or being isolated. So when you
- 24:49Speaker 1: see someone who you think didn't have to go through
- 24:52Speaker 1: that using the label you used to find solace or
- 24:55Speaker 1: to find people like you to feel us alone, then
- 24:59Speaker 1: you might want lash out. And I know we read
- 25:01Speaker 1: something about that in our I think our Star Wars
- 25:04Speaker 1: episode about toxic fandom. Um, but I can't I can
- 25:09Speaker 1: never find it. But I know John Oliver has a
- 25:11Speaker 1: bit where he says, nerds, youve inherited the earth. It's over.
- 25:14Speaker 1: Well that's kind of a new joke, is how That's
- 25:16Speaker 1: kind of Um. I think it was the silly movie
- 25:19Speaker 1: with Jonah Hill and Jane and Channing Tatum, the Little
- 25:23Speaker 1: Cup movie. Yeah, you know one and the Key. They
- 25:26Speaker 1: go they go back to school, but the roles of
- 25:28Speaker 1: a reverse and now Jonah is the cool kid who
- 25:31Speaker 1: was the nerd in high school and got beat up
- 25:33Speaker 1: and the jock was always now is being made fun of,
- 25:35Speaker 1: which is Chane Tatum chater? Like it does the flip
- 25:38Speaker 1: and then like although in the early nineties late eighties,
- 25:41Speaker 1: the Nerds had their own franchise, The Revenge of the Nerds.
- 25:45Speaker 1: I know, it was a whole it was really creepy
- 25:47Speaker 1: movie too. It was terrible. It was really awful. But
- 25:49Speaker 1: they had a whole franchise based on we Will. Of
- 25:51Speaker 1: course he's nerds, really buff Nerds. It was really weird
- 25:54Speaker 1: to me. But yeah, stuff like that has become a
- 25:57Speaker 1: part of like the flip of the script of mentality.
- 26:02Speaker 1: And as I said, there are different levels of fandom,
- 26:04Speaker 1: so that's a totally okay thing. Some of us are
- 26:08Speaker 1: we're all in. Some of us are casual, and it
- 26:10Speaker 1: differs from fandom to fandom. And I personally don't understand
- 26:15Speaker 1: keeping and shutting people out from fandoms that we love.
- 26:17Speaker 1: I feel like I want to share it with everybody.
- 26:19Speaker 1: I think you do that really well, which is also
- 26:21Speaker 1: why I've been watching Supernatural. It was because of you. Essentially,
- 26:25Speaker 1: you talked about it another element cool. I'll get it
- 26:27Speaker 1: because I am a Maybe they would call me a
- 26:31Speaker 1: poser because I enjoy it. I know about it, but
- 26:33Speaker 1: I'm not gonna go all the way in poser. That's
- 26:37Speaker 1: that's that's my levels. Like I will, I like all
- 26:40Speaker 1: the Captain Marvel movies. I will watch them, and I
- 26:42Speaker 1: will not watch them ten times in a week. Annie,
- 26:47Speaker 1: I don't know, Samantha. Just let me be a little
- 26:49Speaker 1: bit more persuasive. I gets you and there, but like
- 26:52Speaker 1: things like that, I won't be standing in line for
- 26:54Speaker 1: four hours to go ride a Hagrid ride. Well that
- 26:59Speaker 1: do it. You would have been able to walk right on.
- 27:01Speaker 1: So think about that. I are you were, And I
- 27:06Speaker 1: love the new text that I get from you to
- 27:08Speaker 1: show me the way times of the Haggard ride, even
- 27:11Speaker 1: though we're nowhere near every morning I checked got down
- 27:18Speaker 1: to two hours that one fifty, I was like, oh god,
- 27:21Speaker 1: she's gonna get on a plane, like she's gonna try
- 27:23Speaker 1: to get there now. Um. But yeah, I definitely am
- 27:26Speaker 1: one of those. But yeah, I could definitely. I definitely
- 27:29Speaker 1: see the dedication and people when you start seeing message
- 27:32Speaker 1: boards and actually seeing like icons people use that what
- 27:35Speaker 1: they are pictures profile pictures of whatever character they're in
- 27:39Speaker 1: love with. It's pretty fascinating. Oh absolutely, I totally agree.
