For those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, I am a geek. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the maximum, I am probably a 6 or maybe a 7. Not sure how objective I am about that, but anyway, yeah, I am a geek. I mean, most people don’t find a way to incorporate Tolkien into their wedding, but we did. And as a history geek I got Abraham Lincoln too.
That being said, I do have my limits. And one place I would draw the line is something like this post on craigslist.
Where do I begin? Well, let’s see.
1) I am all about the non-traditional bachelor party, believe me. But really, a gaming session with a total stranger who is topless? That’s it? Is the problem a lack of imagination, or budgetary constraints? Is that it? Because I could come up with stuff that is much, much better than this. Honestly, if you are serious about the gaming, from a purely practical point of view, half an hour is not a lot of time in a gaming session. It’s not enough time to really do much of anything. It would take you that long just to pick out your equipment and get everyone’s stuff together. So that is just useless, really. If you are serious about this, you would not ask for a mere half hour.
2) The fact that this would even become an ad on craigslist speaks volumes about just how far the geek community still needs to go when it comes to bringing women into the culture. Gosh, you wonder why the average woman goes fleeing in the other direction when a geek approaches? It might be because many geek guys have, shall we say, relaxed standards of personal care. Or that the average geek does not know how to carry on conversation that does not involve Geekspeak. The average geek has a real need for good old fashioned socialization, plain and simple. Get out and interact with people, for the love of God. Learn how to communicate, how to determine boundaries, like what is socially acceptable and what is just creepy. This? This is creepy. This makes a woman feel like a piece of meat. If she is going to be there for half an hour, no serious gaming will go on so you may as well hire a stripper. If you are going to do that, might as well go to a club with all that entails. Because no woman in her right mind would answer this ad without thinking somewhere in the back of her mind that she might end the evening having lotion lowered down to her in a basket.
3) Women DO play RPGs and video games and all that other stuff that guy geeks do. There are many out there. Some of them might even come to like you and want to hang out with you. And although they may not realize it, many geeks have a lot to offer, if only they knew how to offer it. So do not despair, the possibilities are out there waiting. Just don’t frighten them all away with your brainless sexist stupidity.
-Geoff
The Books are Taking Over... 