15 T-Shirts Every Geek Girl Should Own (Or At Least Squee Over).

I have an unhealthy obsession with making lists, it's nearly equal to my passion for all things nerddom, so why not combine the two?

My dear friend Paul has been admonishing me for not blogging more often and sharing my passions with the world - after all, you should never ask for permission to be creative, you should just get on and do it!  Right?

The sci-fi community still needs more female voices making their feelings known...and quite frankly I've never been known to shut up for longer than about five nano-seconds.

SO MUCH LIKE THE DOCTOR - SF GIRL REGENERATES AND FIRES BACK INTO LIFE!

 

Yes, I realise this is River Song, but quite frankly: She's AWESOME!

With that shiny new regeneration in mind, I'm hoping this will be the start of a whole host of new things; and far more frequent spewings forth from the inner workings of my crazy little geekette brain. Oh you poor bastards...don't say I didn't warn you!  :O It's going to be a mad exhilarating ride, so you'd better hold onto something and don't forget to bring a Fez.  Stetsons, bow-ties and Jammie Dodgers are also acceptable.


So what to discuss first? Well, one thing I've noticed in the past few months is the rise of custom t-shirt websites. Namely, websites that offer one-off specially designed tees for a very limited period - usually a day to three days max, then print them on demand on a limited print run, thus making sure the tees will stay unique and have a "cult" appeal. (Although some tee designs do pop up on other sites - ZeroBriant's epic Doctor Who: The Silence vs. The Weeping Angels t shirt, for instance - which is the current favourite in my wardrobe, though it is up against some strong contenders).

The epic battle of who blinks first?

 The two biggest "limited t-shirt" websites I've come across are the US Teefury and the UK's Qwertee - where t-shirts are around £10 including postage, meaning you get a fun and unique t-shirt for a fairly reasonable price.  The most enjoyable thing about these sites are the extremely geeky pop culture mash-ups that make up so many of the popular designs from a poster spoofing the "Back to the Future" movie poster with Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan replacing McFly and the Doc to a bajillion Doctor Who and Firefly inspired t-shirts because quite frankly, both shows will never not be eternally popular among the geek community! I highly recommend you take a look at both sites- you might just snap up a wonderful "must-have-it" bargain.

This list is dedicated to t-shirts I've found and adored across the interwebs and wanted to share. As a female sci-fi & fantasy fan - when I'm not dressed up all fancy to go out, I'm usually vegging out in jeans and a t-shirt and it feels good to wear my interests firmly on my literal sleeves. Generally, I tend to prefer the closer cut of baby doll tees, which my Mum moans about because I'm a pretty curvy girl, but there should be a few tees here to suit girls (and guys) of all sizes and fandoms. Enjoy!

1) "Self Rescuing Princess" Tee from ThinkGeek.

Why it's awesome: Everyone knows that the REAL reason why Princess Peach was in the next castle was because she'd gone ahead and rescued herself anyway! Besides who wants to wait for a Italian plumber to rescue you when you have your own wits and cunning at your side? I love this t-shirt because it totally encapsulates SF Girl's mission statement: that women are capable, strong and able to take the lead in difficult situations. No rescues required here boys - sisters and princesses are doing it for themselves.  

You can buy it HERE for $19.99 or £12.66 on ThinkGeek. UK buyers be warned though that ThinkGeek's US international postage is very steep so best to buy a few tees to make it worth your pocket money.

2) "We're All Mad Here" - Purple 'Alice In Wonderland' tee from ThinkGeek.

Why it's awesome: When I started SF Girl, I wanted to be cover all aspects of geekdom from science fiction to fantasy, fairy tale, comic books and steampunk. With that in mind, how could I resist such a brilliant Alice In Wonderland tee design? Taken from original illustrations from Lewis Carroll's classic novel and featuring a sentiment anyone would be proud of, this tee makes it clear that everyone's a little mad sometimes so why not embrace your inner weirdo? After all, we're all a little bit odd sometimes - just ask the Cheshire Cat. 

You can buy this gorgeous tee HERE for $19.99 or £12.66 on ThinkGeek.

3) The Guild - Official Cast Tee from Jinx.

