There Are No Girls on the Internet: Difference between revisions

An Internet trope that was originally true, then an attitude in general, and finally a meme with only lingering traces left.

 

 

As the Internet grew, women became more common. Sadly, men pretending to be women became even ''more'' common as well; it soon became obvious that announcing you were female online (and thus a geek girl) was a surefire way to win lots of attention and accommodation from other users, even to the point of them being tricked into mailing gifts, cash, or performing other favors. This led to anyone claiming to be female to instantly be accosted with demands of "proof" (eventually codified as "Tits or GTFO").

Of course, proving you are female online is something of a conundrum, since any pictures or voice you present as proof can just as easily have come from a sister, girlfriend, or random site -- which thanks to webcams was later solved by asking for a [[Trust Password|"timestamp", a picture with the current date, time, and a certain message]] (which could ''still'' be pictured with a woman who just happened to be near the actual poster, but it helps). Not proving it or refusing to share pictures means that you would be assumed to be male and only pretending to be female for the attention or (if in a game) free items.

 

 

Part of the paranoia was [[Justified Trope|justified]] on the ''early'' internet by both [[GIRL|GIRLs]] and even some actual girls, taking advantage of the fact that the internet had a great number of socially awkward males who were easily duped into thinking this girl who was paying attention to them was seriously interested in dating them, if only they 'proved' their affection with gifts and [[Dungeonmaster's Girlfriend|special privileges]]. Nowadays, of course, attempting this usually elicits the aforementioned righteous screeching, deservedly so.

** The shippers sure didn't help much.

* In ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'', while the crew investigates the hacking of an old spy satellite, everybody assumes that Radical Edward, the mysterious computer genius who did it, is a male of indeterminate age, race, and apparently species. Turns out Ed is a thirteen year old girl (even when looking right at her, it took Faye a few minutes to tell).

** Kind of subverted in that Setton (a basically androgynous user) turns out to be Celty, and Saika is a girl... well, originally a knife, but NOW a girl...

 

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

{{quote|'''Larry Nightingale''': Me and the guys are trying to work out the other half.

'''Sally Sparrow''': When you say "you and the guys", you mean the internet, don't you?

'''Larry Nightingale''': How'd you know?

'''Sally Sparrow''': Spooky, isn't it? }}

** To be fair, this was more likely to be a reference to old Doctor Who fandom (especially the online fandom) being very, very male-dominated. You could go to a convention with 300 people and count the women with the fingers of one hand.

* ''[[Psych]]'': Poker? I Hardly Know Her! - Shawn and Gus (well, mostly Shawn, but it was Gus' account) track down a guy by chatting him up online while pretending to be a girl, then asking to meet him. When they meet, the guy says that he should have known they weren't really a girl.

* Frequently mocked (yet entirely subverted) in ''Enjuhneer''.

* The [[Slice of Life]] webcomic ''Friday y Innak'' explains that both the author Kkatman and her fursona, the eponymous Friday, intentionally chose masculine usernames because "I didn't want anyone knowing I was a girl. Lot of freaks on the internet." Innak, Friday's male room-mate, nervously replies "And now that you're one of them?"

* Also referenced in [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/09/30 this] [[Penny Arcade]] strip.