In light of the Cosplay Appreciation Day kerfuffle we covered this morning, now seems like a good time to revisit the “Idiot Nerd Girl” meme. It started last year as a way to insult women who refer to themselves as nerds but aren’t nerdy enough or nerdy in the right way or whatever, a reflection of a pervasive stereotype in geek culture which ticks me off. Why would it matter if someone wants to identify as a nerd, and why am I not surprised there isn’t a similarly-popular image macro accusing men of exaggerating their nerd cred?
Then something awesome happened. Dark Horse Comics editor Rachel Edidin staged a “cheerful coup” to overrun the Quickmeme page for the Idiot Nerd Girl with image macros written from the perspective of a Genuinely Nerdy Girl who’s tired of being automatically labelled a poser just for being female. Now a majority of the newest pictures at Quickmeme are of this type, and I f–king love it.
Our 25 favorite examples of the reappropriated Idiot Nerd Girl meme are collected here. All pictures via Rachel Edidin, The Mary Sue, and Quickmeme.