Angry Young Nerds: Geek Culture and Toxic Masculinity<\/a>,\u201d Woo explained how some men see women as obstacles that prevent them from fully participating in geek culture.<\/p>\nMen in Woo\u2019s study talked about what they heard happened to their peers when they got married or found a girlfriend\u2014limiting their ability to play games, for example. According to Woo\u2019s findings, men who had partners were especially likely to think this way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen are portrayed as nagging and seen as unsupportive,\u201d Woo said, adding that men talked about this with a \u201c50s sitcom sense of humour.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other hand, women who participated in Woo\u2019s study said they must expect either invisibility or fetishistic hyper-visibility to be accepted as members of geek culture.<\/p>\n
Gina Freitag, a communications co-ordinator and horror film enthusiast, said other fans of the genre almost always expect her to prove herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to have the awareness of being categorized. People will have assumptions about my interests, which are usually incorrect,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But Freitag said she\u2019s never been bullied while attending fan conventions, adding that the geek community\u2014in her experience\u2014is very supportive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen in particular are standing up and saying, \u2018Hey! We accomplish things. We do things just as well as men do, and we deserve to have recognition for that,\u2019\u201d said Keya Prempeh, a program co-ordinator with Carleton University\u2019s Gender and Sexuality Resource Centre.<\/p>\n
She said that women find solidarity with other women in male-dominated spaces.<\/p>\n