#unicorn files

[theunicornfiles]

The Unicorn Files magazine is now available to purchase!

We hope you enjoy getting to know geeky women from the Pacific Northwest and feel inspired to let your own geek flag fly! <3

p.s. Looking into options to provide the PDF for free online. So stay tuned for that as well...

[theunicornfiles]

Featured Geek: Tina Beychok

[On being a female geek in a male dominated world] “Now that I am the Old Fat Broad of geekdom, I can get away with so much more in terms of calling out bad behavior than I could when I first started out in geekdom. I can be far more blunt and direct than I could before. I can be more confrontational. I don't have to play nice with the boys if the game they are playing is actively harmful.”

As a science and research geek, Tina is fortunate enough to work in STEM and as an academic editor, marrying her personally passions with her professional life. Besides science, Tina geeks out over movies, Electro Swing music, cosplay, knitting, makeup, belly dancing and swordplay. She loves Firefly, Dr.Who, Sherlock, and anything by Bryan Fuller. Tina has been an active member of the geek community for a long time, but recently founded the Backup Ribbon Project, which distributes “Backup” ribbons at geeky events to signify those who are willing to step forward to help other geeks who are being harassed. (Check them out if you would like to get involved!) She proudly notes that the Backup Ribbon Project has the “Wil Wheaton Okie-Dokie Stamp of Approval.” Tina hopes that in the future the geek community will “accept that yes, we are now a mainstream thing and learn to love and embrace that rather than fight it. We are now the cool kids and that, mes amies, is more than just kinda cool.”

[theunicornfiles]

Featured Geek: Allison

[On being a female geek in a male dominated world] “I think I've gotten lucky and have gotten into geek culture just as it is bringing this issue to the forefront. I think combined with the power of the internet, businesses and companies can't ignore the voice of fair representation for women. I see and read a lot of darker sides of this issue, but I try to be optimistic. I hope that the progress is made, where young girls can grow up thinking it is just as cool to wear a lab coat, as it is to wear a tiara. I think there are a lot of strong female voices, groups, and organizations out there who are having fun and developing wonderful communities.”

Allison is a newer member to the geek community. Although she played chess and the NES as a child, it wasn’t until her friends introduced her to The Avengers movie that she fully embraced her geekdom within. Ever since, she’s been going full-speed to learn and do as much as possible in the geek realm. After The Avengers, Allison watched all the individual Marvel movies, and recently just bought her first comic books. To increase her exposure to geek culture, her friends started a “nerd night” to introduce Allison to various geeky movies and TV shows (they are currently marathoning Doctor Who), as well as a board game night. In addition, Allison has started attending local nerdy conventions, like PAX and ECCC. When she’s not working as a Quality Control Technician, Allison works as a freelance graphic designer, and recently joined the GeekGirlCon staff as a designer. In her spare time, she enjoys playing chess, attending concerts, and hitting the ballpark (she’s a big Mariners fan).

[theunicornfiles]

Featured Geek: Sarah Ballard

[On being a female geek in a male dominated world] “I think I feel like many women in science culture. On some days I feel buried under a mountain of microaggression, self-doubt, and anger. On other days I feel like I uncovered something new about the universe *and* I get to make the path easier for other women. That feels like the clouds have parted and a warm beam of sunshine is illuminating me for a moment.”

As a professional astronomer, Sarah files herself under the umbrella of science geek. She has been involved in some pretty amazing research, like detecting Kepler-19c, an “invisible” planet. However, though she is very passionate about her work, she doesn’t like to think about space in her freetime. Instead she likens herself to the geekiness of Lisa Simpson, having interests in "music, science, justice, animals, shapes, and feelings." When she is not working on kickass space exploration, Sarah enjoys playing the guitar, doing yoga, reading fiction, cooking, and “getting mad about things on the Internet.” Sarah is also very passionate about mentoring and helping others. In fact, she runs a workshop on “the Impostor Syndrome” for scientists, and even created “impostor thought” bingo cards to help others navigate science culture. Overtime, Sarah hopes to change astronomy culture for the better.

[theunicornfiles]

Featured Geek: Jarrah Hodge

[On being a female geek in a male dominated world] “I feel like it's worst online. At Star Trek conventions in particular, the gender balance is pretty equal and everyone is mostly really welcoming and respectful. But in online spaces like the official Star Trek Facebook page and some other forums, trolls dominate and make me and others avoid participating. We need better moderation on these sites to at least ban the most egregious jokes about rape and violence against women, and sexist, racist and homophobic slurs.”

Jarrah is a communications professional by day and feminist Trekkie blogger by night. She is obsessed with “learning anything and everything about women in Star Trek - the roles they filled behind the screen, their importance in Trek fandom, and their representation on-screen” and sharing that information with others. She hopes that her work on feminism and Star Trek lead to positive changes within the geek culture, such as less sexism/racism/and homophobia in online fan spaces. Besides Star Trek, Jarrah's other fandoms include Doctor Who, Fringe, and Orphan Black. In her spare time, she enjoys reading graphic novels and comics (right now she is reading Saga, Lazarus, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel) in addition to blogging about feminism.

[theunicornfiles]

Featured Geek: Jules Rivera

[On being a female geek in a male dominated world] “I used to be an engineer so working in a male-dominated environment is nothing new to me. Most male geeks are all right with me, and the few who aren't have a deep-seated fear of pushy, loud Latinas like me. They tend to keep their distance.”

Jules is the founder of two comics, Valkyries Squadron and Misfortune High. As a comic illustrator and animator, Jules loves watching “really cheesy anime” (she recommends Black Butler and Golgo13). She also geeks out on Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Sailor Moon, and Bubblegum Crisis. When she’s not drawing, animating, or painting (which she does a lot), you can find her reading or exercising. Jules defines being a geek as “someone who is more interested in following their passions than following what the mainstream culture tells them.”

[theunicornfiles]

Featured Geek: Kitty Stryker

[On being a female geek in a male dominated world] “...it's difficult to be a female geek in a male-dominated geeky world. I'm dismissed, ignored, insulted, sexually harassed, and threatened on a regular basis when I try to engage with straight, cisgendered, white geeky men, which is why I've avoided video games. I find it all very alienating, and frankly, rather boring. I'm much more excited about the games I'm seeing come from other queer people and trans women, which regularly subverts the concept of the game itself.”

Kitty is the marketing manager at TroubleFilms (nsfw), cosplay head for GaymerX, and a freelance writer on Patreon. She is a queer porn performer and massive geek, noting “that the lack of understanding that women can be both is a method of objectifying and dehumanizing us.” On her geekdom, Kitty considers herself a text-based adventure geek, a history of medicine geek, a queer geek, and a femme geek (though she has a lot more interests, those are the main ones). On any given day you can find her watching Adventure Time or Doctor Who, or reading PG Wodehouse. In her spare time, Kitty enjoys writing, crafting, playing computer games, and fixing her car (she would also like to get back into large scale metal art). In the future, Kitty dreams of publishing a book on consent culture in response to rape culture. She would like you to know that she is a “manic pixie nightmare girl” who has a cat named Foucault.

[theunicornfiles]

Thanks to GeekGirlCon for talking with Terra about The Unicorn Files and letting us share the project with their readers.  :D 

We have a panel at GGC 2014, so be sure to stop by and say hello!