Geek Girls

Hungarian-born filmmaker Gina Hara travels across the U.S., Canada, and Japan to interview women who self-identify as geeks. Like Hara (a computer game enthusiast), the women she profiles are also heavily invested in pop culture. Jamie Broadnax, founder of Black Girl Nerds, used to resist the label before making peace with it. Now she encourages other women of color to claim their space in realms traditionally associated with white men. Stephanie Harvey, a pro gamer, and Mariko McDonald, a blogger and Star Wars obsessive, talk about online harassment, an unfortunate constant for women gamers. Other gamers include Rebecca Cohen Palacios, a developer and co-founder of a non-profit for women in gaming, and Rachel Weil, a historian who has amassed hundreds of video games intended for female users. Dr. Anita Sengupta, an aerospace engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, credits her interest in science fiction for leading her to science reality. As a kid, she bonded with her mechanical engineer father over the original Star Trek, and she dresses up as Dr. Who at conventions. Mia Moore creates her own costumes for conventions, while Élisabeth Fallen, a data analyst by day, dresses up as a "Lolita"—a sort of punk Victorian—in her off-hours. These women use their real names, although the otaku Hara meets in Japan use pseudonyms due to the social stigma attached to extreme fandom. Broadnax sums things up best when she addresses male nerds, "We're not going to infringe on your space, we're just going to add more to it." Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)