About book Geek Girls Unite: How Fangirls, Bookworms, Indie Chicks, And Other Misfits Are Taking Over The World (2011)
Oh man, what to say about this book. I have so many feelings about it, but I'm not sure how to put it into words. I would go in depth about all of the flaws of this books, but there are many reviews already on Goodreads that have accurately summed up by feelings.In all, I feel cheated. When I picked up this book at my local used bookstore, it was in the Women's Studies section - I hold this as a fail on their part because from the quick flip through I did in the store I could tell that this didn't quite fit there. I ended up getting it because it sounded like it would be cute and humorous. Oh man, was I ever wrong.I feel like Ms. Simon couldn't decide whether she was writing for girls under 13, or for adults, or whether she wanted to write a serious book on geek girl culture, or just be funny. So, failing to make a decision, she decided to do all of them and it really didn't work. Her pop culture references fall flat, they're either too old or too obscure. Her humour is downright insulting! AND THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT UNITY!The whole book is about stereotyping girls into categories: girls that have been rejected all their lives, and then are expected to become elitist assholes because they're oh-so-geek - I base this observation on the "Frenemies" section and the bit about what type of guy these girls should date. Because, you know, ever geek girl is straight or wants a relationship.In the end, I felt like this was a cash grab on the popularity of geek culture. It really doesn't have any redeeming qualities. The only people who I could see this being helpful for are girls under 13 who have decided that they want to appear to be a geek since it's the in thing right now. Those girls could use this as the most superficial manual in existence. I got about 5 and a half pages into this and gave up because of the anger boiling inside of me. The other reviews of this book confirm that I am not alone in finding this offensive and snobby.This book is great at name calling, and letting you know exactly who is and is not a geek (oh, and the anger started when the author's narrow definitions left me out of the geekdom world. I don't even fit in with the "nerds".) Thanks for continuing my life of social alienation, asshole.This book is not about unity and empowerment. It's about forming a clique to make fun of others who are not like you.
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Amazing! Great to know I'm not alone and someone out there understands!
—Julie
This was SO elitist and patronising, it was really disappointing.
—trijeet