Why it's awesome:  The Guild is quite possibly the funniest show to come out of the Internet in the past five years. The brain child of everyone's favourite geek girl Felicia Day and a hilarious take on the perils of online MMORPG addiction - the show has gone from humble DIY beginnings to a becoming a bona fide worldwide hit. Now you can have Bladezz, Vork, Zaboo, Codex, Clara and Tink on your t-shirt, using the show's cartoon title logos. If you are already a fan, you'll love this shirt, but if you've never seen the show, hop to it and get watching at www.watchtheguild.com. 

The Guild's fifth season is premiering online every Wednesday and Thursday on Bing, Xbox Live and Zune  with some very special guest stars including Nathan Fillion, Neil Gaiman, Brent Spiner, Erin Grey, Doug Jones and Richard Hatch.  

You can get this official t shirt for $19.99-$20.99 or £12.66-£13.29 HERE at Jinx.

4) The Girl Who Waited -  Little Amy and Raggedy Doctor Tee - designed by James Hance.

Why it's awesome: I can't even begin to describe how adorable this  t-shirt is. James Hance has become known in the geek community for his adorable artistic mash-ups of childhood favourites with sci-fi tropes from the cuteness of his Star Wars/Winnie the Pooh series 'Wookiee the Chew' to his recent Muppets/Firefly set: 'Firefrog'. This has to be my favourite however, as it captures a very young Amy Pond cradling her raggedy doctor doll, playing inside her cardboard Tardis, waiting for her Doctor to return and dreaming of the stars.

What makes it for me is the way in which it has a nostalgic childhood feel and a kitschy cuteness combined with an image that stays true to the relationship between Amy Pond and her childhood imaginary best friend The Doctor. Bonus points for the misspelling of "Police Box" too. Personally I think this tee looks best on a light blue background, but there are many colours to choose from and I'll definitely be purchasing this ahead of my trip to the Entertainment Media Show next month.

You can purchase this tee for $25.62 or £16.23 HERE from RedBubble. Also check out the rest of James Hance's amazing geeky artwork at www.jameshance.com.  I promise you won't regret it!

5) Jean Grey/Phoenix and Mystique - X Men Nouveau Tees from ThinkGeek - designed by Megan Lara. (Rogue Nouveau tee only available in the US through Mighty Fine).

 

 

           

Why they're awesome: In a world eclipsed by Batman, Superman and Spiderman t-shirts it can sometimes be impossible to find t-shirts for women and men dedicated to some of Marvel and DC's most iconic super-heroines and villainesses. Especially ones that don't depict them in a compromising light. With that it mind, I cannot praise Megan Lara's work enough.  

It's official: I'm a total Megan Lara fan girl!  

Here she depicts some of X-Men's most iconic women including the villainous shape-shifter Mystique, Southern Belle Rogue and my personal favourite: the unstoppable force of nature that is Jean Grey a.k.a The Phoenix. Megan often takes inspiration from the sinuous lines of Art Nouveau artists such as Mucha and the results are beautiful and unique artwork that also allows you to geek out at will. The women of the Marvel Universe have never looked better!

I cannot get enough of her artwork and she also has completed a line of limited edition posters depicted the female crewmembers of Serenity: Zoe, River, Kaylee, Inara and even Saffron. They are stunning and well worth a look. Megan has also produced t-shirt and art prints depicting iconic female characters from video games such as Samus Arran from Metroid,  Princess Zelda, Princess Peach and Chell from Portal.  

She also has a Kara Thrace/Starbuck design in the works that should be amazing!

The Mystique and Jean Grey/Phoenix designs are currently available from ThinkGeek priced at $21.99 or £13.94 each.  The Rogue design is currently only available in the US from MightyFine (who don't offer international shipping yet, which is a mighty big shame) for $25.00.

You can check out more of Megan's work at www.meganlara.com or join Megan's Facebook Group where she posts often and is happy to chat on all things art and geekdom with fans. 

I predict great things for her!

6) And Then Buffy Staked Edward. The End. Tee from Jinx.

Why it's awesome:  Do I even have to explain this one? Haha. For many of us women who have not been remotely enamored by the Twilight phenomenon and fervently hope it'll crawl under a rock and die very soon: this is the t-shirt for you.  Quite frankly if you want to get rid of the sparkly emo little twerp who are you gonna call? Only the biggest female vampire slaying badass pop culture has ever known. Buffy we need you to roundhouse kick some sense into these wimpy "Bella-wannabes". Kinda now.

