What it means to be a trekkie

[Kristi]

My name is Kristi and i am writing a final paper on Trekkies/ star trek fans. i need to answer these three questions:

-Why is there still a stigma around the star trek fandom when their fandom is so large and popular today?
-How does the mainstream fuel the stigma to the trekkie fire?
-How do trekkies see themselves in contrast to how everyone else does?

Any thoughts or comments or thoughts? I would really appreciate some feedback! Thank you guys for helping!

 

[Greg Cox]

The stereotypical "Trekkie" of pop culture fame--a nerdy 40-year-old virgin living in his parents' basement--is like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. Maybe such creatures exist in reality, but I'm not sure I've ever met one.

Most of the Trekkies I know have kids, careers, and mortgages--just like everybody else.

 

[Pondwater]

-Why is there still a stigma around the star trek fandom when their fandom is so large and popular today?

There's stigma attached!?!? I never noticed or cared.

-How does the mainstream fuel the stigma to the trekkie fire?

The same as any other fan base.

-How do trekkies see themselves in contrast to how everyone else does?

Just like anyone else.

Thank you guys for helping!

You're welcome.

 

[bbjeg]

I made a fun thread awhile back about different types of Trekkies. I think it's worth checking out.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I love STAR TREK, but ... when I have a woman that I want to impress coming over, all of those series and movies that I love so much become an instant embarassment. They're like some flaming bag of dogshit that must quickly be buried and disposed of. So ... I wrap them up and hide them until she's gone. And the instant I have the house to myself, I know this to be true: Star Trek LIVES (once more)!

 

[Amaris]

Being a Trekkie is probably the least of my issues.

 

[bbjeg]

Oh, and welcome to the TrekBBS Kristi.

 

[Pondwater]

Being a Trekkie is probably the least of my issues.

High five to that.

 

[Amaris]

*high five*

 

[albion432]

I love STAR TREK, but ... when I have a woman that I want to impress coming over, all of those series and movies that I love so much become an instant embarassment. They're like some flaming bag of dogshit that must quickly be buried and disposed of. So ... I wrap them up and hide them until she's gone. And the instant I have the house to myself, I know this to be true: Star Trek LIVES (once more)!

So whatja gonna do when you find the right one? Are you going to "come out of the closet" and fess up to being a Trekkie, or are you going to leave your beloved collection in the closet? Maybe the solution to your "embarrassment" problems would be to meet that special someone at a Star Trek con!

 

[albion432]

-Why is there still a stigma around the star trek fandom when their fandom is so large and popular today? I'm not aware of any real stigma regarding Star Trek fandom, except they are generally caricatured as nerdy, socially inept, overweight slobs. Like with an stereotyped group, a majority of them do not fit the mold.

-How does the mainstream fuel the stigma to the trekkie fire? The same way they would with any individual or group who make themselves targets for stigmatization. That's a hard question to answer with specifics.

-How do trekkies see themselves in contrast to how everyone else does? There may be a catch 22 here. Those who wear their love for Star Trek on their sleeve don't care (or probably even notice) how other see them, and the closet Trekkie gives no indication they're a Trekkie in public and so it doesn't register as a reason for others to see them any differently. But then there's that percentage of any fandom who seem to make themselves targets for ridicule, like that woman who wore her Star Fleet uniform to jury duty. In fact, she might be a good person to research for your paper. I'm sure somebody on this site must know her name.

Any thoughts or comments or thoughts? I would really appreciate some feedback! Thank you guys for helping!

Good luck with your paper, and welcome to TrekBBS!

 

[Push The Button]

I've been a Trek fan for about 40 years now. I don't care who knows, or what they think about it. Other people can go #%^* themselves, and maybe they should be more worried about what I think about them instead.

I hope that helps. Welcome to TrekBBS.

 

[HIjol]

...there was also a great episode of West Wing with a woman who came to work with a com badge...worth checking out for really good thoughts and words addressing your post...

My Personal thoughts:

...it is more of a "...what does it NOT mean to be a Trekkie..."

...not a lot of flaunting it and "living it" 24-7 (except at Conventions!)
...sharing, like we do here, is for like-minded and like-times...not anyone, every time
...knowledge is good...details and facts and connections are good, but there is more
...recognizing how deeply culturally ingrained Star Trek is can be an amazing thing
...knowing how far and wide the ST world and terminology and dialogue lines and
names and places and wish for it all to be real has gone...Trekkie, indeed...

...hope this helps...welcome to the Forum...it is a wild ride!...

 

[albion432]

...there was also a great episode of West Wing with a woman who came to work with a com badge...worth checking out for really good thoughts and words addressing your post...

My Personal thoughts:

...it is more of a "...what does it NOT mean to be a Trekkie..."

