Smile When You Say “Fangirl”

Recently someone said the phrase “Rafe/Taro fangirls” to me. It was not said in a derogatory way, but I heard it as such for a bit. Why? “Fangirls.” Not “fans,” not “enthusiasts.” It was “fangirls.”

Fangirls go crazy over silly things, you know. A fangirl is a really obsessive fan. And, obviously, a girl.

Recently, according to ThinkGeek, we had “Embrace your Geekiness Day.” So what better day to address the issue of fan social order? (Okay, the actual day would have been good. Sue me.)

Remember when the only way to be cool was to be…well, cool? You had to be disinterested. Bored. Above all the silly things other people cared about. Thank God that’s over. Not that I ever cared.

Me, I’ve always been a geek. I’m a girl who likes science, who took physics for fun, and I went to prom with my chemistry lab partner: the guy who did calculus for fun. Today, though, I can be a geek. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and a host of other very smart people have made it good to be a geek.

I was a gamer almost before there were games. I played Dungeons & Dragons when it came in a box, yo. We didn’t have dice–we used chits and we were glad to have them! (But yes–one of the first things we combined our money for was DICE. Dear merciful Bahamut, we needed dice!)

Nowadays there’s World of Warcraft. There’s Halo, and Xbox and MMORPGs and whozewhatzits. Nathan Fillion is doing PSAs about the dangers of swamp-ass. Gamers are everywhere. It’s safe to be a gamer.

I’m a Trekkie, since long before STNG (Star Trek: Next Generation, for the unenlightened) came along. I not only watched the original series (TOS)–I used to read the books. Not the novels–the collections of episodes written in story form, most if not all by David Gerrold who is awesome. But now there is STNG, and DS9, and Voyager and Enterprise. There was a reboot. It was awesome. People like Trekkies now.

Luckily, there are still fangirls and fanboys to look down on. But that’s not going to last either. Because we’re following our passions, and any fool can tell you that passion will win out.

I wonder who will be the next class of fan to be looked down upon? Or is it here already? I haven’t seen. I don’t actually look for people to sneer at.