You can purchase this shirt (guaranteed to get up the noses of any of your Twihard friends) HERE for $19.99 or £12.66 from Jinx.

7) Cake Dress Kaylee - Jason Palmer Studios exclusive Sereni-tee.

Why it's awesome: Yes, it's very pink and very girly, but it's dedicated to one of the coolest chicks in the Verse - Kaywinnit Lee Frye of the Firefly class ship Serenity. Very feminine, but still one of the boys, Kaylee was the cheery ship's mechanic with a bright side for everything.  A character well loved by fans; this would be a treat for any female Browncoat (That's a Firefly fan for the uninitiated). This shirt depicts her in her classic "Shindig" frilly ballgown and allows the wearer to be girly, whilst still getting her geek on. 

It's available as a tank top or a cap-sleeved tee with pink ribbon edging for the shiny sum of $25 or £15.84 from Jason Palmer Studios . Those of you looking for something a bit more kick-ass can check out the rest of Jason's Sereni-tee designs on that link which include designs depicting both Jayne and Mal and the Serenity itself.

Jason also does beautiful very limited edition art prints for a HUGE range of shows and film fandoms from Serenity to Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, Underworld, Indiana Jones, Alien and many more. The likenesses are incredible and the standard of the artwork is very high. You can take a look at some of it HERE.  Prepare to have thy geek mind blown.

8) Ninja Kitty Tee from ThinkGeek

 

Why it's awesome: I wouldn't normally post something that wasn't blatantly sci-fi related, but quite frankly: IT'S A CAT THAT'S A NINJA! :D Let's face it, everyone knows cats are stealthy furry balls of fighty scratchy death. That's why we love them. They meow us in to a false sense of security. I'm always a fan of t-shirts that bring a big giant kid-like grin to my face and this is one of them. Grab this sneaky kitty t-shirt at ThinkGeek for $24.99/£15.84.

9) The Dice Are Trying To Kill Me - Fitted Tank-top from ThinkGeek.

Why it's awesome:  Female D & D and dice-based RPG players are well aware that a game can turn on just one roll of a nine-sided dice. This shirt celebrates the inevitable moment where a game night's worth of bad luck descends into hilarity. If you are going to get killed, at least let it be an amusing death. Roll on baby and enjoy this fun tank-top. We'll bring the snacks, the dice will provide the adventure. Grab this top at ThinkGeek for $19.99/£12.67.

10) Geek Is The New Sexy t-shirt from SnorgTees.

Why it's awesome: Normally I wouldn't advocate such a blatant statement on a t-shirt, but hear me out. I've said a lot about the treatment of female sexuality in science fiction and comic book depictions, which seems to pander only to the male gaze.  However, I am all for a frank and empowered stand on female sexuality. An approach that favours how women wish to show themselves outside of how male-dominated media tells them they should behave or look.  

I'm not happy with some of the "pornified" images used to sell these shirts on the Snorgtees website, but I can agree that it's the computer age and nerds are very much in now. It's finally cool to be a geek and if being smart is the new sexy, then I'm all on board with that. 

Cover up with this tee and still proclaim your geekdom for $19.95/£12.65.

11) Padme Nouveau Tee from Her Universe.

Why it's awesome: It's quite possibly the most beautiful Star Wars t-shirt design I've ever seen and it's designed exclusively for female Star Wars fans. Another Art Nouveau creation depicting the plight of the Skywalker family over the course of the six films with Padme put firmly in the foreground. All your favourite characters are given space from Anakin to Luke, Leia, Han, Yoda, Obi-Wan and the droids and the image is framed in gold ink on a regal red background.

It's a gorgeous image and one any female Star Wars fan will cherish. Her Universe was set up by LA actress Ashley Eckstein, who voices female Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano in the Star Wars: Clone Wars CGI animated series as a response to her bewilderment at their being barely any clothing or collectables designed with the female Star Wars fan in mind. They stock exclusive Star Wars t-shirt designs for women and even jewellery and have a thriving online forum.

This t-shirt can be yours for $25/£15.84 HERE.


12) "I Love You." " I Know." 
Han and Leia Tee from Her Universe.

