Californian Alyssa Campanella describes herself as “a huge history geek”, with particular interest in Tudor and Stuart England (my sister would LOVE her), and “a science geek”. (In fact, she was one of exactly two contestants to unequivocally support teaching science in science classes.)  She watches “Game of Thrones” and “Camelot”, and is a lifelong fan of Star Wars. 

One more datum: she’s just been crowned Miss USA.

Quiz time!  Did the ancient and honourable society of geeks:

1. call her a poser?
2. confidently assert that she didn’t know anything about her areas of interest?
3. openly lament that, damn, “geek” used to mean something? or
4. all of the above?

Yes, Ms. Campanella’s crown had no sooner settled on her brow than dark murmurings began to circulate on the Internet about her lack of geek cred.  Geeky women have always faced this double standard--that a guy geek is a geek on his say-so, but women have to prove their geek bona fides to skeptical guy geeks--but it seems particularly obvious (and cruel) in Alyssa’s case.  Here’s some comments from the USA Today article:

Doubt very much she's into history for the history, and just as she admits the fantasy part, she would like to be the 'damsel in distress' and becomes queen.

She could have just said she like medieval style stories but that doesn't sound as good. I doubt she really understands what "geeky" is if she thinks watching HBO shows is geeky.

LOL @ referring to sensationalist television soaps as history. Has she read a history book? What a joke to refer to yourself as a history buff because you watch TV.

[n.b.: She specifically mentioned her love of history books in the article itself.]

So there you have it, women: if you can rock a bikini, you’re not a geek.