Nerds Are Sexy - Television Tropes & Idioms

It's not easy being geeky.

We pan to a beautiful woman: platinum blonde with a huge rack. She is the Hottest Woman in the World, but she wears glasses because she is the Smartest Woman in the World.

-Michael Bay's "Rejected" Dark Knight Script

Despite however many typically-sexy female characters are in a series, a common gag is to have the male characters fixate instead on some inconsequential minor female character. The character may only be cute in a "plain" way, but the men will all happen to find her uniquely charming.

Very common with girls who wear glasses. Different from the Hot Librarian in that the "librarian-ness" is what makes them attractive.

Incidentally, no putting yourself on this list. This means you!

Examples:

Anime and Manga

Pretty much any Meganekko who features predominantly in her series (Read Or Die, Victorian Romance Emma, etc.) Lampshaded in the Emma manga omake, which reproduces the scene where Emma takes off her glasses, only for the cast to loudly insist she not remove her Charm Point.
Nadia The Secret of Blue Water featured an entire on-board fanclub for an obscure, plainly cute nurse character.
Nodoka and Yue of Mahou Sensei Negima tend to fit this, sometimes described as flat-chested and not attractive in a "Sexy" way, They're both also two of the series' most popular characters (they may even subvert First Girl Wins).
In Suzumiya Haruhi, Yuki seems to have a large "fanbase" within the story, exactly because Nerds Are Sexy. Kyon finds her appealing too, although not at the scale of Mikuru.
- And damn, she really is that hot..
A variation appears in Ouran High School Host Club, where the nerd in question, Kyouya, is male.
Naruto: Hinata Hyuga. Oh, why won't you see it, Naruto?

Comic Books

Gertrude Yorkes of Runaways is somewhat chubby and an insufferable nerd. But her boyfriend adores her.
Kitty Pryde. Nerdy, sexy ninja.
- She has a male counterpart in Doug Ramsey, too.

Film

There is a scene in a used bookshop in The Big Sleep: Humphrey Bogart spends an afternoon in an antiquarian bookshop with the clerk (Dorothy Malone). An unexpected rainstorm, a bottle of rye, and the line "I'd rather get wet in here", transforms Malone from book-worm to babe, who closes the shop an hour early (and the film fades to black).
Ben Campbell, played by Jim Sturgess, in the movie 21.
- Actually, the entire blackjack team falls under this trope.
A variation of this was also done in the Life Time Movie Of The Week Where The Heart Is where Natalie Portman's character falls for the "library guy".
Catherine Banning (Rene Russo) in the late 90s remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair" starring Pierce Brosnan. She's an insurance investigator who hunts down art thieves. The audience's introduction to her starts with her legs. Here is evidence of her hotness, but the video may be NSFW depending on how uptight your coworkers are. Yes, she is wearing nothing under that dress.

Literature

In The Hunt For Red October, it is stated that Jones, the sonar technician of the USS Dallas, because of his nerdy looks and knowledge, gets enough action on the beach to "wear down a squad of marines".
Princess Marya in War And Peace. Her eyes are described as being most beautiful whenever she smiles, but otherwise she's quite plain and Nikolai has no clue at first why he likes her.

Live Action TV

Doctor Who as portrayed by David Tennant, known for his Geek Chic suit, tennis sneakers and glasses. He's the first actor to play the role who has so far been popular enough to challenge Tom Baker for the title of Best Doctor Ever.
- Arguably Peter Davison's Doctor as well.
Project Runway Season 5. Two words: Leanne Marshall.
Smallville's Chloe Sullivan definitely falls under this trope. Also helped by the fact that the main Love Interest doubles as The Wesley and the actress playing Chloe is at worst Hollywood Homely.
- Seriously, the actress has made it onto one or two "Hottest 100 celebrities," lists. Not bad for a supporting actress on Smallville.
The Myth Busters. Kari notwithstanding.
- Kari is still a nerd. And damn sexy. So she still counts.
- This troper has been told that someone finds both the Mythbusters and Alton Brown of Good Eats sexy, specifically because of their nerdiness. Yes, even Grant.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Although Xander, Willow, and Wesley are all sexy nerds in their way, it's Giles who's sexy because he's a nerd. Or, as a love interest put it, "a sexy fuddy-duddy".
- Played with later in the series when Xander comments that smart girls are hot, and Willow who at that point is a lesbian mournfully asks him why he couldn't have figured that out when they were in 10th grade (i.e. during the time Willow had the hots for Xander).
  - 'Cause heaven forfend she not still be interested.
Stargate SG-1 presents an alternate-reality episode in which Samantha Carter is a frumpy, awkward nerd. Alternate O'Neill still thinks she's hot.
- An earlier Parallel universe introduces Doctor Carter, where she didn't join the Air Force. Being a long haired Nerd not in the military means the USMCJ doesn't apply. So the Cannon Ship goes all the way, with O'Neill and Carter being married. At least till Alternative O'Neill got blown up.
On NUMB3RS, Charlie asks Amita on their first date after she solves a particularly tricky mathematical analysis. Later they find out that math is really all they have to talk about, but this doesn't seem to be a problem since they're still together.
- And FBI agent Megan has a relationship with professor Larry.
CSI New York- Lindsay Monroe has a relationship with Danny. Stella attracts stalkers.
Drake And Josh: One of Drake's earliest Girls Of The Week.
- And now that Josh Peck has hit himself with the pretty stick...

Real Life

Real Life example: Hannah Arendt.
- And Tina Fey. She's arguably several times hotter with her glasses on, and I don't know why.

Video Games

Gordon Freeman. Even Action Girl Alyx Vance gets shy around him.
Most Harvest Moon games have a librarian or some other girl with glasses as a potential bride. Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is the only one that has a girl with glasses that you can't marry. This editor does not think it is a coincidence that it's also amongst the lowest-regarded in the series.
Nerdy to the core, being both an engineer AND an anime otaku, Otacon of the Metal Gear series is a profoundly woobie fan favorite. He swaps out his glasses for contacts halfway through Metal Gear Solid 4, but since he does so for such an endearingly nerdy reason (a pretty girl told him to!) this doesn't bother many people (it helps that a big part of his character development is swapping the contacts back for glasses). With his glasses on, it should be noted that even his step-sister wants a piece of him.

Webcomics

After finding out about this, Jason Fox once tried to make himself as least nerdy as possible because Girls Have Cooties.
Alice from Loserz thinks so. See this strip.
- And Adam from the same strip actually is a sexy nerd (although he usually hides it - being a gaming nerd, not being sexy). See here.
Tales Of MU takes this to the logical extreme — Amaranth is a physically perfect nymph, naked except for her glasses, who believes in science in a world of magic-based technology. Beyond the mere nudism, nymphs in MU follow the more open version in regards to sex and sexuality (the ultimate origin of the term nymphomania) — although Amaranth treats it as an enjoyable part time job / chore more than anything.
- It's later discovered this is because of a teenage geek messing with the process that created her, creating the ultimate geek fantasy girl — a confident, polite nudist who will put up with ANYTHING and literally can't get enough sex. Oh, and she's a geek, too. Unfortunately, he was too shy to talk to her afterwards, which left her in the dark about the whole thing.