Another Sexy Geek Girl Video, Another Round Of Ambivalence

By: | | 5 Comments
Print


Geek and Gamer Girls Song – Watch more Funny Videos

The new “Geek and Gamer Girls” music video is entertaining, upbeat, and sexy–and, moreover, produced by the girls themselves and filled with references to geek and gamer culture. Sounds empowering, right?

Well… sorta. As one female fandom blogger points out, the women drastically sexualize their appearances in the video, even while bragging about pwning guys at Halo and using l33t sp34k to prove their geek cred. To revisit some of the issues I raised in my post on the “Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury” music video, I think it’s important to ask what these depictions mean for the identities, body images, and sexualities of geek and gamer girls who may not fit into mainstream conceptions of physical attraction (and may not even want to).

I think it’s cool to praise geek and gamer girls as sexy for their brains and talent–and goodness knows, I’ve rolled some dice and read some manga in my day–but I worry when I only see conventionally attractive, scantily clad female bodies bearing this message.

Follow us on Twitter @mysexprofessor.

About Jeana

Jeana

Jeana Jorgensen, PhD recently completed her doctoral degree in folklore and gender studies at Indiana University. She studies fairy tales and other narratives, dance, body art, feminist theory, digital humanities, and gender identity.

  • anonymoose

    I have seen some gamer girls who look like 3 of the women in that video. The one other video girl who looks like Donald Trump arm candy … no way.

    But yeah, they should have been more representative of reality. This is really the same with all media. I have noticed that when I walk through the Religious Novels, Romantic Novels and Teen Novels section of the bookstore that covers only show slender, pretty and 99% white female faces. I was mostly surprised the the Religious Novels were so exclusive.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1173150957 Holly Moyseenko Kossover

    While I enjoy the song and the message (as a girl who has gamed and used to live above a gaming store – some of the most helpful people ever!), I do agree that it is easy for this to fall into the category of just another video that is focused on conventional beauty. I did read that all four of the ladies in this video are real gamers, and the majority of merchandise featured is actually theirs.

  • http://twitter.com/foxyfolklorist Jeana Jorgensen

    Ah, I hadn’t read that the merchandise in the video was actually theirs… that’s pretty cool! I remain uncertain that the women in the video being actual gamers completely counterbalances the other factors being conveyed… ah well, progress at a price, I suppose!

  • http://twitter.com/foxyfolklorist Jeana Jorgensen

    Yeah, it would have been nice if the women’s appearances had been more representative of the diversity of gamer girls out there, though cultural stereotypes (like standards of beauty) can be pretty hard to combat.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1173150957 Holly Moyseenko Kossover

    I do think it would have been better to show a wide range of what is attractive. While they may be gamers, I think that they are playing into an idea of what attractive *should* look like