You're a Geek, and You're Having a Girl: Now What?

Just over a week ago, my brother had a party.  A party to announce the gender of their unborn child.  This is a new thing, started by the Pinterest generation.  When we were having kids, we were part of the Facebook generation, so the most our friends and family got was a post on Facebook with a hard to see ultrasound pic and something like "It's a boy!" as a caption.  Now you have to bring all your family and friends together and have a themed get together and have everyone guess.  Yeah, it's cute, but I am way to lazy to pull something like this off, so I try to belittle it. I'm sorry, I am a horrible person.

The real point here is that my brother is having a girl.  I just want to say, I totally nailed it.  When I heard they were pregnant, I knew they were having a girl.  I don't know, why, but the truth is my brother is going to be the kind of dad that every girl should have, and his wife is going to be a great mom, and I am genuinely excited for them.  When I heard the good news, it made me think back to when we found out we were having a girl for the first time.  I was terrified.  Boys seem easy for whatever reason.  I get boys, I think, because I used to be one.  Girls are, always have been, and always will be a huge mystery to me.  The idea of trying to raise one in a world that seems to be against her, just seemed overwhelming.  So, I did what any self respecting geek would do, I turned to the world of geekdom to find some inspiration for the type of girl I wanted to raise. Unfortunately, you still have to be careful.  Sex still sells in the geek world.  Long story short, we avoided comics in general.  Here are my top three female characters in geekdom.

3. Captain Kathryn Janeway

I'll start with one of my favorite Sci-Fi franchises.  Star Trek is known for its commanding officers, but it took four series before they had a female in the captain's chair.  Janeway had to be good.  And she was better than good.  She was great.  She had quite the challenge.  Somehow, she had to find a way to get two crews who hate each other to work together,  while they were in millions of lightyears away trying to find a way home.  Janeway was a great captain, a great leader.  She was fair, she was strong and everything I would love my daughters to grow up to be.  Often times, when women characters are written, they are either too sexed up, or they are written as cruel, witchy villains.  Janeway was neither.  And it worked. Imagine that.

2. Donna Noble/River Song

I love Doctor Who.  I'll be honest, I have only gotten into Doctor Who recently, so I am only super familiar with the reboot that started in 2005.  To be honest, the new series has a major problem. The companions.  They are all young girls who follow the Doctor around like doe-eyed little puppy dogs and fall all over him.  Except for these two: Donna Noble and River Song.  I am going to say this, and it is going to make some people angry, but Donna was the best companion the show has had in the modern era.  In my opinion, it's not even close.  Why?  Because while she was on the show it was about adventure and exploring and not about how much she had a crush on the Doctor and wondering if he felt the same way.  She was the only companion that did not have any kind of romantic interaction with the Doctor at any point (Amy had the whole series where Rory was missing).  Donna and the Doctor were friends, that's it.  And they respected each other.  

River Song, in my opinion, is the only woman in the universe who could win over the Doctor.  Why? Because she was his equal.  There was really nothing the Doctor could do that she couldn't.  She wasn't some stupid little girl having a big crush on some older man.  She was a woman,his equal in every way. She didn't need the Doctor to save her.  In fact, she often saved him.  She was fun, independent and strong.  When my girls start watching Doctor Who, it will be these episodes.  We are going to skip Rose entirely.

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Chosen one? Check.  Killer moves with a wooden stake? Check.  Save the world?  Check, check,and double check.  Buffy is about as tough as they come.  She was the character that earned Joss Whedon a reputation for writing strong female characters.  It was a bold move for the 90's to have a female in the lead role of a vampire slasher series.  It was an even bigger move to market it to a mass audience. The gamble paid off, and Buffy was a huge hit.  She didn't wait around for some prince to come save her.  In fact most of her princes had to end up with a stake in their hearts.  Buffy is the classic hero's journey, except she's a she.  Tell you what, if I had to pick her or Luke Skywalker to save me, I'd pick her.  I think I'd have a better shot.

Well, there's my list.  Who would make yours?  I'm sure not everyone will agree with mine.  I think the real point is that there are some characters, role models, out there, you just have to look for them.