Why it's awesome: Celebrating one of the most iconic kisses in sci-fi screen history and one of it's golden couples: the irrepressible scoundrel Han Solo and the feisty Princess Leia. It's a subtle design on a grey t-shirt, which wouldn't look out of place out and about or at the gym, but would definitely show off your geek credentials.  A very sweet design and you don't even have to out fly an Imperial Star Destroyer to get it! Don't be a scruffy nerf herder, grab this t-shirt at Her Universe for $25/£15.84


13) Nerd Rage Tee from Jinx.

 

Why it's awesome:We've all been there - you start a conversation with someone and they tell you the little green guy in Star Wars was called Spock, they tell you they never saw Firefly because it looked boring or that aliens and spaceships are strictly for kids. Maybe you started a argument with your geek friends about who would win in a fight or the importance of canon and the heated debate went on for HOURS. Soon a white hot feeling decsends on you: you've been hit with a severe case of NERD RAGE!!!

There's a reason we geeks are so passionate and there's a line where years of learning trivial knowledge turns into pedantic nit-picking at levels never seen before by man or Silurian. It's why the internet forum was invented! Celebrate the full force of righteous geekery with this rather amusing shirt from Jinx for $19.99/£12.66 Because hell hath no fury like a geek scorned.

14) Batgirl Costume tee from ThinkGeek.

                 
Why it's awesome:  Now you too can fight crime in Gotham and be a super-heroine - same Bat time, same Bat channel. One of the most iconic female DC super-heroines Batgirl (Sorry Wonder Woman!) has been turned into a "costume" t-shirt by ThinkGeek. An easy way to make a cosplay costume or a fun way to walk around your friendly neighbourhood - whether you're Barbara Gordon or Stephanie Brown  high-kick and sucker punch your way over to ThinkGeek and grab this shirt! Or if you're after some Eighties nostalgia, there's also a She-Ra costume shirt as well.

All three shirt designs are priced at $19.99/£12.66. 

15) You Never Forget Your First Doctor Tee from ThinkGeek.

Why it's awesome: Does Matt Smith have your heart or is David Tennant your number one?  Maybe you've an old school yen for the likes of John Pertwee, Tom Baker, William Hartnell or Peter Davidson? No matter what the era, no one forgets their first Doctor and the sense of magic, terror and adventure Doctor Who conjures on screen and has done for nearly 50 years.

This t-shirt celebrates Whovian fandom in all its glory and is perfect for fan girls and fan boys of all ages. You can grab this shirt from ThinkGeek for $16.99-$19.99 /£10.77-£12.66 (Mens) and click here for the Women's Babydoll cut $19.99 /£12.66 The shirts have been selling like hotcakes - so you'd better get in there quick! Better than a trip to Gallifrey. Well nearly.

And thus concludes my little intergalactic trip into the galaxy of geek chic shopping. Many more delights lie in store dear readers, but until then live long and prosper!

But, you're a Girl!

Yes, I own that t-shirt and no, I'm not going to apologise for it. I'm a Whedon Girl until the end! Also, I really wish I could afford a Force FX lightsaber, but my student loan probably wouldn't cover it.

Okay, let’s get this straight out in the open: I’m a geek. I think I’ve always been a geek. In fact, I’m pretty sure if I’d had it my way, I would’ve emerged from the womb clutching my lightsaber and demanding to know the location of the nearest star ship. Normally, this kind of declaration would label me the epitome of loser, but nowadays, people get geeky about all sorts of things, sometimes even relatively mainstream interests like cars, computers and obscure works of literature – hell, even collecting stamps; the point is everyone needs a hobby.

But, somehow, science fiction and fantasy fans seem to take things far beyond that, we take our passions and make them our obsessions, (believe me that’s the only way I can explain half the Star Wars stuff I own); I think that’s why many people outside the fan community are politely bemused by us. Of course, there are many casual viewers of science fiction and fantasy programming; we only have to look at the overwhelming success of Heroes, Lost and the British tea-time staple Doctor Who over the past three years to see that. Phillip Pullman and J.K. Rowling have both made their names in recent times, for writing fantastic fiction. But, for those of us who post on-line after every episode, who read the classic SF and Fantasy novels, who collect action figures, comic books and collectors items and who love getting involved in passionate debates with fellow fans; in many ways we’re in a league of our own.