...not a lot of flaunting it and "living it" 24-7 (except at Conventions!)
...sharing, like we do here, is for like-minded and like-times...not anyone, every time
...knowledge is good...details and facts and connections are good, but there is more
...recognizing how deeply culturally ingrained Star Trek is can be an amazing thing
...knowing how far and wide the ST world and terminology and dialogue lines and
names and places and wish for it all to be real has gone...Trekkie, indeed...

...hope this helps...welcome to the Forum...it is a wild ride!...

well said

 

[Greg Cox]

It's odd. I hear a lot about the "stigma," and I've heard the jokes on TV, but I can't say I've ever experienced it personally. Maybe this is an issue if you're still in high school and trying to fit in, but, in the adult world, I honestly can't remember anyone ever giving me a hard time about being a Trekkie. Not my friends, not my family, not my neighbors . . . .

And I'm hardly secretive about it.

 

[BigJake]

-Why is there still a stigma around the star trek fandom when their fandom is so large and popular today?

The only place I really notice a "stigma around the Star Trek fandom" is a) among the kinds of people who are disdainful of geeks generally (who are however much fewer in number today than they were twenty years ago), and b) among Trekkies. I don't really know what's up with b), as we seem to live in an age where there's less excuse than ever to be embarrassed about being a geek, but it's there and it's noticeable.

-How does the mainstream fuel the stigma to the trekkie fire?

Sorry, I cannot parse this question as written.

-How do trekkies see themselves in contrast to how everyone else does?

I don't see things in terms of "Trekkies" and "everyone else" so I don't know how to answer this.

 

[Push The Button]

I've worked in the tech industry for 30 years, and more than half of the engineers and technicians that I have worked with in that period were either Trek fans, Star Wars fans, or just SF fans in general. TNG was very popular in this group when it first aired, as in discussions taking place the next day after a new episode aired locally.

 

[HIjol]

It's odd. I hear a lot about the "stigma," and I've heard the jokes on TV, but I can't say I've ever experienced it personally. Maybe this is an issue if you're still in high school and trying to fit in, but, in the adult world, I honestly can't remember anyone ever giving me a hard time about being a Trekkie. Not my friends, not my family, not my neighbors . . . .

And I'm hardly secretive about it.

...my home has a certain ST look about it...if you look, you will find things...I am not ashamed, either...but I have experienced the eye rolls and the. "...you gotta be kidding me..."

...there does not seem to be a gender or age or geography to it...but, interestingly enough, if I were to stereotype the unwashed
-er...sorry...um, ....those that do not like Star Trek (and cannot see the light and feel the rapture...oo, damn keyboard...what the hell) if I were to do that! I would say the majority of the Rollers of Eyes lack that spark of child and wonder and imagination...I am sure they have other fine, valuable qualities...seriously...

...I do not mean those that like SW over ST, or Dr. Who forever or one genre over another...I mean those that do not care for the whole thing...those who are more serious, less willing to suspend the disbelief...get into the fiction cum reality of it...starting to babble now, but I hope I have managed to explain without offending...

 

[HIjol]

...there was also a great episode of West Wing with a woman who came to work with a com badge...worth checking out for really good thoughts and words addressing your post...

My Personal thoughts:

...it is more of a "...what does it NOT mean to be a Trekkie..."

...not a lot of flaunting it and "living it" 24-7 (except at Conventions!)
...sharing, like we do here, is for like-minded and like-times...not anyone, every time
...knowledge is good...details and facts and connections are good, but there is more
...recognizing how deeply culturally ingrained Star Trek is can be an amazing thing
...knowing how far and wide the ST world and terminology and dialogue lines and
names and places and wish for it all to be real has gone...Trekkie, indeed...

...hope this helps...welcome to the Forum...it is a wild ride!...

well said

Thank You kindly...I find it is MUCH easier to feel and to know than to write about...maybe that is also its essence...

 

[HIjol]

I've worked in the tech industry for 30 years, and more than half of the engineers and technicians that I have worked with in that period were either Trek fans, Star Wars fans, or just SF fans in general. TNG was very popular in this group when it first aired, as in discussions taking place the next day after a new episode aired locally.

...so there it is...and I would bet dollars to Denevian Mead those conversations treated the whole thing like it was "real", or at least referred to/compared to what was going on in the episodes to what was possible (then) and what was to come...wonder...value...imagination...current vs. future...and I will bet the conversations also centered over the years about the Trek tech that came true or is becoming closer to possible...
THIS is the thing! and every other story like it...

...little boys using basement showers as their "Transporters", and then going on to be physicists working on particles and states of matter that might, just might make Transporter technology possible some day...

...little girls playing "Sickbay", actually reciting some of the lines, growing up to do amazing medical and psychological work at Johns and Mayo and the like...

...boys and girls playing Enterprise, using the huge (then) monkey bars as the ship, and parsing off sections using nothing more than their imagination growing up to be Mathematicians and Chaos Theoreticians and Weapons experts and Chemists and and and and...

...all of us, ALL of us are the Voyages of the Star Ship Enterprise...and we are Boldly Going...successes and failures...faults and foibles... Engage...