Fake Geek Girls

Explores the systematic marginalization of women within pop culture fan communities. When Ghostbusters returned to the big screen in 2016, some male fans of the original film boycotted the all-female adaptation of the cult classic, making it clear that they considered the film's "real" fans to be white, straight men. While extreme, these responses are far from unusual. Over the past decade, fan and geek culture has moved from the margins to the mainstream. But this shift has left some people behind. Suzanne Scott points to the ways in which the "men's rights" movement and antifeminist pushback against "social justice warriors" connect to new mainstream fandom, where female casting in geek-nostalgia reboots is vilified and historically feminized forms of fan engagement-- like cosplay and fan fiction-- are treated as less worthy than male-dominant expressions of fandom like collection, possession, and cataloguing. Scott contends that the view of women in fandom as either inauthentic masqueraders or unwelcome interlopers has been tacitly endorsed by Hollywood franchises and the viewer demographics they selectively champion.--Back cover.