Nerd Girls Save The World: 17 Of Pop Culture’s Greatest Female Geeks

Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) as President in a flash-forward episode of The Simpsons (Image via 20th Century Fox)

5. Lisa Simpson (The Simpsons)

Oh, Lisa Simpson. For many of us, she’s the ur-nerd girl, the first one we ever encountered (apart from the one in the mirror, of course). Lisa Simpson is so close to home that the similarities can be eerie, especially considering she lives in a world where bright yellow skin and blue hair is normal. If you’ve ever been teased for reading too much, for showing off your smarts, or if your own passion, earnestness, and naivete have combined disastrously – well, then it must have seemed like it was you up there on the television screen.

In the world of The Simpsons, Lisa (voiced by Yeardley Smith) is an anomaly. Her father, Homer, is a loveable, if idiotic, doofus. Her mom Marge is no intellectual slouch, but she’s often more focused on appeasement and conformity than intellectualism. Older brother Bart can be pretty smart (depending on who’s doing the writing) but he’s more likely to take his wit on a more destructive path. Baby Maggie is, well, still a baby.

So, Lisa often stands alone. Despite this, she’s very vocal about her beliefs and tends to push forward with acting on them even if they’re not the wisest step. For example, in “Lisa the Vegetarian”, she stops eating meat after bonding with a lamb at a petting zoo. In “Lisa the Iconoclast”, she learns that Springfield’s founder, Jebediah Springfield, was actually a common criminal. She tries to bring the truth to her town but, at the last moment, realizes that the truth might not be the best solution.

It’s nice to see a female character who, despite being kind of preachy, isn’t continually lambasted for her gender or her intellect. The Simpsons celebrates Lisa as much as it makes fun of her.