“The Nerd Within”: Mass Media and the Negotiation of Identity among Computer-Using Men

Abstract

This article examines media representations of nerds as part of the cultural context within which a group of participants on an online forum perform their identities. Given their frequent use of computers and relationships to computer technology, these young, mostly white, mostly male participants must negotiate their relationship to the potentially stigmatizing, but also partially respectable nerd stereotype. They do so by emphasizing the “masculine” qualities required to accomplish their computer-related jobs, asserting the colorblind nature of online interactions, and using ideas about nerds to distance themselves from women and sexuality. Thus, despite its negative aspects, the nerd identity provides a rich conceptual resource with which computer-using males can interpret their own and others' identities.