- 27:44Speaker 1: And it's I love the creativity of the costumes and
- 27:50Speaker 1: part of that, like the crafting. As we said that
- 27:53Speaker 1: that's predominantly female. Um, but the creativity of it and
- 27:59Speaker 1: just seeing the puns people come up with, just how
- 28:01Speaker 1: impressive something is. And it takes time and it takes money.
- 28:04Speaker 1: You can do it cheaply, but it can be very expensive.
- 28:08Speaker 1: And to just dismiss that as this isn't real fandom, right,
- 28:13Speaker 1: that doesn't make anything. A little of research alone to
- 28:16Speaker 1: get the precision people's the details on these people's costumes
- 28:20Speaker 1: are amazing. Oh yeah, and they might even be sexy.
- 28:26Speaker 1: How dare you I guess someone going to a sexy
- 28:29Speaker 1: Thanos Last year, one of the costumes I remember the most,
- 28:34Speaker 1: and I apologize in advance, was a sexy Penny Wise,
- 28:39Speaker 1: which I just saw that movie. It was a really
- 28:43Speaker 1: good which, by the way, I know this has nothing
- 28:45Speaker 1: to do with this, but that whole scene with him
- 28:47Speaker 1: being in the room full of the figurines and of clowns,
- 28:50Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm scared of.
- 28:52Speaker 1: That Savantha's very specific fear they came to life. Well, okay,
- 28:59Speaker 1: I'll keep that money. I'll get better about warning you
- 29:01Speaker 1: about statues that whatever they are. Um, but yeah, I
- 29:08Speaker 1: just I'm not down with this looking I'm not down
- 29:12Speaker 1: with looking down on how other people express their fandom
- 29:16Speaker 1: as long as it's not hurting anybody else, I don't
- 29:19Speaker 1: get it. I think that's the mantra, how does it
- 29:21Speaker 1: bother you? If it's not actually physically taking away a
- 29:24Speaker 1: right or happiness or something that it's actually then why then?
- 29:30Speaker 1: Why why? And also women have always been geeks. Just
- 29:33Speaker 1: want to put that out there throughout history. I know
- 29:35Speaker 1: Mary Shelley isn't an example of one of the first geeks. Um,
- 29:39Speaker 1: we're just more visible now and we're taking up space
- 29:43Speaker 1: and people don't like and also people are actually acknowledging
- 29:46Speaker 1: that yes, as a thing. We have some more for
- 29:51Speaker 1: you on a toxic fandom, but first we have a
- 29:54Speaker 1: quick break for word from our sponsor and we're back.
- 30:09Speaker 1: Thank you sponsored. So toxic fandom this has been thrown
- 30:13Speaker 1: about our vernacular a lot lately, and it's made up
- 30:16Speaker 1: of three things. Essentially, entitlement, a feeling of superiority, and possessiveness.
- 30:24Speaker 1: If that fandom has been traditionally white and male, then
- 30:26Speaker 1: anything outside of that that that messes with this sense
- 30:29Speaker 1: of possessiveness. And it's not limited to nerdy things at all.
- 30:34Speaker 1: Music is another another big one, like k pop. I
- 30:38Speaker 1: know that's come up, the example of how female singers
- 30:40Speaker 1: can't date because the fans are so possessives, like an
- 30:43Speaker 1: old school back throwback when actors we're not allowed to
- 30:47Speaker 1: share anything about the private lib and had to pretend
- 30:49Speaker 1: like they're always open, we're never in a relationship and single, right.
- 30:54Speaker 1: I heard that rumor kind of around Taylor's swift for
- 30:56Speaker 1: a while, like I know, like, but then they get
- 31:00Speaker 1: really possessive in the sense of Justin Bieber when he
- 31:02Speaker 1: and Selina Gomez broke up and he got married, they
- 31:05Speaker 1: started going after his wife like me, because they just
- 31:09Speaker 1: it should have been this other woman. And you're just
- 31:11Speaker 1: going like, damn, you all let them live their lives. Why.
