The Fake Geek Girl

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

See, this is in part an illustration of the problem - you're saying there's a right way and a wrong way for women to behave at a gym - she's not a proper gym girl if she wears makeup, doesn't do heavy weights or do the right type of exercises.
I would've thought she was a proper gym girl if she was a girl who enjoyed going to the gym, regardless of how large the weights she lifts or what she wears.

Take what you said, swap out gym terms for nerd ones and you have exactly the same argument people are using to brand girls as "fakes".

But sis, do you even lift?

And in regards to Tony Harris' rant - geek guys should be offended too! I mean he's saying you "either RARELY speak to, or NEVER speak to girls. Some [of you are] Virgins, ALL unconfident when it comes to girls..."
And people are leaping to this guys defence when that's what he thinks of you?
Not to mention the contradiction of a girl spending all that money and time on a costume to lure geeks which she apparently hates... what?

I don't take offence to that, because I know that I'm f'ing amazing.
Tony Harris is probably those things, but I am not.


Also, I don't discriminate against anyone really, unless what they are doing is immoral. If people want to fake being a geek to get my attention then let them.
I've got my own geeky girl to work on. Hahahah!

[Build]

See, this is in part an illustration of the problem - you're saying there's a right way and a wrong way for women to behave at a gym - she's not a proper gym girl if she wears makeup, doesn't do heavy weights or do the right type of exercises.
I would've thought she was a proper gym girl if she was a girl who enjoyed going to the gym, regardless of how large the weights she lifts or what she wears.

Take what you said, swap out gym terms for nerd ones and you have exactly the same argument people are using to brand girls as "fakes".

Not at all, I'm saying you can tell when someone is committed to something due to an interest or love of the subject.

The same (for the sake of fairness) can be said about men too, which is why you have bicep boys, who seem to treat the gym as a night out on the pull and so dress up, stand around in groups and eye up anything with a chest, I've even been followed around by a group of them the last time I was in a French gym. By comparison for the make up argument they tend to wear cheap cologne, which smells just horrible when combined with sweat. Make up in the gym is a huge mistake, any kind of perspiration and it all comes off, or makes you look like a melting wax figure, I know quite a few lady lifters, a lot of them compete wether it's for a tanned and toned contest, power lifting or something else and you can tell they mean business. They never wear make-up for training, they come in get on with what they're doing and as I previously said they get on with it and frequently lift a lot more than the bicep boys.

It doesn't matter what a person looks like or what they wear when they join, chances are if they're in the gym they have joined for a purpose (though the purpose often changes from individual to individual). Regardless though, if a person is serious about the gym because they like it then or because they have a goal they will adapt their training, technique and diet in order to get the best out of it, which is why as I said before, a proper gym girl doesn't wear make up, doesn't stick together some random assortment of exercises and do them in a half arsed manner, because she knows its counter productive and will yield no results. Once again the exact same can be applied to men as well as rarely you get on of the bicep boys who branches off from the groups, trains hard, sorts his attitude out and then starts growing.

The same applies to other interests whether it's lifting, sculpting, gaming, painting or alligator tooth surgery.

But to steer this back to the geek girl and geek guy topic, I think a prime example is the Higgs boson, the amount of rubbish I've seen spewed about this over the internet by "acclaimed geek guys and girls" is insane, especially when they don't even know why it was termed the "God" particle and then you see hissy fits ensue with both sides arguing about it either being God in a particle form or that it irrefutably disproves the existence of God (and please, please, please let's not go down that road). Again, whether this can be attributed to too many episodes of The big bang theory or some poorly written article on the subject in the daily mail is not clear, but all of a sudden it has become a hip thing to talk about even for people who spent their school physics lessons making paper plains rather than paying attention.

[Gotthammer]

Eh, I'm still skeptical - requiring detailed knowledge or a certain attitude or outlook seems too much like "it must be done my way or you're not doing it right". For instance, wearing makeup or cologne is a bad idea when exercising, and is certainly detrimental to effectiveness - but it doesn't make the person any less of a gym junkie if they feel they are. Their workout might not be 100% optimised, hell it might even be bad, but would you say someone isn't a proper 40k fan if their models aren't painted to Golden Demon standard, or assembled badly etc?

To go back to being a geek does it mean you lose your geek card if you either don't know or mis-attribute the reasoning behind the God nickname? I mean if a detailed knowledge of the etymology of the nickname of an until-know theoretical particle is required to be classed a geek then count me out.
If that was the case I could say that unless you know who Bradamante is you are also not really a geek - after all geeks know a lot about mythology too, right? Or if you can't program in five different languages, can't quote Monty Python word for word, don't play D&D, watch anime etc etc.

I can see how someone can be a proper or real doctor / lawyer - you get a certificate and everything - but when it's a self applied label which covers a huge number of sub-groups the whole thing (not you, Build, the OP) reeks of people in their little empires upset that "other" people are getting let in and they can't act like jackasses anymore (see also: terrible game stores, the earlier thread on labels and my long response on the first page).

