On Jezebel, Annalee Newitz writes about The Secrets of Geek Mating Rituals, and it is a fascinating read for the non-geek. (Personally, I was never cool enough to be a geek. So this information is invaluable to me.) You should read the article in full, but I think there are 5 main points about geeks in the dating world.

1

They Are Blunt About What They’re Feeling

Exhibit A: Abed and Tryo’s conversation in Community when they want to ask out a librarian.

We are both interested in taking you to the Valentine’s dance, but we are also best friends with each other. It is therefore of the utmost importance that we protect that friendship from the stresses of courting you.

“If you’re going to do an experiment, what would be the point of hiding all the ingredients? That’s the spirit in which many geeks approach courtship with each other,” Annalee said.

2

They’ve Been Hurt In The Past

Those wounds take time to heal. Imagine if you were voted Homecoming King as a joke! and everyone laughed at you. Then years later, when you’re 28, people started coming up to you to say “I really think you should be Homecoming King.” What would you think? You’d think, “bullshit!” Even if you really did deserve to be a 28-year-old Homecoming King.

3

They’re Often Distracted By Something More Interesting Than You

Hate to break it to you, but when you approach a geek and they are reading about convergent evolution, you’re going to lose the interesting-contest. You cannot compete with that shit. Who can think about cute hair at a time like this?

4

Geeks Are Their Own Kind Of Shallow

Sure, they care about your mind, but they can be shallow about that, too. “I will confess that I am as guilty of this as the next person. I once slept with a guy just because I was interested in what he was studying in graduate school, but quickly dumped him when I realized he was intensely boring when he wasn’t talking about his doctoral research. You know — his brain was hot until I actually got to know it,” Annalee said.

5

They’re Not Just Checking Out Your Body

They’re checking out your brains. Better start that new workout regime. The one with the books.

[Jezebel]

Filed Under: