Nerd Castle

In keeping with my previous post...

Comics shops, in my experience, tend to double as clubhouses. Guys who start comics shops like to be the King of Nerd Castle, and at my shop of choice there are dorky, awkward, genial kids who appear to be there whenever the doors are open.

The other week I was there and an attractive young woman was doing something I've seen several outgoing but insecure young women of my aquaintance do: pretend to be a slutty lesbian. She was doing this in a roomful of guys, talking in explicit terms about girls she'd like to have carnal relations with (gee, why do you suppose parents are often leery of taking small children to comics shops?). It finally dawned on me why some young women adopt this peculiar tactic. The selling point of public displays of sluttiness, from the "slut's" perspective, is that it gets you lots of attention from boys, which can be delightful. The downside is that it leaves the boys thinking they've got an open invitation into your pants. By fronting as a lesbian, the "slut" gets the boys' attention while making it clear that she's not available to them. It's sluttiness with a safety valve. Perhaps this is why, according to the news, girls kissing while boys watch is a trend among these whippersnappers nowadays. Based on my aquaintance with other women who adopted this approach, I'd suggest getting a less embarrassing schtick quick, because someday you might want to be respectable. I know I seem like a fuddy-duddy, but seriously.

Another ridiculous comic shop goofball: me. Once I was renting anime at that same store, and two guys were talking about anime. They were really swapping dense clouds of nerd trivia. I casually said to the clerk, out loud, in the hearing of these two guys: "I don't know how you can listen to this all day." And I instantly hated myself for saying it. How dare I chastise these guys for talking about anime in an anime store? I walked out of there feeling like an utter clod, and later vowed that if I ever saw them again I'd apologise and buy them a comic or something. But I haven't seen them since.