[eldargal]

I don't mean to answer for Build but I think he was referring to people who talk about things like the Higgs Boson like they know about it just because they are geeks. 'I'm a geek, therefore I know about science by osmosis' sort of thing. I've seen it myself.

I agree with what you're saying though, I think people forget that 'geek' is a catch-all phrase for a subculture that really defies categorisation because the interests that define it are so vast.

[Build]

Eh, I'm still skeptical - requiring detailed knowledge or a certain attitude or outlook seems too much like "it must be done my way or you're not doing it right". For instance, wearing makeup or cologne is a bad idea when exercising, and is certainly detrimental to effectiveness - but it doesn't make the person any less of a gym junkie if they feel they are. Their workout might not be 100% optimised, hell it might even be bad, but would you say someone isn't a proper 40k fan if their models aren't painted to Golden Demon standard, or assembled badly etc?

To go back to being a geek does it mean you lose your geek card if you either don't know or mis-attribute the reasoning behind the God nickname? I mean if a detailed knowledge of the etymology of the nickname of an until-know theoretical particle is required to be classed a geek then count me out.
If that was the case I could say that unless you know who Bradamante is you are also not really a geek - after all geeks know a lot about mythology too, right? Or if you can't program in five different languages, can't quote Monty Python word for word, don't play D&D, watch anime etc etc.

I can see how someone can be a proper or real doctor / lawyer - you get a certificate and everything - but when it's a self applied label which covers a huge number of sub-groups the whole thing (not you, Build, the OP) reeks of people in their little empires upset that "other" people are getting let in and they can't act like jackasses anymore (see also: terrible game stores, the earlier thread on labels and my long response on the first page).

By that argument alone I'd say it's very likely that you yet to see the inside of a gym, let alone attempt to train whilst wearing make up or cologne. Individuals who train hard and have the body to back it up don't wear either because it's simply impractical (rather like training without sports bras).

I think part of the problem is that you may well have misunderstood my point, a person who is interested in an aspect (gyming or gaming or something else entirely) will strive to get better at what they do, they will practice and seek advice and constantly strive to improve their game.

Want an example of this? At the age of 15 I had a 45 inch waist, dieting down for contests now and my waist is 29 inches.

Like another? I've enrolled on an advanced anatomy course run by Simon Egan (a brilliant teacher for human anatomy) to sort out latent issues with my sculpture posing and model dynamic qualities. I frequently chat with everyone form illustrators to sculptors to comic artists and biologists to improve my game (especially given I'm trying to sculpt a carnosaur at the moment in super sculpey).


@Eldargal

I use cats to help improve my understanding of Physics.

[fuzzbuket]

anyone who is a avid fan of TBBT is annoying when they are soo geeky for watching some ****ty show.
but they
cant name all 151(or 152) original pokemon
cant tell you what TES stands for
belive that farmville is hardcore gaming
ect

its just soo annoying.

but if someone is geninley intrested in something (LOTR which has sprung back to popularity for example) i have no problem.

[scadugenga]

See, this is in part an illustration of the problem - you're saying there's a right way and a wrong way for women to behave at a gym - she's not a proper gym girl if she wears makeup, doesn't do heavy weights or do the right type of exercises.
I would've thought she was a proper gym girl if she was a girl who enjoyed going to the gym, regardless of how large the weights she lifts or what she wears.

Take what you said, swap out gym terms for nerd ones and you have exactly the same argument people are using to brand girls as "fakes".

It depends on your definition of "gym girl." If by "gym girl" you mean a lady there to work out and get/stay in shape--that's the positive perception of "gym girl."

But what you see a lot in the US, particuarly with the big chain "Fitness Centers" (Lifetime, Bally's, LA Fitness, etc) are the hotties there not to work out, but looking to hook up/pick up a guy. Usually hanging out in the hottub with their string bikinis and full makeup without ever having broken a sweat. That's a "gym girl" with an entirely different view point.

[Gotthammer]

I don't mean to answer for Build but I think he was referring to people who talk about things like the Higgs Boson like they know about it just because they are geeks. 'I'm a geek, therefore I know about science by osmosis' sort of thing. I've seen it myself.

Or it could be a case of "my friends are talking about this thing so I will talk with my friends about this thing as that is what everyone's talkign about". The sterotypical geek overexplaining about anything can also be in play here (not that I, uh, know anything about that...).

By that argument alone I'd say it's very likely that you yet to see the inside of a gym, let alone attempt to train whilst wearing make up or cologne. Individuals who train hard and have the body to back it up don't wear either because it's simply impractical (rather like training without sports bras).

I was using that example as you yourself brought it up. And good for them, but we can't all be Pauline Nordin so are you not a proper gym girl if you don't have the body to back up hard training?
For instance I'm never going to be ripped, but I am a competent long distance runner. If I was doing weights they'd be very light ones, and I used to have to do a lot of light leg work for physio - would I be a proper gym person then, or would you need to know what I was wearing before judging me?