- 31:14Speaker 1: I get it. If you don't like his music, sure,
- 31:17Speaker 1: if he's a dick, sure, but because he married someone
- 31:20Speaker 1: else at that level, and then we know the hive
- 31:24Speaker 1: will come after you. Yeah. Um. They these people are
- 31:28Speaker 1: really scared. They're they're very passionate, and they're very passionate. Yes,
- 31:34Speaker 1: and and some of these uh celebrities have had to
- 31:38Speaker 1: address their fan base and say I will not tolerate
- 31:41Speaker 1: this type of behavior. You're right, um, And if we
- 31:44Speaker 1: go back to entitlement that comes with a sense of ownership. Um,
- 31:49Speaker 1: this might involve death threats to the creator if things
- 31:53Speaker 1: don't go the way that the fan thinks that it should.
- 31:57Speaker 1: Game of Thrones, Yeah, petitions see that fairly often, actually,
- 32:03Speaker 1: and I hear it with any kind of ending. People
- 32:06Speaker 1: don't like, oh my gosh, but they make things happen,
- 32:09Speaker 1: like the Veronica Malar stuff. Well, that's an example of
- 32:12Speaker 1: good fandom, although that does come with the double edged
- 32:16Speaker 1: sort of then you feel like you have to do
- 32:19Speaker 1: fan service because they essentially made it happen, which Christin
- 32:23Speaker 1: Bell actually she talked about it. Yeah, did um. And
- 32:27Speaker 1: then if we look at the superiority, you're better than
- 32:30Speaker 1: the so called enormis or casuals to the terms they
- 32:34Speaker 1: use are muggles. Sometimes even outside of Harry Potter, toxic
- 32:39Speaker 1: fandom is sometimes called protective fandom, fans thinking that they
- 32:42Speaker 1: are protecting are preserving the fandom as they believe it
- 32:46Speaker 1: should be. Um. And I've told the story on this
- 32:49Speaker 1: very show how I stopped playing games online because of
- 32:51Speaker 1: toxic fandom. Michelle Rodriguez was booed after saying destructive male
- 32:57Speaker 1: culture while on a panel called women who kick asked
- 33:00Speaker 1: a man shouted at her women who talked too much.
- 33:05Speaker 1: Then there's Bree Larson the whole I think she just
- 33:09Speaker 1: said we need more women and everyone was like fire
- 33:12Speaker 1: her immediately. Um. And then the reaction to Marvel Phase four,
- 33:16Speaker 1: which is much more diverse than it has been traditionally,
- 33:21Speaker 1: people saying, oh, this is it's ruined three women exactly,
- 33:24Speaker 1: how dare you? And then they're all white red oads. Right.
- 33:28Speaker 1: There's even that cut of the Avengers where they took
- 33:32Speaker 1: out all the women all male Avengers. That thinks like that.
- 33:37Speaker 1: And then if you look at Star Wars, there's Daisy
- 33:40Speaker 1: Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran being bullied off social media.
- 33:44Speaker 1: They're both in the new Star Wars. And then the
- 33:46Speaker 1: movies like, um, Charlie Staron was on Mad Max. They're
- 33:50Speaker 1: pissed that she was one of the heroes, even though
- 33:54Speaker 1: essentially she still got rescued. Yeah, and I'm just like,
- 33:57Speaker 1: what's happening in their whole men men rights movement about
- 34:01Speaker 1: boycotting that movie and things like that. It's just so effling. Yeah.
- 34:06Speaker 1: Another thing that baffles me. Actors on Voltron received death
- 34:12Speaker 1: threats because of their response. To questions around shipping. So
- 34:16Speaker 1: I've said it in another episode, but this is when
- 34:18Speaker 1: you are pushing for a certain relationship, and they thought that.
- 34:23Speaker 1: I think the actors just said, I like, people should
- 34:25Speaker 1: ship whoever they want and everyone not everyone, but a
- 34:28Speaker 1: very vocal group of fans said, you're wrong, this is
- 34:32Speaker 1: the only ship you monster death threats. Then Dan Harmon
- 34:36Speaker 1: have he had to essentially condemn half the fans of
- 34:40Speaker 1: Rick and Morty. Really, yes, and there it's one of
- 34:47Speaker 1: those things, unfortunate things where it's been taken by men's
- 34:52Speaker 1: rights activists and sort of turned into so like we
- 34:55Speaker 1: talked about and sells, so that like alpha is Rick
- 34:59Speaker 1: and then beta is Morty. You got and then whatever
- 35:03Speaker 1: the dad's name, Jerry, he's the other thing. Um. And
- 35:08Speaker 1: they attacked to McDonald's and I think San Francisco some
- 35:10Speaker 1: Rick and Morty fans because they ran out of the
- 35:13Speaker 1: session one sauce they were threatening McDonald's employees. This is
- 35:19Speaker 1: a cartoon, right, and if people don't get mad at me,
- 35:22Speaker 1: and I'm like over a cartoon of a non existent
- 35:25Speaker 1: place and characters correct, and I'm sorry, I'm going off track, yep,
- 35:30Speaker 1: going Stephen Universe artist was forced to quit after she
- 35:36Speaker 1: was threatened by fans for drawing a appairing ship that
- 35:39Speaker 1: they didn't like. Members of a Sherlock panel the BBC
- 35:44Speaker 1: show were harassed based on their preference of who tops
- 35:49Speaker 1: in that universe. Huh exactly. I think one of them
- 35:56Speaker 1: was given a candy with needles in it. Oh my god.
- 36:00Speaker 1: M Then there's the practice of swatting. That's when you
- 36:04Speaker 1: call swat teams on someone during a gaming dispute, and
- 36:06Speaker 1: this this has resulted in at least one death. That's
- 36:09Speaker 1: a twenty years sentence. Rotten Tomatoes changed its review policy
- 36:14Speaker 1: to prevent mostly male participants in toxic fandom from bombing
- 36:17Speaker 1: movies on their site, usually before they've been seeing them.
- 36:20Speaker 1: Movies with female and or people of color and lead roles.
- 36:23Speaker 1: Captain Marvel, Black, Panther, Wonder Woman, they were all targets.
- 36:26Speaker 1: Then you Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Last Jedi Tumbler added tag blocking,
- 36:33Speaker 1: and fandoms have this power because this is a group
- 36:37Speaker 1: that people who make movies studios feel beholden to because
- 36:42Speaker 1: that it's guaranteed money if he pleased them. And I'm
- 36:46Speaker 1: sorry if that fails callous, but it's true, right, um
- 36:49Speaker 1: and that can prevent studios from making more inclusive choices
- 36:54Speaker 1: UM or like braver storyline choices. And this is not
- 36:57Speaker 1: to absolve studios at all at all, but we can't
- 37:00Speaker 1: absolve toxic fandom either, especially when studios do make these
- 37:04Speaker 1: decisions and the actors pay the price via social media.
- 37:08Speaker 1: It's like a reverse death of the author problem when
- 37:11Speaker 1: the fans are the problem, not the creator, and creators
- 37:16Speaker 1: can be involved in it too, though, especially when they
- 37:19Speaker 1: say a true fan can only believe in their interpretation. Yes,
- 37:24Speaker 1: I believe an Rice is a good example, and and
- 37:28Speaker 1: it's really bad this whole thing in terms of things
- 37:31Speaker 1: like fight Club or The Matrix, where toxic again largely
- 37:35Speaker 1: male fans took the original work and turned it into
- 37:37Speaker 1: something poisonous like representative of red pill blue Pill. And
- 37:42Speaker 1: that's not how it was meant. I mean, fight Club
- 37:44Speaker 1: was supposed to be a satire about toxic masculinity UM,
- 37:49Speaker 1: but it has been usurped every time. That's why we
- 37:55Speaker 1: can't have nice things. Yes, hashtag, not all fans. We're
- 38:00Speaker 1: making it sound awful. They are parts of it, parts
- 38:02Speaker 1: of it that are just truly terrible and frightening, and
- 38:09Speaker 1: it scares some people away, and it's that is really
- 38:12Speaker 1: frustrating to me. UM. Some of it, though, is beautiful
- 38:16Speaker 1: and rewarding and sometimes transformative. It can give you copies, friends,
- 38:20Speaker 1: maybe even significant others. Um. It can be a place
- 38:24Speaker 1: to find your tribe. I found one of my best friends.