So how do I fit into this equation?

Well, like I said, I’ve always been a geek. This fact has always been made harder by the additional fact that I’m a girl, usually for reasons made unknown to me. I grew up in the late 1980’s (yes, I am quite the youngling) and the first thing I remember being really obsessed with was the cartoon ‘Thundercats’. I was four years old and I insisted that my parents bought me all the action figures, which I still have. I used to hide behind the sofa every time Mumm-Ra showed up. I wanted to be Cheetara, so I could run really fast. I even tried to run up and down the garden several times pretending to be her, until I got a stitch. That’s dedication for you. I used to prefer to take my Lion-O figure to bed with me, instead of my teddy bear, I had to be forcibly pried away from it; figure that one out Freud!

I was often bribed into going to my ballet classes by promises to tape “Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles” off ‘Going Live’ for when I got back. I wanted to be April O’Neal, which probably influenced my choice of a career in journalism, or maybe not. Those yellow jumpsuits were criminal. I quit ballet, but my passion for cartoons and SF remained. In fact, Mum insisted it was the only way she could get me to eat pizza. I used to sneak downstairs and watch repeats of Ulysses 3000 at 6 am, before I went to school. I really loved the Ewoks cartoon as well, but this was before I knew what Star Wars was. God, I was truly deprived.

The one thing I remember clearly about mealtimes was my Dad insisting we watched the BBC repeats of Classic Star Trek, in which I did my own distinct tone-deaf version of the wailing theme tune, complete with a dance I made up myself. I was an odd child, but Star Trek was always our father-daughter bonding time. I was left distraught by the end of "Wrath of Kahn", but Dad assured me Spock would be just fine. We reveled in Picard and Kirk's adventures and as I got older, I was sitting down excitedly to watch the pilots of Deep Space Nine and Voyager. It was so good to finally see a female Starfleet Captain.

I was the first person to get really into “Power Rangers” when it first came out. Call me a slave to cynical marketing ploys, but I really loved it. My parents bought me all the toys for my 9th birthday and every time we played it in the playground I had to be the Yellow Ranger. Screw all this Pink nonsense. Usually this game would quickly descend into ninja based chaos. I distinctly remember being sent to the head teacher for karate kicking someone in the face, so anyone who said cartoons don’t encourage gratuitous violence was clearly lying. I now prefer to take my anger at the world out on Halo, it’s just a pity I can’t shoot or take aim for toffee.

"But, you're a Girl!"

The increasingly common cry of my childhood became “But, you’re a girl!” or “Isn’t that boy’s stuff?” It drove me crazy. It wasn’t that I just wanted to be ‘one of the lads’, I was trying to keep up, sure, but I guess, what I really wanted to prove was that I could do everything just as well as they did. I spent my youth jumping around barns and running through the mud in the woods with army camouflage on, war-paint on my face, toy gun and walkie-talkie in my hands; I also played with my Barbie and sang along to Disney films. I never saw anything wrong in that. Although once, my 70 year old grandmother bewildered by my thirtieth viewing of The Empire Strikes Back asked loudly: “What on earth are you watching that for? That’s a boy’s film!" I replied simply: "But, that's what I like Nan!" She shook her head, like I was a lost cause.

In 1997, I was eleven and reading Tolkien alongside Dickens and Jane Austen. I discovered Star Wars for the first time that year, I saw a documentary and begged my mother to take me to see the Special Edition in the cinema. Seeing it for the first time on the big screen was a rush. That opening sweep of the Star Destroyer never gets old. I fell in love with the characters and I rapidly devoured every Expanded Universe Star Wars novel I could find. Mara Jade became my heroine! She kicked bum, wielded a lightsaber, made tough smart-ass remarks and even Luke Skywalker loved and respected her. That was my kind of SF girl. I still find it embarrassing to this day, that my first ever crush was on Mark Hamill. I was young, okay? No-one has any real taste at that age! Now, at the semi-mature age of twenty-two, I can safely say I see exactly what Leia saw in Han Solo. Harrison Ford, back in the day = Yummy!