I think part of the problem is that you may well have misunderstood my point, a person who is interested in an aspect (gyming or gaming or something else entirely) will strive to get better at what they do, they will practice and seek advice and constantly strive to improve their game.

Problem with this definition is that it only encompasses active things - for instance people who are sports fans watch a lot of sports. Are they not proper sports fans if they can't list off every player's name, number and average points in the season. And does that only count for their team, or every team in the comp?

I myself would say I'm a heavy metal fan - I enjoy listening to it, I enjoy going to gigs. Nightwish are one of my favourite bands, I own all their tracks (even the rare ones), I know all the lineup changes that Nightwish went through (and that they were way better with Tarja), but I can't tell you what type of guitar Emppu uses - do I fail the Nightwish geek test? Or do I pass because I know why he uses a different one than his trademark purple guitar in the Bye Bye Beautiful clip?
I was talking to a guy at work who was also a Nightwish fan, and plays guitar. He commented that it was a good model of guitar though I didn't understand fully why, not being musical myself, and then he commented that it was odd he changed recently. I of course told him the story of the changed guitars, and we both had a laugh about it.

Isn't enough to simply enjoy what we love with each other?

Want an example of this? At the age of 15 I had a 45 inch waist, dieting down for contests now and my waist is 29 inches.

Like another? I've enrolled on an advanced anatomy course run by Simon Egan (a brilliant teacher for human anatomy) to sort out latent issues with my sculpture posing and model dynamic qualities. I frequently chat with everyone form illustrators to sculptors to comic artists and biologists to improve my game (especially given I'm trying to sculpt a carnosaur at the moment in super sculpey).

Yep, great, and that's your choice - that you choose to go to such great lengths doesn't mean that someone who doesn't should be counted as any less a fan, or be forced to justify themselves saying that they are a fan or a geek about something (to get back to the original point). The issue was people judging other people for not meeting their standards, as if their is some sort of mythical test that determines the "true fans" from posers or... I don't even know - n00bs or whatever.
Shouldn't we be embracing these people on the fringes and showing them all the other exciting and wonderous things they are missing, rather than pushing them away for not instantly accumulating a lifetime of knowledge in a few months, or for not caring as much as we do?

Also as scadugenga points out, there are different views on what means what - here in Australia we don't have big fitness centres where you can just hang out but we certainly get plenty of pea***** in the gyms. They may be there for different reasons, but I don't doubt they enjoy going there. The same as I wouldn't doubt anyone's conviction if they dressed up as a comic/game/tv character - hell even if they don't know anything about the character and just felt like getting dressed up to go to a con who am I to judge or doubt them?

[Deadlift]

I think anyone trying to be something they are not for the sake of "coolness" may as well not bother. I don't try being a geek, apparently I just am. It comes natural to me and I guess many of you guys too. I don't try being a "gym bunny" it's just something again that comes natural to me.
We are what we are, we like what we like. Trying to fit a stereotype when it's not natural to you is not just idiotic but your going to make a fool out of yourself at some point too.

Be what you are, enjoy what you like and love life. Simple.

[Nabterayl]

I think part of the problem is that you may well have misunderstood my point, a person who is interested in an aspect (gyming or gaming or something else entirely) will strive to get better at what they do, they will practice and seek advice and constantly strive to improve their game.

I disagree with this. A person who is interested in an aspect of something will do it. They will not necessarily strive to improve their game. I assume you're a Warhammer fan, since you're here. Do you really strive to improve the quality of your painting, modeling, and playing, beyond simply doing them? Most Warhammer fans I know of will strive to improve to a certain point, and then decide simply to do, because striving to get better is no longer worth the time.

In my experience, this is true of other forms of geekery as well. I am competent in about 11 forms of radical vintage dance, and in my favorites I'm better than 95% of the people I dance with - in northern California, which is pretty much the vintage dance capital of the United States. I can discourse fairly well about the social history of the dances I do, and talk your ear off about why polking to German metal is just as much in the historical spirit of the dance as polking to Strauss. A few years ago I realized that my form had stopped getting better, because I was no longer dancing five times a week, and I was no longer trying to master the dances that other people in my dance community liked but were not my favorites. I had a real crisis about this for several months, until I realized I needed to chill out and ask myself why I wanted to get better. I didn't suddenly become a radical vintage dance poser because it wasn't worth my time to become one of the top 1% radical vintage dancers in the Bay Area.

Everybody has their own threshold for when they are good enough at something to stop actively trying to get better, and simply enjoy doing. I'm with Gotthammer - better to judge whether somebody is doing what they are doing because they enjoy it, rather than trying to judge whether their threshold is high enough.

EDIT: To go back to the OP, talking about single hotties who think a gym is a good place to meet single guys is one thing (I'll take your word for it that those people exist, though I don't see (i) what's wrong with it or (ii) how they stay hot at an age where they have to go to a gym to meet guys without being into physical fitness themselves). But has anybody on this thread actually met a girl who pretends to be a geek for predatory reasons? Because I sure haven't.