Article Review Geek Policing Fake Geek Girls And...

Despite the fact that the science fiction genre was created by a woman, science fiction is now overrun by people who now feel the need to write articles titled â€Å"Dear Fake Geek Girls: Please Go Away† (Brown, 2012). This article will summarize the works of Joseph Reagle and his article â€Å"Geek Policing: Fake Geek Girls and Contested Attention† (2015). â€Å"Each post about fake geek girls shows that question of attention is significant within geek culture† (Reagle, 2015). To explain this, Reagle (2015) uses Bourdieu’s theory of fields and capital, complemented by literature on geeks, authenticity and boundary policing; this allows the ability to identify the reciprocal relationship between the policing of identity and the policing of social boundaries. â€Å"Finally, the conversation tended to manifest the values of dominant members meaning that, in a discourse started by a woman to encourage other women to be geeky, some of the loudest voices were those judging women’s bodies and brains according to traditionally androcentric and heteronormative views† (Reagle, 2015). In 2009, J.A. McArthur wrote about what it means to be ‘geeky’: â€Å"To be geek is to be engaged, to be enthralled in a topic, and then to act on that engagement.† And what a better way to act upon that engagement then to act on it with other people who also enjoy it. This is where the problem lies; â€Å"although done in good fun, geeks are keen to not only identify the various facets of their identity, but test,