Abstract
The male computer nerd is a trope found often in popular culture. Both reflecting and sustaining the values of a masculinized culture of computing, he is found in a variety of media formats and easily recognizable. It seems no coincidence then that the large majority of people entering into the computer sciences are male. Naturalized social and cultural assumptions regarding gender and ability contribute to the belief that men belong in front of the screen and make invisible gifted and passionate computing women. Highlighting the previously unseen and undervalued female computer nerd and examining the strengths women bring to the computer sciences while at the same time deconstructing the groundless gendered beliefs that mask the existence of female computer nerds can help bring about necessary legitimacy. Using the television show The Big Bang Theory to demonstrate the complete dominance of the male nerd within pop culture as well as the limited positions granted to computing women, it can be argued that the lack of a socially supported position for nerdy girls and women contributes to fewer numbers of females in the computer sciences.
