NERD POINTS©: Justifications

III. Justifications

A. Nerdiness - Some things must be agreed upon as basics, or else I understand that your view of "nerdiness" may differ from my own so widely, that this rating system, even as a guideline, is useless to you. We must have some sort of agreement on what makes on person more "nerdy" than another, especially if we are saying that "nerd" is a title anyone can bestow upon themself. To that end, I will line out those things I consider "nerdy" qualities. These are the things which would cause one person to be rated more of a nerd than another person.

1. Propensity for academic achievement
2. Interest in technology
3. Affinity for science fiction, fantasy, or other "escapism" genres and mediums
4. Enormous obsession with anything else in this list, or even a benign subject that is taken to an extreme
5. Social awkwardness in areas not related to the above categories, (especially when the encounter involves members of the opposite sex.

It is important to reiterate some points made in the discussion about "geeks;" a person may still be quite a high-ranking nerd, even if they fall short in one or more of these categories, or any of their subcategories, especially if they make up for it in another.

B. Gender - In the points as I lay them out, I will try to be as consistent as possible when referring to male and female nerds, as well as the similarities and differences between them. In truth, many girls may be as big, if not bigger nerds than their male counterparts. However, nerdom is another predominantly male-dominated sector, and some of the rules will reflect this. As an example, we shall consider the idea of "singleness." A large part of the stereotype of nerds is their inability to "get a date." This holds true for both males and females. However, because their are so few females in the nerd sector, it is much more difficult for a male nerd to get a date than a female nerd. If a male nerd mentions dressing up for an anime convention, I'm not sure any female, even a nerdy one, would consider this a turn-on. So for males, dressing up for an anime convention would be more "nerdy." However, for a female to dress up (depending upon what she dressed as), this would be a serious turn-on for many guys, whether or not they were nerds. So while it would still boost her nerd status in one arena (ie, dressing up as fictional character) it would low her nerd status in another (ie, ability to impress the opposite sex). So I will try to say "opposite sex" when I mean a person of the opposite sex of the individual whose nerdiness is being rated, but if a rule specifically mentions gender, then that rule is gender-specific.