Having overloaded on Star Wars in every possible way from buying all the tie-in books, encylopedias, character guides, video games and novels – you name it, I still have it. I sought out new fantastical worlds to immerse myself in. I watched old BBC repeats of the original 1970’s Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, just because I loved the Seventies kitsch of it all. They were both undeniably cheesy, but provided great evening escapism. I got hooked on Quantum Leap, mainly because it was undeniably hilarious seeing Scott Bakula in drag. I also still maintain that Sliders was great fun. John Rhys Davies (Gimli from Lord of the Rings) was in it , so it can't have been all that bad.

Finding My Inner Super-Heroine:

I also immersed myself in Marvel and DC cartoons. I was lucky to be growing up in the 1990’s, when superhero cartoons were having a new revival. I watched X-Men, Spiderman, Superman, Batman:The Animated Series and the Marvel Action Hour, which featured The Hulk, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four. I immersed myself in comic book culture, even though I had never picked up a comic book, so that when this decade’s comic-book film explosion happened, I already knew most of the character’s back stories. I thought Jean Grey, Storm and Rogue were beyond cool – and having gone back and started reading the original graphic novels – I still do.

But the thing I lamented most was that there were no girl’s superhero costumes. I could pretend to be a fairy princess to my heart’s content, but if I wanted to live out my childhood fantasies of being Bat Girl or Super Girl, I had to dress up in my brother’s costumes, which were a tad small on an eight year-old me. At school we had a “Heroes and Villains” fancy-dress day. I decided to go at Super Girl as I had just seen the 1984 Helen Slater film over Christmas and adored it. I had tiny red boots, the cape and even the Super-sign drawn by my cousin to pin on my chest. I like to think I looked rather cute, even if I did spend break-time zooming around the playground attacking bad guys and saving people. The only thing that annoyed me was when a teacher asked me quite innocently: "Oh, are you Superman?" To which I replied rather angrily, "No way! I'm Kara! I'm Super GIRL!" Call me a prepubescent feminist, but I was insanely cross that no-one knew who I was. It was the first time I fully realised how invisible and secondary many female heroines are in our popular culture.

My angry feminist expression was not unlike this, except smaller and cuter.

I still have the same costume problem today. I wanted to be a super-heroine last year for Halloween. I had the very narrow choice of some very slutty Wonder Woman or Bat Girl costumes. Absolutely nothing anyone sold was above a maximum 12 UK dress size, which I, most definitely, am not. I was a little infuriated to say the least. Why can’t bigger women wear those costumes and who makes these stupid rules? In the end, I had to buy a men’s Jedi costume, which was highly baggy on me and roll with it. Apparently, female Jedi don’t exist either. Although, tell that to Aayla Secura!


Vampire Slaying and Alien Conspiracies:

Going back to my childhood geek roots, it was 1999 when I got seriously obsessed with The X-Files. I was hiding behind the sofa a lot, but what hooked me was the building sense of paranoia and conspiracy, I loved trying to work out the mysteries and the adrenalin rush of unbearable suspense that held each episode together. Dana Scully was a fantastic female role-model and I had an immense crush on David Duchnovny (didn't we all?). I managed to get my English teacher to agree to let me write an X-Files short story for an assignment (this was before I even knew what fan fiction was) and he said it was one of the best pieces of writing he'd seen in ages. I even hand drew a cover for it. I still have it at home somewhere and I'm damned proud of it.

Naturally, having grown up in a post-feminist era, when Buffy the Vampire Slayer hit UK screens, I was the perfect audience for it. I’ve never fallen in love with a television show, the way I fell in love with Buffy. Here was a show that never underestimated a woman’s power and emotional complexities. Buffy may have been able to knock the stuffing out of any demonic foe, but she still doubted her self and still had to struggle through all the pain and the hard lessons of growing up, often with the fate of the world on her weary shoulders. I was drawn to the character Willow Rosenberg and it was through her struggles to find herself, that I found the courage to believe in my own self-worth and strength. I loved the show’s effortlessly funny dialogue, the knowing pop culture references and the way Buffy and her closest friends were allowed to change, learn and grow up before our eyes. Ultimately, Joss Whedon taught me that switching on a TV didn’t have to mean switching off your brain; that it could function and transcend itself as a true art form. Some might say it’s just a show about some hot blonde girl killing vampires; I say look a little closer and you’ll be surprised how deep it actually goes.

Willow Rosenberg - coolest TV character. Pretty much ever.

