sharpener:
Nerd Girl Pinups
If there’s one thing the Internet does not lack, it’s nerds. If there’s two things the Internet does not lack, it’s nerds and pictures of fantasy women. What the Internet really needs, feels Nicole Rodrigues, is more pictures of fantasy women who are also nerds.
Hence, NerdGirlPinups.com, a photo gallery and blog full of nerdy women in fantasy poses. That’s “fantasy” as in swords and witch hats. Also ray guns, superhero costumes and cat ears. One photo shoot is set at a comic book store. Another takes place at a debate on the relative merits of Star Trek and Star Wars. More than a few of the photos on this site feature laptops, video games or Dungeons & Dragons manuals. These are all nerds who are also girls.
“I had come across a bunch of sites that other photographers were doing of women who were posed doing nerdy things, but you could tell that the women had no idea what they were doing,” says Rodrigues, creator of NerdGirlPinups.com. “Being a nerd myself, I took it as an insult that the women they would show in these roles actually had no idea about any of these nerdy activities.”
So, about two years ago, Rodrigues took some photos of a couple of friends doing genuinely nerdy things and posted them to a quick homemade website. Two redesigns and two-dozen participants later, the site is a flourishing grove of geek.
“It’s become far more popular than I thought it would be and it’s become a great representation of the nerdy community,” says Rodrigues. “It shows that women can be attractive and intelligent and the biggest nerds.”
The site is made up of mostly photography at the moment, but Rodrigues plans to expand it to include more writing as well as podcasts and video. Late last year the site even hosted its first live event, a burlesque/comedy show in Toronto.
“I hope the site will become a home for fans of nerdy females and nerdy women themselves,” says Rodrigues. “We want it to become a central hub for all things nerdy. We’re working on promotion, getting out to local events, comic conventions, anything and everything, because we want to get the message across that it’s okay to be nerdy.”