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Comment by xenihn | Hacker News Reader

>I also happen to be quite geeky and nerdy. Which is probably something most people don’t expect when they think of a beauty queen.

It's 2020. There are now lots of attractive women who are geeky and nerdy. Just look at the cosplay industry. Or, ahem, Twitch.

It's not the 90s or early 2000s anymore. There's nothing exceptional or noteworthy about a beauty queen or lingerie model or whoever who likes anime, or board games, or manga, or programming, or gaming on a desktop.

People (of both genders) used to be looked down on for liking these things, but that hasn't been the case for over a decade. They're cool now.

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I'd say its still exceptional and noteworthy. When you think "beauty queen" is a word you associate with them "anime" or "programming?"

Norms and culture are certainly shifting but there still exists a lot of prejudice against nerd culture AND gatekeeping within nerd culture.

Anecdotally I know a few women who have switched into tech in the last few years. They all talk about how they never even knew it was a viable path for someone like them. (And "someone like them" means "normal" young woman.)

There aren’t that many beauty queens out there. So anything they do outside of being a beauty queen will seem exceptional.

Exactly this. The number of exceptionally beautiful people (using whatever standard of beauty your culture defines) is limited in nearly every field except for acting. It’s just not common, regardless of industry.

> Anecdotally I know a few women who have switched into tech in the last few years. They all talk about how they never even knew it was a viable path for someone like them. (And "someone like them" means "normal" young woman.)

Speaking as a woman who most would consider conventionally-attractive, I really think most of that is less about prejudice against nerd culture and more about what happens when more women become more visible and vocal in tech. It’s not as if suddenly, “beauty queens” started to study computer science or get interested in engineering, there have always been beautiful women who work in tech. It’s that when there is more visibility — and this is true for people of color too — that can five individuals who don’t fit the stereotype the confidence to join in.

>there still exists a lot of prejudice against nerd culture

We are not on the same page here. You think "nerd culture" is still distinct from "normal culture". I disagree with you. It is no longer distinct. It has been normalized and absorbed. This is a good thing.

>gatekeeping within nerd culture

See above.

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