I’ve noticed that a lot of nerdy stuff has been drawing a queer audience with increasing frequency, probably because for whatever reason in the last few years a lot of nerds just seem to have decided to be more queer-welcoming. So it may be mainly correlation at work here
I got into a nerd friend group before realizing I was queer though and a lot of my queer nerd friends say the same. Dunno what’s up with that
Definitely part of it. I’m a huge nerd, but years ago raced motorcycles in the US. The demographic makeup difference between that and going to a local MTG event is insane. Seriously, out of hundreds of people at a race track at a time and a decade of doing this I know 2 openly gay people and 0 trans people.
Not sure you could go into my local MTG shop without seeing that many gay/trans people. It’s lovely, but I think highlights the bias in what hobbies people will lean towards or how honestly they’ll be about themselves depending on the social situation
Yeah the sub-culture that had star trek as one of it’s major contributors is surprisingly welcome to diversity. I wonder why that is? \j
I think it’s simply the case of the media that nerd culture grew out of was very welcoming to diversity, setting the standard for the entire sub-culture. I mean DS9 had a same-sex kiss in the 90s, with Dax a gender-swapping alien. I doubt that’s a coincidence.
I have no idea if it’s true or not, but sometimes I feel as nerds we are already an out-group and therefore naturally more inclusive and welcoming to fellow nerds regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, skin color or origin.
I would broadly agree with that, with the caveat that prejudice and bigotry can still exist in nerdy spaces, just in a more insidious manner. Specifically, I have seen some communities where they superficially seem accepting, but their position as an outgroup can make people feel uncomfortable with grappling with prejudice in their communities — they look around and notice, for example, that the vast vast majority of people there are white, and then they almost begin grappling with the implications of that (that there may be reasons why people of colour do not feel fully safe or welcome in that space), but then they retreat from that discomfort of that thought and internally insist that everything is fine. They don’t like thinking of themselves as being a part of the privileged in-group when their identity has formed around them being part of the outgroup, so they push it out of mind.
I don’t say this in a judgemental way, more just to highlight that being genuinely inclusive requires an active, ongoing effort to keep learning and challenging our understanding of things. The complacency that gives rise to bigotry in progressive spaces is understandable, but important to work to overcome
The bigotry doesn’t have to be within a group for people to not want to join. They may be uncomfortable joining due to pressure from their friends and family.
People may also simply not join because they’re not interested. I personally have no interest in going to raves. The music and the drugs have no appeal to me.
Not saying there’s no bigotry in a particular group. Just that bigotry isn’t the only reason why people don’t join.
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I’ve noticed that a lot of nerdy stuff has been drawing a queer audience with increasing frequency, probably because for whatever reason in the last few years a lot of nerds just seem to have decided to be more queer-welcoming. So it may be mainly correlation at work here
I got into a nerd friend group before realizing I was queer though and a lot of my queer nerd friends say the same. Dunno what’s up with that
Definitely part of it. I’m a huge nerd, but years ago raced motorcycles in the US. The demographic makeup difference between that and going to a local MTG event is insane. Seriously, out of hundreds of people at a race track at a time and a decade of doing this I know 2 openly gay people and 0 trans people.
Not sure you could go into my local MTG shop without seeing that many gay/trans people. It’s lovely, but I think highlights the bias in what hobbies people will lean towards or how honestly they’ll be about themselves depending on the social situation
Yeah the sub-culture that had star trek as one of it’s major contributors is surprisingly welcome to diversity. I wonder why that is? \j
I think it’s simply the case of the media that nerd culture grew out of was very welcoming to diversity, setting the standard for the entire sub-culture. I mean DS9 had a same-sex kiss in the 90s, with Dax a gender-swapping alien. I doubt that’s a coincidence.
I have no idea if it’s true or not, but sometimes I feel as nerds we are already an out-group and therefore naturally more inclusive and welcoming to fellow nerds regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, skin color or origin.
I would broadly agree with that, with the caveat that prejudice and bigotry can still exist in nerdy spaces, just in a more insidious manner. Specifically, I have seen some communities where they superficially seem accepting, but their position as an outgroup can make people feel uncomfortable with grappling with prejudice in their communities — they look around and notice, for example, that the vast vast majority of people there are white, and then they almost begin grappling with the implications of that (that there may be reasons why people of colour do not feel fully safe or welcome in that space), but then they retreat from that discomfort of that thought and internally insist that everything is fine. They don’t like thinking of themselves as being a part of the privileged in-group when their identity has formed around them being part of the outgroup, so they push it out of mind.
I don’t say this in a judgemental way, more just to highlight that being genuinely inclusive requires an active, ongoing effort to keep learning and challenging our understanding of things. The complacency that gives rise to bigotry in progressive spaces is understandable, but important to work to overcome
The bigotry doesn’t have to be within a group for people to not want to join. They may be uncomfortable joining due to pressure from their friends and family.
People may also simply not join because they’re not interested. I personally have no interest in going to raves. The music and the drugs have no appeal to me.
Not saying there’s no bigotry in a particular group. Just that bigotry isn’t the only reason why people don’t join.
Yeah, I noticed that too. I’m not queer, but I welcome the diversity and variety. Definitely room for some sociology papers, I think.