Control Tower

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MM hit one outta the park on this one. Haw haw haw! Funny as hell and right on the mark. I was president of the AV Club in my HS!

Larkshead on February 23, 2011 at 4:09 PM

Too cool. I can't decide if I prefer the phrase "as kinky as Caligula," or "a critical nerdy mass builds."

Timory on February 23, 2011 at 6:40 PM

"nerds completely dominate the scene"

But what about the nerds who are subs?

Leigh Sabio on February 23, 2011 at 7:45 PM

@1: Yeah, she is right on the money. Also, I'd say more broadly that nerds make far more interesting lovers. Something about being an outcast that makes one think outside the square, perhaps?

melbzig on February 24, 2011 at 1:18 AM

@3 ftw

melbzig on February 24, 2011 at 1:19 AM

@3 If you think people who are subbie in a scene are all submissive in social situations, then you haven't been around the BDSM scene much, lol. Subs run the community, we doms are just here to give them what they want. (And get what we like along the way, heh heh.)

Larkshead on February 24, 2011 at 1:28 AM

@6 you might be too cool to understand 3 was being funny.

Rainboibrite on February 24, 2011 at 7:47 AM

Wasn't 'Revenge of the Nerds' the sexual revenge of the nerds?...

on February 24, 2011 at 9:05 AM

"Why, it's just like a Star Trek convention!"

This comment made my day. Thank you.

Arcturus1966 on February 24, 2011 at 1:14 PM

And when they realize they are now the Cool Kids in this context, many to most of them start acting like Cool Kids: manipulative, falsely elitist, exclusionary, and intent on popularity games.

MarkA on February 24, 2011 at 1:55 PM

I heard that Dr. Seuss created the word Nerd.

thelovingwarrior on February 24, 2011 at 2:11 PM

@10 exclusionary?! oh noes not that! (looks like #geeksocialfallacies strike again!)
http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion…

on February 24, 2011 at 6:11 PM

#10, just like Star Bellied Sneeches?
Maybe #11 is right!

timbeecharmer on February 25, 2011 at 12:31 PM

@12, I think you were trying to link to this but failed. Five Geek Social Fallacies: http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion…

Larkshead on February 26, 2011 at 1:02 AM

Well, aren't we lucky that the comic book convention is coming into town next week :) Ahhhh... kismet.

Danrilor on February 26, 2011 at 6:44 AM

There's also the fact that we nerds of a certain age grew up on Robert Heinlein and Heavy Metal magazine--lots of kinky sex and fancy leather outfits . . .

AnathemaT on February 26, 2011 at 12:31 PM

Ugh, I still dislike Heinlein, despite my kinkiness. I think you had to read it in the 60s, or before the age of 20, to be susceptible to it, especially if you're female. Some writers you need to be exposed to at a formative age (for example, I have a soft spot for McCaffrey, but that is entirely because I read her Dragon books in my early teens).

As for Matisse's comments, I think they may apply to those of us who ID as "queer" rather than just gay/lesbian as well, or perhaps those who say that being queer is a central part of our identities rather than "I'm just like everyone else except who I sleep with."

Trix on February 26, 2011 at 9:42 PM

Heinlein had a lot of swinging (and occasional adult incest), but nothing 'kinky' in BDSM terms. He thought people who would bring whips and chains into bed were crazy (re-read To Sail Beyond the Sunset). But he was very big on pulling the curtains shut and doing what you wanted to behind them, and telling Mrs. Grundy to mind her own business.

Heinlein's probably my favorite author, and I'm female, but I read most of his books in my teens and early twenties, so I guess I was still pretty impressionable. McCaffrey's books were entertaining, but Heinlein's shaped my philosophy and politics immensely, leaving me a libertarian-socialist. Kind of. I'm still waiting for a new -ism.

on February 26, 2011 at 10:35 PM

I think that large parts of the 'typical' BDSM scene are dominated by the type of nerds that Mistress Matisse describes. I've also known large numbers of open, out kinksters who don't fit that definition of nerd that focuses on "comic books, science fiction/fantasy, RPGing..." Perhaps they are nerds in the rejecting norms department, but not in the activities that they do.

