New Media Landscape Makes Being A Geek Girl Easier
Posted by meredith on 08-06-2009
When I mused about the rise of nerd culture the other day, I stuck with mostly gender-neutral terms. But after reading these “5 Tips for Raising Your Girl Geek” on Wired I got to thinking and decided to revisit the topic. From the article:
Problem: Geek girls don’t watch the right shows. They don’t go to the right movies. They don’t listen to the right music. And unfortunately, pop culture provides the clues by which kids sort each other out; it’s almost as obvious as the clothes they wear.
While I don’t doubt that derogatory labels are still thrown around and agree that parents should help teens understand there is no “right” or “wrong” when it comes to tastes, there’s something here about the monolithic nature of “pop culture” that just seems dated to me. As Anastasia pointed out in her post on mega-fame, trends have become a lot more fragmented now that there isn’t one single tastemaker like MTV to call out what’s “hot” or “not.” And my sense is in the age of lightning quick internet memes and online fan communities, that binary itself is just about as obsolete as superstars on the scale of MJ.
Not that there isn’t an easily identifiable mainstream teen culture (Twilight, JoBros, and the like), but with so many fan communities and media portals to less conventional interests — whether that be sci fi or comic books — being easier to access and participate in than ever before, I wonder if there really is still a feeling among teens of being “left out” for not following the most popular music artist or TV show. With the absence of “music television” and more teens designing their own must see TV lineup with sites like Hulu, I feel like the answer is not so much.
Let’s also not forget that traditionally “geeky” hobbies — reading, video games, web time — have become more mainstream among teen girls and guys. Add to this a growing appreciation for female nerd icons like Tina Fey and the optimist in me would like to think we dont’ have to worry so much about those smart, quirky girls . Even if their fictional teen counterparts do deserve more screen time.
Categorized under: TV
August 7th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Sure there’s a tastemaker determining social status for girl geeks. Whatever Queen Bee is at their high school, that is who is tastemaking. That she can pick ANYTHING rather than copy MTV just makes it harder and more likely to be stupid.