Girls, are you geeky enough to costume?

[Too Much Garlic]

Well said Roska.

There are just those who feel they are better than everyone else and thinks his/her way is the only way. They get off by telling others how to be, what to do - they are the control/power whores. They are everywhere... and they only succeed when they are allowed to walk all over people. And when toppled, they only get replaced by someone similar or worse.

 

[Agent A]

I too think Roska said it very well. :thumbsup

The topic of "are you geeky enough" seems like a classic reverse discrimination.. "Are you geek enough?", "Are you jock enough?", "Are you nerd enough?", "Are you cool enough?".. These all beg the question of.. enough for who? Who is the judge? who are the people being judged seeking to please? I would say no one, and if you think YOU are the one.. then you have serious issues and are no different than all the rest of those who are prejudiced and discriminate.

And who is the authority on the definition of these words anyway? I'm pretty sure the original and proper definition of the word "geek" has NOTHING to do with comics or costuming, etc... I for one don't think the batman, the men in black, the power rangers, the ninja turtles, etc.. are geeky at all... I think everything about them is F*N COOL!!

 

[madmikeee]

How does this differ from babes that you see at car shows groveling at the automobile as if they were mating?

Also how about the babes that are trying to sell you a wrench, heavy equipment, etc. calendars?:behave

It annoys the CRAP outta me. Every time I go to a show with those women, when I try to take a pic of the car they jump in frame like I give a flying fart about them. I am NOT there to see scantily clad women, I am there to see the CARS. If I want to see women I will go to the strip club thanks.

Then comes the fun of explaining to my young son when he asks why there are half naked girls at the car show. (NOT That he minds LOL)

 

[madmikeee]

So you're saying some girls dress in really accurate costumes and want me to look at them, and other girls are wearing next-to-nothing inaccurate 'costumes' with boobs-a-poppin' and want me to look at them.

Challenge accepted? What's the problem?

The boobs a poppin girls are going to call security on your ass because you're "oggling them" That's the problem.

 

[crabra comander]

It annoys the CRAP outta me. Every time I go to a show with those women, when I try to take a pic of the car they jump in frame like I give a flying fart about them. I am NOT there to see scantily clad women, I am there to see the CARS. If I want to see women I will go to the strip club thanks.

Then comes the fun of explaining to my young son when he asks why there are half naked girls at the car show. (NOT That he minds LOL)

:rolleyes

I'm happy to say my brain works on different levels. I can enjoy two things at once:love

And I'm glad the costume snobs got booted out of this conversation.

I can understand the disdain for half nude women of course. How will I hold back the Power with a simple dancer's belt in my Spidey suit?:love

 

[spydrwebz]

I think everyone has some valid points in this topic, the trick is finding the middle ground.

About 6 months ago I won a gift card to Hooters at work and was a little short on cash so I took the family. One of the first questions out of my wifes mouth was why havent you ever brought me here before? I was like "Are you serious? " It really surprised me that she would ask me that. Simple answer is that I have more respect for her than that.

Thats just my personal opinion but I think that company is incredibly demeaning to women and I dont even go there myself. Im not trying to force that opinion on others either though.

 

[Agent A]

Well, I never really considered the paid models as pertinent to the thread topic... Simply because they are not there to enjoy the convention or participate but are there to get paid. So I take them for what they are, models. If you don't like them, I think it would be in good taste to let the company using the models know that it is offputting or whatever it may be.. as opposed to blaming the models for being there. However, someone wants them there or they wouldnt be there. As for them getting in the way of pictures at car shows or conventions.. I think if they are in the way of your shot if you ask them to politely to move they will oblige you. Personally, I do find it demeaning to women.. but I enjoy watching them as well. However, the thing is the models don't find it demeaning or they wouldnt be doing it. Usually, they love the attention because it's what they are paid for and enjoy. I wouldnt want my significant other or family member in that position, but if someone else out there doesnt find it self-demeaning and wants to give us eye candy and make money doing what they love... all the power to them.

 

[jonny5]

I was gonna say something here about something but after looking at Agent A's Avatar I can't remember what it was.

Oh right!!!

Any person (male or female) who attends a con wearing a hand made costume = 99 kinds of awesome.

Lately when I go to a Con I am driving my R2. My goal is to be invisible. I dress in street clothes and most people scan right past me. However, I will not hesitate to step up to someone and tell them if I think they have a cool costume. This is equally true for guys, gals, and especially kids.

Costumed fans working booths for compensation = Paid to do what you love. I respect and envy that.

Costumed fans working booths unpaid = If it is something you believe in. I respect and envy that.

