ABSTRACT
The Beauty and the Beast narrative is reproduced in these narratives of gendered female beauty and lack of intelligence and male intelligence and lack of physical attractiveness. The way in which geek/nerd culture reproduces gender dichotomies with attractiveness rated as a specifically female quality and intelligence as male. The Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) research scientists at MIT use the term nerd to describe each other, more prominently if they want to emphasize distinctive impersonal and antisocial qualities. The relation of gender to science is well discussed in anthropology and social studies of science. Sherry Turkle described MIT as 'a different world' when she first arrived there in the 1980s. Successful applicants to MIT not only score well on their SATs, but it is common for applicants to have a passion that extends well beyond their academic studies.
