All Hail the Geek Girls
November 16, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Today’s Chicago Tribune sings the praises of the “geek girl” and offers an overview of undiagnosed geek girlness in movies ranging from literary characters like Mary Bennett and Hermione (from Pride and Prejudice and the Harry Potter books) to The Truth About Cats and Dogs (”geek girl cult classic“), to Heather, who has Asperger Syndrome and who was recently on America’s Next Top Model.
Time was when a girl with food stains on her shirt, spectacles on her nose and a passion for, say, theoretical physics or existentialist philosophy could, at best, be a big screen punch line or a sitcom sidekick. Well, that was then, this is now. With “Beauty and the Geek” for the first time featuring a female brainiac, and Heather the art nerd eating the beautiful people for lunch on “America’s Next Top Model,” geek girls are the latest — and perhaps the unlikeliest — stars of reality TV.
Of Heather it is noted:
See the mean girls bad-mouth Heather. See the mean girls mock Heather. See awkward, introverted Heather, who has Asperger’s, a syndrome related to autism, emerge from her shell when the camera starts clicking and leave the mean girls in the dust.
Or maybe it could be said that something about Heather being “awkward” and “introverted” was precisely what left the mean girls in the dust.
I’m a geek girl, and proud of it.
(My boyfriend likes my geekiness, too.)
Regardless of neurology, geekiness isn’t anything to be ashamed of. Sure, we may be a little awkward in social situations… but is that really the biggest, most important thing in the world?
I say no.
And plenty of “diagnose-less” persons whose social abilities could use some tweaking, at least……
Did you happen to catch Grey’s Anatomy last night? Same subject line and I really related to it.
I didn’t—–what was the plot?
It was all related back to high school…a busload of students got injured and that was the tie-in. The (almost) final scene w/ Bailey and McDreamy was just perfect (for me) — she had all these assumptions about him being one of the “beautiful people” (my words) and well, I can’t do it justice. I know it’s just a TV show, but it was pretty spot-on for me and quite thought-provoking.
I was a serious NT academic/geek girl (VP of the computer club) in high school and frequently socially awkward, but only around other girls. Talking to guys was never a problem
And now, being age 35 with 23 years of computer experience has been quite the career plus. We use to joke in grad school about “the geeks inheriting the earth”, and I don’t think that’s too far off at times. As Jannalou says, geekiness is nothing to be ashamed of – it’s a badge of honor in some scenarios.
I am kind of proficient with computers myself….
I’ve always found that being autistic in a geeky and mostly non-autistic environment means being picked on by all the “cooler” geeks.
I was kind of a closet geek, until my sons were diagnosed and I started going to autism support groups. I have found my people!
You have got to be kidding. I watched this video and Heather is no more autistic than my pet cat. If you want an explanation for the myth of the so-called autism ‘epidemic’ look no further than child psychiatry who over the last twenty five years have so vastly expanded the definition of ‘autism’ as to have rendered the label meaningless.
Okay, so as I try to understand Autism and why/how my son thinks the way he does, I’m starting to get a little unclear on the lines for myself. When I read a checklist of Aspergers, I can pretty much say they all apply to me, but on a lesser scale.
What’s the difference between hardcore geek and Aspergers? Is it only a matter of degree? And if so, where’s that line they draw in the sand? And, ultimately, should I care?
RAJ: Contrary to popular opinion, some autistic people can, and do, pass for non-autistic a lot of the time. Including some who were diagnosed quite early in life with quite obvious autism. Often it is not just what they are like but what their environment is like that allows them to pass. I have known people who were classified as severely autistic but who could pass in certain environments (where for instance speech was not an expectation) nonetheless.