Legit Booth Babes = paid employees. sex sells. end of story.

'Lookit me' faux co-players in party store bought costumes = Yawn.

Non-booth Lingerie babes w/cat ears & pin-on tails (aka 6 of 9's) = I'll bet most of them are some Manga witch character I've never heard of. Otherwise they are probably just GGW wannbee fratgirls. (see previous entry)

Further more I would not be in the least surprised to learn that some small percentage of these lingerie wearing lobby dwellers might be [Ahem] 'self-employed-women-of-a-certain-profession' savy enough to capitalize on the fact that many guys at the con are there from out of town with lots of $$$ to spend.

"Hey stud, wanna go to private party? It'll cost you $200 to get in."

 

[metrosonus]

I think this is definitely one of those things that was "better in my day". It was definitely easier back in the day as people were more sincere. But somehow, it ended up being about alcohol and attention.

There's still plenty of people that make it worth it and put their efforts into charity work, as they always have done, but now there's also this new angle of people that buy their costumes on ebay and just want their photo taken from con to con with all the trolling and attention whoring.

I disagree with the author to an extent. The author says that making this "geek" stuff more accessible is a good thing. In the process of making things more accessible, the core values of what made it "geek" are being eroded and replaced with more mainstream values such as celebrity, drama, attention, getting something for nothing etc. I think in the process, we as a geek culture on the whole have suffered.

So i think to an extent, no, it's not a good thing because these new people don't understand who we are and I think largely, they don't care as long as there's facebook to run home to like and publish their con photos on.

What we need, i think, is more material that publishes both sides of the geek specturm, rather than catering to just one or the other.

 

[Agent A]

I was gonna say something here about something but after looking at Agent A's Avatar I can't remember what it was.

Oh right!!!

thumbsup Damn what a gullible breed..

 

[alisty]

What is real interesting is, like you said, you get these people that think they're way of doing it is the right way.
I had an architect rendering teacher tell us one time. "If you are in this class to learn the greatest art techniques for making architectural renderings you might as well leave. I'm here to tech you how to get the most money with the least of effort. And cheating isn't cheating if it puts money in your pocket."
I loved that because it wasn't about some artful BS, but the end result.

 

[harleyquinn525]

I count myself as a geek, i am just the wrong body type to wear costumes. But i do make them and the props to go with them. And yes it is a club of sorts but all clubs should accept its new members.

 

[BornKilr]

I'll admit, I was too lazy to look thru this whole thread to see if this was posted, but if not, here is an alternate humorous look at this question, that I thought was done pretty well:
Dear Fake Geeks, Go Away? - YouTube

 

[spacebat]

I'll admit, I was too lazy to look thru this whole thread to see if this was posted, but if not, here is an alternate humorous look at this question, that I thought was done pretty well:
Dear Fake Geeks, Go Away? - YouTube

I was going to monologue but that video pretty much sums up what I wanted to say. Lets make not hate, brah.

 

[Im Beneath Doom]

I see this increasingly everyday but does it really bother me? not really. Believe it or not some of those girls are really trying to get into it cause they find they enjoy it like when some of my female friends see my prop builds they think its really cool even if they don't know who or what it is and they want to learn to do it themselves which is fine. but the ones that do bother me are the ones that pretend like they are deep into the stuff knowing that they know nothing and just want attention for showing off their body. i don't mind body but don't pretend like it's something you're into just to fit in to the "trend" of being a geek....i also hate that being into "geek culture" is becoming a trend

 

[wolfchild59]

I only skimmed the pages of this thread, so I don't know if it's been brought up, but it's not just girls that may choose to wear a costume just because they like and not because they're into the character or fandom in any way. I have a (male) friend/acquaintance that makes pretty amazing cosplay costumes, but a lot of the characters that he dresses as he's chosen because of how they look or how he can build the costumes, not necessarily because it's his favorite character/comic/movie/TV show.

And I am a female, who is a lifelong geek. But I'll probably never actually cosplay at a con (though I've been going to SDCC for ten years) because I'm not terribly attractive and am also overweight, so tight-fitting costumes of any kind would not look good on me. Also, most of the characters I'd want to go as are male, so I'd either have to do a fem-version, and the slim-fit issue comes up. Or I dress in male clothes and accentuate my frumpiness.

So sure, I may be a "real" girl geek, but I'm guessing that if I went in costume that a lot of the guys that complain about the "fake" geek girls would also complain about me, because I don't fit into the category of girls they'd want to see in those costumes. It's a no-win situation really, for the average girl.