I will be prepared to listen to these (frankly
pathetically self involved) arguments from the first person who can come up with a definition of "geek" which helps define
geekdom as a
biological human grouping.
The definition of "geek" in the above writeup is completely self-referential - geeks are those who suffer for their active minds, and those who suffer because of their actve minds are geeks. Two points:
There are probably lots of level headed, logical reasons why geeks are nothing like feminists. But honestly, I can't raise the energy to take this issue at all seriously, because serious is what it ain't.
moJoe: I
was beaten up at school, I
was bullied by the boys I had crushes on and their friends, I had no one to talk to, I couldn't believe that any man would ever love me, I was lonely, I was depressed. This doesn't consitute a political identity.
Those things are personal. Any reference to them is emotive. They hurt.
Equal pay for equal work, paternity leave, sexual harrassement, the glass ceiling, domestic violence and scores of other "Feminist Issues" are not personal. Certainly not all of them at once, not for anyone I ever met. Women (and men) care about these issues not because they have a chip on their shoulder, but because they have a social conscience, and they think making the world a better place for others, even if it's already a fairly decent place for them, is worthwile.
I don't see any signs of a wider social cause (beyond lip service) in the petulant clamour of the miserable cases some people put forward to be recognised as some kind of opressed minority. You might as well walk over to the other side of puberty and say that overpaid computer consultants and high-tech company CEO's should recognise the inherent injustice of having been captain of the football team and Prom King and then having to pump gas for the rest of your life. How far are you prepared to take highschool grudges?
And while we're on the subject of perspective, yes, I can most certainly think of things that are worse than having your ass grabbed and being stuffed into a garbage can. Let's see, dying slowly of hunger, watching your children die before you; being sold as a child bride at 9; giving birth to a heroin addicted baby and knowing it is not going to survive the de-tox because you have no money and no insurance; hitting a landmine and losing both arms and both legs for no reason; being orphaned by AIDS, malaria or cholera and having to feed your younger siblings by prostituting yourself and contracting AIDS in your turn; am I getting my point accross yet?
It's nasty to be bullied at school, it's awful not to have friends when growing up - I should know, I've been there. But from social ineptitude to a social movement... No, sorry.