Nothing to Prove (song)
"Nothing to Prove" is a feminist nerd-folk song by The Doubleclicks released on their second album Lasers and Feelings. It is a response to the misogynist concept of the "fake geek girl" and the subsequent bullying and gatekeeping prevalent within the geek community. The Doubleclicks released a crowd-sourced music video, featuring segments filmed by women within the geek community, that went viral and received over a million views.
| "Nothing to Prove" | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Doubleclicks | |
| from the album Lasers and Feelings | |
| Genre | Nerd-folk |
| Length | 3:53 |
| Songwriter(s) | Laser Malena-Webber Aubrey Turner |
| Audio sample | |
Short excerpt from the song, including the titular refrain.
| |
Background
The Doubleclicks, nerd-folk duo and siblings Laser Malena-Webber and Aubrey Turner, have personal history of being challenged about their "geek cred" at shows and online.[1] However, they were more concerned about young girls, just becoming interested in things but being bullied and shut out of the community by such behaviour just because of their gender.[1]
Music video
The idea for the music video concept came from screenwriter, and friend of the Webber siblings, Josh A. Cagan.[1] While touring, the duo recorded some clips of women holding signs about their geekery and how they have been challenged about it.[1] When they returned from the tour they solicited submissions online, receiving a "completely overwhelming" response.[1]
The video was released on YouTube on July 23, 2013. The video went viral, received 500,000 views within the first five days and soon exceeded one million.[1][2][3]
Laser does, however, acknowledge a lack of intersectionality in the video as the majority of the contributors were white, saying "That means I didn't try hard enough."[4]
Other appearances
The song was played before a panel called "Sex, Sexy and Sexism: Fixing Gender Inequality in Gaming" at PAX East in April 2014 to applause from the audience.[3]
References
- McGinnis, Jeff (July 30, 2013). "The Doubleclicks take aim at 'fake geek girl' criticism". Toledo Free Press.
- Greenwald, David (February 18, 2014). "Geek-pop duo the Doubleclicks hit $80,000 with biggest Portland Kickstarter music project yet". The Oregonian.
- Granshaw, Lisa (April 24, 2014). "Debunking the 'fake geek girl' myth with the Doubleclicks". Daily Dot. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
- Dieker, Nicole (October 21, 2014). "GeekGirlCon is an oasis of acceptance". Boing Boing. Retrieved March 27, 2015.