Geek Pride Day
Today is May 25th, significant for a number of reasons: it’s Towel Day, it’s the anniversary of the 1977 debut of Star Wars, and, of course, it’s the Glorious 25th of May. It is also Geek Pride Day!
Since 1998, there have been sporadic, local Geek Pride Days and Geek Pride Festivals but it wasn’t official until 2006, when Spanish blogger, Germán Martínez, organized the first celebration in Spain—in Madrid, 300 people congregated to play a giant, human Pac-Man game—and on the internet. After two years of spreading online, it was celebrated Stateside, too. Geek Pride Day is now a familiar pop culture observance around the world.
This is exactly what would happen if I were playing human Pac-Man.
I am a geek. Like, certifiably geeky. I have been since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. My interests are varied and have changed over the years (badbye, HP). Still, when I get into it, I get into it. I collect memorabilia, books, art, factoids, and backstories—especially the stories; I love stories. I cosplay—though in low key, budget-friendly ways; I am, after all, a poor. I’ve been to conventions. And my AuDHD brain strains against the urge to infodump every time someone brings up one of my geeky interests.
No, Star Trek hasn’t been one of my geeky special interests since childhood. >.> I have no idea what you’re talking about.
I am also a nerd. Now, “nerd” and “geek” are often used interchangeably and, in some cases, that’s cool. There are differences between the two, however nuanced; although, even those distinctions are up for debate. The take I most prefer says that geeks are fans—enthusiasts, collectors—of their topics of interest; meanwhile nerds are practitioners—their engagement with their topics of interests are more academic and focused on gaining mastery. There is a lot of crossover between the two. I am a feminist nerd and science fiction nerd and my later academic pursuits were heavily guided by my being a geek about science fiction—I analyzed science fiction through a feminist lens. While I am no longer engaged with academia, I still nerdily celebrate and critique the topics I absolutely geek out about.Now, my being both a nerd and a geek compels me to briefly touch on the “Geek Pride Manifesto” which was drawn up during that first large-scale Geek Pride Day in 2006. Every Geek Pride Day, I see some folks still drawing on the manifesto as they discuss geek pride. I’m not going to link it or quote it but—y’all—it’s not very lo-fi hip-hop beats you can study to. I understand that it was written nearly twenty years ago but it definitely centers the experiences of a very specific type of geek—a white, cishet, male experience in which their "oppressed” identities are tied to their geeky niche—and is all about gatekeeping. While I have seen others critique the manifesto and redefine geek pride, none have really caught on and a lot of content about Geek Pride Day continues to draw on the initial manifesto. I think it’s long-since past time that geek communities band together to put together a new set of “geek rights and responsibilities” that reflects and respects our diverse backgrounds, experiences, and relationships to geekdom; one that privileges inclusion and demands that we treat each other justly. Ideally, I’d like to see it structured around “freedom from” as much as (or more than) “freedom to”: we can commit to the idea of “freedom to express yourself” but, then, we must also commit to “freedom from harassment.” After all, cosplay does not mean consent.[embed]https://i.gifer.com/RerL.mp4[/embed]
One of my great joys is when one of my geek interests becomes more mainstream. I know that many gatekeeper-y geeks and nerds are constantly chewing fire about it but I love it because there are more people I can talk to about it, more people adding to the lore and universe, more people experiencing the thing from a different perspective, and more love to go around. Geek’s being decidedly more chic than it once was had made geeky interests more accessible. I am soooo not mad that Star Trek has jumped from niche to mainstream popularity. I am thrilled that there are so many takes on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I am over the moon that Dungeons & Dragons—and tabletop role-playing games more broadly—is something that is no longer confined to the basement. And I’m so grateful that the mainstreaming of certain geeky interest has allowed me to become a geek about something I wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise. It’s really rad! Talk geeky/nerdy to me!So, today, the Glorious 25th of May, be a hoopy frood, listen to the Cantina Band (and/or a remix or two), and let your geek flag fly!
[embed]https://i.gifer.com/BgyZ.mp4[/embed]
