While word hasn't gotten to those in middle school, being a nerd or a geek isn't all that weird nowadays. We're no longer a strata of social outcast - in fact, with the advent of the Internet, I'd hazard to say that everyone can find a group of like-minded people regardless of your particular social poison. isn't that a good thing? So why do the Nerd Girls bother me so much?

While I'm more of a cultural nerd than a tech nerd, I've certainly been guilty of pairing the finer, erm, points of my sexuality with my nerdy pursuits (see above photo.) My intention has always been to capture both sides of my personality with a wink and a nod, as if I walked in not believing my own press. Whether it's Newsweek reporters Jessica Bennett and Jennie Yabroff's intention, their writing doesn't reflect the idea that as NerdGirls we can be whoever we want, dress however we want, have wide and varied interests beyond typical nerdy pursuits, but that we can break the lipstick barrier.

...they're challenging the notion of what a geek should look like, either by intentionally sexing up their tech personas, or by simply finding no disconnect between their geeky pursuits and more traditionally girly interests such as fashion, makeup and high heels.

Check it out! NerdGirls can be just as shallow that Non-NerdGirls! (And, in turn, it appears if you're not a Nerdy Female, you are interested in "fashion, makeup, and high heels." Congrats!)

Of course, we're damned if we do and we're damned if we don't. There are plenty of NerdGirls out there who are gorgeous and techy and deserve all the accolades they get. I'd hate to think that you have to be unattractive in the tech world to get ahead. But as Erin Kotecki Vest asks does it reinforce that they [NerdGirls] should be cute to be heard?

Or is this yet another way to not measure up and look down upon those who don't?

There's one thing everyone - and I mean everyone - has in common, and that's that we've all been picked on at one time or another. Nerds even moreso. A few weeks back, I was reading a post on Wil Wheaton's blog about how Jerry O'Connell accused him of being a bully on the set of Stand By Me and he felt sick over it. Are we more empathetic? Do our smartypants memories hang on to things longer? Are we too busy getting sand kicked in our faces to bully anyone else?

I'm all for bashing stereotypes, but the NerdGirls of the Newsweek article seem to be crashing the Typical Nerd stereotype by ascribing to the Typical Girl ones. We want to be judged on our brains instead of our looks. Now we get both!

I've been blogging since 1997. I didn't put a photo of myself on my blog until around 2004-5, simply because there was a certain sense of freedom in not being judged by what I looked like. Since then, I've been called hot as many times as I've been called hideous, I've been called sexy as many time as I've been called a fat pig.

However, not once did I think that no one would read because I didn't measure up to some random, reality-show-Cosmo-magazine prescribed ideal. As a chick, I had to deal with that every day. But as a nerd, I got to blissfully exist outside of it. Maybe the only one living in this nerdtopia was me.

But maybe my intentions were completely misread, too. Maybe I'm just as guilty as the NerdGirls.

Is this progress? What do you think? Vote! And elaborate in the comments...


Edited to add: You should check out Dr. Ding's blog Ask Dr. Ding as she links to the Nerd Girls site, which has a slightly different take than the Newsweek article...