The Myth of the &#39;Booth Babe&#39;S


CNN's Ryan Peacock felt the need to sum up the "growing chorus of frustration in the geek community with - and there's no other way to put this - pretty girls pretending to be geeks for attention" in a recent piece called, "Booth Babes Need Not Apply."

Like most gamers who share his viewpoint, Peacock makes sure to stress how different he is from the sexist Neanderthal trolls who hate on "real" gamers. Believe it or not, Peacock is "good friends" with SEVERAL stunningly beautiful women who are "bone fide geeks," crazy as it may sound. ("They belong with us," he writes — "us" presumably connoting geeky men.) Peacock finds "it fantastic that women are finally able to enjoy a culture that has predominately been male-oriented and male-driven" and says he is all for more female geeks! Just not the booth babe kind:


Peacock claims he doesn't think it's just women who masquerade as gamers; he "hates poachers. Pure and simple." But his one example of a male poser is a soulless Machiavellian type of fellow who "reads about a hot comic book title sure to be a collector's item, drives up demand by buying up all of those issues and resells them on eBay for hundreds of dollars." Booth babes, however, deserve an entire op-ed devoted to their deviousness:






Booth babes aren't trying to pretend they're gamers; they're hired, like all models, to sell a product. They work long hours, don't get paid much, and many of them hate being ogled. We don't get angry that car models know nothing about automobiles, or that hand models know nothing about watches. Who are these attractive, insecure women that show up in droves at conferences to profit off nerdy men? Seriously, who are they? And please don't just say "Olivia Munn."

So why are men like Peacock so offended by the idea of the poser booth babe? This piece of his argument is rather telling: "They're a pox on our culture. As a guy, I find it repugnant that, due to my interests in comic books, sci-fi, fantasy and role playing games, video games and toys, I am supposed to feel honored that a pretty girl is in my presence. It's insulting." Aha! There you have it: Peacock doesn't want girls playing with his toys.

Booth babes need not apply [CNN]