Geekdom is the world's best ice-breaker:

For my final day of secondary school, I dressed up as Princess Leia. My Mum used an inordinate amount of hairspray, but I managed to put my real hair into the trademark buns. Running down the corridors zapping my friends with a plastic ray-gun was pretty funny, as was climbing over an insanely tall fence to get to the pub in that gown. At University, desperate to bond and make new friends during Fresher’s Week that weren’t purely interested in getting smashed on whatever was available every night, I introduced some new friends to the short lived, but much loved space western Firefly. Pretty soon we were having Firefly marathons every other night and holding ‘Lost Night’, where we gathered around my TV in halls and tried to work out what the hell was going on that island. Answers on the back of a postcard, please, as we’re still waiting! By then, I had a small crowd of friends to go and see the big-screen film Serenity with. It was great to share the experience of watching it on the big screen for the first time and our shrieks of horror as one beloved character met a fateful end deafened at least two rows in front of us. Some of us even considered forming a grief support group. Whedon really knows how to break a fan girl's heart. The fact remains, that I've always used my love of science-fiction and cinema to break the ice and start a conversation and some of my closest friends have been made by using the "geek offensive". Sometimes trivial knowledge can be a beautiful thing.

Passionate and Damn Proud:

Several years and a lot less cash later (thanks a lot Ebay!) and little has changed, I still indulge my obsessions: I’m addicted to Battlestar Galactica at the moment, Kara Thrace is my ultimate troubled heroine; I collect Buffy action figures and all the Buffy Season Eight comic books as they are released; the moment a new SF film comes out I’m rounding the troops to go stake out the cinema and any new project by Joss Whedon tends to bring out a severe attack of the fan girl squeals in me. I post online and inevitably get sucked into arguments and debates. It’s just too much fun not to join in. I've even been known to play the odd Dungeons and Dragons campaign with shiny nine-sided dice.

Kara Thrace a.k.a."Starbuck" - kicking ass for SF women everywhere.

Yes, sometimes the fact that I'm a girl still comes up in conversation; but for the most part, my male SF-loving friends find it refreshing to have a woman in the mix. Although, I still maintain there is a very small minority of male fans that still feel threatened by the growing female presence in the wider SF fan community. It's like they think we're gate-crashing their exclusive clubhouse - well, I'm sorry to break it to you boys, but women have always enjoyed science fiction and we're not going away anytime soon. This occasionally exclusivist attitude often frustrates me as I've always believed that gender is irrelevant when it comes to the things you love and following your passions. I'll never be a lipstick loving Gucci girl - but so what? It doesn't deny me the right to be both feminine and sociable as the mood takes me. The world's big enough for all sorts and just because my tastes might not be quite as mainstream, doesn't mean I can't still have a voice.

The SF geek stereotype for most outside observers is still a slightly overweight spotty male with zero social skills, who still lives with his parents and obsesses about space babes, video games and spaceship specifications. Let's face it - this image doesn't help or serve any of us and it's about time it changed. I determined to challenge the deceptive myth that female SF fans are a silent minority and prove they are worthy of equal acknowledgment.

Ultimately, putting gender issues aside, what I love about being a SF fan is the passion and devotion fellow fans always bring to the party, from a painstakingly intricate convention costume to an encyclopedic knowledge of vast fictional worlds to the numerous fanzines, websites and campaigns that have sprung up over the years. When the SF community falls in love with something, they fall in love hard. Plus, most of them have the strangest sense of humour known to man or fish. Who else would consider writing parody songs about Vulcans, Hobbits or Jedi Knights or think building their own life-size Dalek called Tarquin is the definition of comic genius? It’s our eccentricities and penchant for irreverence than make SF fans so much fun to be around, no matter what our backgrounds or genders.

The fact is I’m a SF Girl and a geek and I always will be. It’s in the blood. I love getting passionate and excited about a new show or movie that is coming out or buying the latest novel and spending a day getting lost in another fantastic world where the stakes are high and nothing is as it appears.I love arguing about which superheroes would win in fight or whether the Enterprise could blast the Millennium Falcon’s backside into oblivion. (No way! – is the answer to that one). Pointless obsession to some, it may be. An endless source of gloriously good fun and thought provoking debate? Always.