- 38:26Speaker 1: I went up to talk to her because she had
- 38:27Speaker 1: a Harry Potter folder. It's the whole reason why I
- 38:29Speaker 1: talked to her and we're still best friends to this stay.
- 38:32Speaker 1: She will be at jack and you guys are are
- 38:35Speaker 1: you guys the ones going to uh Orlando November Circle.
- 38:41Speaker 1: It's it's all comort fule and thanks to fanom. It's
- 38:45Speaker 1: a place you can hone your creativity. It can be
- 38:48Speaker 1: all these things that it can be very very toxic.
- 38:52Speaker 1: It can be also a thing that is a criteria UM,
- 38:55Speaker 1: where like if they don't like Harry Potter, I'm very
- 38:58Speaker 1: suspicious of you. I used to have that rule and dating,
- 39:02Speaker 1: kind of like jokingly and kind of seriously, like you're
- 39:05Speaker 1: gonna have to either start watching it now, yeah, or
- 39:09Speaker 1: we're gonna watch them together read them. And that's just
- 39:11Speaker 1: how it is. But there are a few things that
- 39:13Speaker 1: I'm like, like, if you don't like this. We're gonna
- 39:15Speaker 1: have to have talk. We're gonna because it's gonna be
- 39:17Speaker 1: on because you're just you're just gonna deal with it
- 39:19Speaker 1: when I'm sitting there watching all nine eight videos of it,
- 39:25Speaker 1: Harry Potter, eight eight videos back to back to back
- 39:27Speaker 1: to back. Yeah, and I don't want your snide comments.
- 39:30Speaker 1: Don't start with me exactly. We sound like we're very
- 39:36Speaker 1: We've got good criteria for dating, must like Harry Potter.
- 39:39Speaker 1: Check and that's why I'm not married, not that don't
- 39:43Speaker 1: want to be. Uh well, we do have a little
- 39:45Speaker 1: bit more for you, but first we have one more
- 39:47Speaker 1: quick break forward from our sponsor and we're back. Thank
- 40:03Speaker 1: you sponsor. So toxic fandom is a big topic right now.
- 40:09Speaker 1: I feel like fate geek girl, the tide is turning.
- 40:11Speaker 1: Where most people are like, that's nonsense, it doesn't exist.
- 40:14Speaker 1: There are definitely still angry men who are pointing at
- 40:19Speaker 1: any sexy lady that walks by, But I feel like
- 40:22Speaker 1: now there's women are pointing at them like m right,
- 40:25Speaker 1: So I think I think the tide is turning there slowly,
- 40:28Speaker 1: ever so slowly. Toxic fandom has been up in the
- 40:32Speaker 1: news a lot and it's just the fact that it's
- 40:34Speaker 1: influenced these companies to change their policies, says a lot.
- 40:39Speaker 1: So I wasn't able to find I we always want
- 40:42Speaker 1: to end on a hopeful note. Here's what you can
- 40:45Speaker 1: do well. I couldn't find too much, but I did
- 40:49Speaker 1: see a near feed. You can mute, our block and
- 40:53Speaker 1: or report toxic fans and your feeds. There's a debate
- 40:57Speaker 1: around just muting versus actually porting, because then it will
- 41:00Speaker 1: remove it from all of your followers feeds. So, uh,
- 41:04Speaker 1: perhaps a future episode on that one from YouTuber a
- 41:08Speaker 1: LB in Wonderland. There is no such thing as a
- 41:11Speaker 1: fake eat girl. There are only girls who are different
- 41:13Speaker 1: varying levels of falling in love with something that the
- 41:15Speaker 1: society generically considers to fall under the nerd culture category. Right,
- 41:20Speaker 1: So the fake get girl, that's a good costume, actually
- 41:24Speaker 1: being a fake gig being a real fake get girl.