I just want to meet and play with people with the socials skills to be awesome, nerd or not. I happen to not be into comic books and role play games, and I find I click best with people who share my interests. Luckily more people who are kinky are out as kinky (at least in certain cohorts and places). I have a feeling that as more people are willing to be out as kinksters the more some of the traditional images of who is a kinkster are going to break down. All the same, screw the cool kids (or don't).

t_in_pdx on February 27, 2011 at 2:04 PM

@18
How about 'Techno-atheo-anarcho-communist immortalism'?

Ken Macleod. Charles Stross. Iain M. Banks...they don't all seem to analyse those sorts of cultures.

Gerald Fnord on February 27, 2011 at 8:10 PM

Well, I think she is pretty much right on, except for the ending. Truth is, in many cases, the cool, or more socially adept, attractive, popular types come around, say "my god, this place is full of nerds, socially maladaptive people and not so attractive people" and then they leave. It isn't like they can't handle the nerds. It is that they don't want to be around them in the kink scene any more than they wanted to be around them in high school. It is kind of like the computer lab, a comicon, or a dungeons and dragons game. There are a bunch of nerdy guys, a few not so attractive girls, and one or two hot girls who kind of don't realize how hot they are, but at the same time realize that in this world they are the real prize, rather than just another kind of pretty girl in the real world, and they are the rare few that most guys in the scene are chasing or wishing they could chase, while settling for the rest. But she is spot on about everything else.

on February 28, 2011 at 1:39 AM

@17 I adore Heinlein... except for that time where Lazarus boned his own mum. That still squicks me.

And yes! Yay for kinky nerds and having a Dragon Con group on FetLife.

BedlamBabe on February 28, 2011 at 7:45 AM

So true! I'm a complete nerd and have been getting into my local scene for a few months. One of the casual meetings, I was surrounded by men and we were all talking about Monty Python and Star Trek.

GO NERDS!

blah on February 28, 2011 at 9:00 AM

@18 ditto on the libertarian-socialisim, although RAH would have been appalled at the latter half of that phrase.

I'm a female red-headed over-sexed mathematician come engineer so what else but Heinlein was I going to read in my late teens? Although the 'over-sexed mathematician come engineer' part is probably at least partly his fault. Not kinky at all though, prefer my sex straight up, just lots of it with as many men as I can lure my way.

HazelStone on February 28, 2011 at 12:24 PM

*sigh* I can't wait to wear my subbie heels, corset and thigh highs to the SciFi convention when I go! YeeeHaw, nerds are sexy!

She missed a point that the best Doms are SMART and creative...! Two nerdly/super-sexy attributes :). Nothing like getting on my knees for a guy with brains!

badgirl on February 28, 2011 at 1:49 PM

So if I, a former nerd with body issues who bulked up through exercise and could now make a passable jock, were to go to one of these things looking like a fratboy, would I get the everloving fuck beat out of me (in a way that I would enjoy)?

on February 28, 2011 at 7:23 PM

The problem with the BDSM "scene" in many places (perhaps not Seattle) is that the majority of the people at munches and play parties are, quite frankly, very unattractive. Not a good hookup scene.. That's my elitist two cents.

on March 2, 2011 at 9:24 AM

I always thought geek= weird interests (ie star wars/medieval weaponry) and nerd = socially awkward (picks boogers in public/mouth breather).

Caralain on March 2, 2011 at 9:27 PM

Actually, I kinda avoid BDSM scenes for that reason.

I've got nothing against nerds, I just don't really want to be be a party to this weird universe where suddenly I have to pretend that they are hot and dominant Alphas, when the people they are pretending to be during club hours are doing all that stuff and more everyday in their normal lives.

But hey, if some spectacled, human-interaction-uncomfortable IT maven gets a kick out of a buck-toothed daytime research assistant/librarian/whatever calling him master/beating him with a whip, who am I to judge?

That said, I do remember when the Goth scene was pretty much ruined overnight when all the LARPers turned up.

on March 3, 2011 at 4:14 PM

this is so true, I can't tell you how many munches I've been to that we all got into a huge Star Trek debate!

on May 20, 2011 at 6:25 PM

The one problem with the Revenge of the Nerds connection is there's a scene of sexual assault perpetrated by one of the Nerds in that movie - the scene where the nerd pretends to be the jock and has sex with the jock's girlfriend.

on May 14, 2013 at 11:23 AM

Control Tower

The Sexual Revenge of the Nerds

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