So, driving back from her judo lesson last night, I was talking my my daughter. Specifically, we were talking about a recent thing on tumblr from this blog by the always excellent Laurie Penny.
And, being brilliant, my daughter made some great points.
Mostly, was that she really doesn't care what people think about her looks. She's already had to deal, at age 12, with people saying she looks / dresses "weird", and she's doing really well with that. So I asked her what she thought about being judged on how she looks and dresses, and what sort of things does she like being complemented on.
And she completely hit me sideways when she said "Well, when I'm in a comic shop or at a games day and people say they're glad that there's a girl there who's there because she's into that stuff. You know, when people recognise that I'm kinda of a geek and they like me for that."
And that's the geek dream, isn't it? To be accepted and lauded for exhibiting your enthusiasm. Not for your looks or having the right clothes or looking down on another part of culture.
She also said "You know, I know there's some girls who wear clothes with geek stuff on just because they like the look of it. And that's great! But I wear it because it's about stuff I like as well, and I love it when people talk to me about it because I'm wearing it."
So yeah, my daughter. Super-awesome nerd fighter. Brilliant. And, incidentally, beautiful. But I'm biased about all that.
PS: Goddamn it, and this is why my daughter being proud of being a geek is also a source of anxiety to me: http://fozmeadows.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/this-right-here-is-the-problem/