- 41:27Speaker 1: How do you do that? I don't know you dressed
- 41:29Speaker 1: as the meme. You gotta have some kind of clever
- 41:32Speaker 1: I'll think about that later. Um, I did dress up
- 41:35Speaker 1: as a generic enemy girl. I think that's what it was.
- 41:39Speaker 1: My character was generic Asian anime character and I was
- 41:43Speaker 1: wearing a school girl uniform that was just for one event.
- 41:50Speaker 1: It again, I'll never do it again because I actually
- 41:52Speaker 1: busted two tires and had to go to the varsity
- 41:54Speaker 1: and weigh on someone to help me change tires in
- 41:56Speaker 1: that costume. Oh Man, on a day that wasn't Dragon
- 41:58Speaker 1: con nor was it hell Wayne. If someone's birthday party
- 42:01Speaker 1: who loved Dragon Cot and wanted to have their birthday party,
- 42:04Speaker 1: that trader of Vix and so they asked us to
- 42:05Speaker 1: dress up, and I did it because it was their birthday.
- 42:08Speaker 1: I would like that to be known. Okay, you're doing it.
- 42:11Speaker 1: You were acting for a friend. I understand. I won't
- 42:15Speaker 1: make I hope there's no pictures. I've often felt that way,
- 42:22Speaker 1: but I guess our hopeful note. I just wanna once
- 42:25Speaker 1: again reiterate sharing is what makes fandom beautiful, what helps
- 42:29Speaker 1: it grow and thrive and become better, not shutting out
- 42:32Speaker 1: like a fandom that you never allowed a change and
- 42:35Speaker 1: you never allow new people in will die right. And
- 42:38Speaker 1: it's so much fun because, like I said, I get
- 42:40Speaker 1: caught onto your excitement. The reason I haven't watched and
- 42:42Speaker 1: I've seen it before The Winter Soldiers because I know
- 42:45Speaker 1: how much you love it, so I know it's gonna
- 42:47Speaker 1: be even better watching it with you. And that's why
- 42:50Speaker 1: I'm like, this is fun even though like I like
- 42:52Speaker 1: it a lot and I watched it a lot, but
- 42:55Speaker 1: I don't like, I'm not all into it as you are.
- 42:57Speaker 1: That you have a costume that you keep sixing up
- 43:00Speaker 1: and making better each year, the arm four point Oh yeah. Um,
- 43:04Speaker 1: but like that's the thing is a true fandom. If
- 43:06Speaker 1: you're a true fan, you would want other people to
- 43:09Speaker 1: understand it too. Yeah, and at varying levels. Just the
- 43:12Speaker 1: fact that you're willing to watch the movie, that's all
- 43:15Speaker 1: I'm excited. I wish we had video footage of that
- 43:18Speaker 1: time you read the list of best Marvel movies and
- 43:22Speaker 1: from worst to best, And as it gets further and further,
- 43:25Speaker 1: and the Winter Soldier hasn't been announced, right, number one,
- 43:30Speaker 1: number one, and then it was number one, this is
- 43:32Speaker 1: turning into the Winter Soldier podcast. I apologize, See this
- 43:36Speaker 1: is fandom, um, but I hope that I hope that
- 43:43Speaker 1: we can make it a better place, a safer place
- 43:46Speaker 1: for everyone. Yes, and we would love for you listeners
- 43:50Speaker 1: to write in if you've had experiences with fake geek
- 43:53Speaker 1: girl being called out a toxic fandom. What costumes are
- 43:57Speaker 1: you working on? If you're gonna be at Giant contry,
- 44:00Speaker 1: I teen let us know. Come find it. I'll be
- 44:02Speaker 1: in all black with Any's backpack. Come find me my
- 44:05Speaker 1: very recognizable black back pack. Yep. You can email us
- 44:09Speaker 1: at Stuff Media, mom Stuff at i heeart media dot com.
- 44:11Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast
- 44:13Speaker 1: and on Instagram at stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks
- 44:16Speaker 1: as always to our super producer Andrew Howard Andrew, and
- 44:19Speaker 1: thanks to you for listening Stuff I'm Never Told You
- 44:21Speaker 1: his protection of I Heart Radios how stuff works. For
- 44:24Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
- 44:26Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or if you listen to your favorite shows