In his book Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them, David Anderegg uses an episode of Seinfeld, titled “The Abstinence,” to make an argument about nerds and sex, called the Seinfeld axiom. His argument states that the absence of sex in George's life, caused by his girlfriend's mononucleosis, has actually made him smarter and when he finally has sex at the end of the episode and loses touch with his new acquaintances, that it was sex that caused him to become "stupid" again. However, deeper into the episode, Anderegg blatantly ignores that a second main character, Elaine, faces withdrawal with opposite effects. Instead of gaining intelligence, he begins to lose it until he can no longer concentrate on anything. Looking at the evidence from the episode, it is clear that abstinence played a limited role in the rise and fall of intellect. As George and Elaine were stimulated by knowledge while in withdrawal, it was George who became smarter because he was stimulated by the knowledge he already had while Elaine faced new information with little or no value to her. The analysis of the episode begins with understanding George and his intelligence levels before his abstinence. Throughout the first season of the show it is established that George is at least moderately intelligent, although his laziness may be to blame for his inability to do anything with this intelligence. In "The Abstinence", the episode opens with George being given his six-week abstinence sentence while his girlfriend is still contagious from mononucleosis. For a sexually driven man like George, something that doesn't seem to fit with most depictions of a nerd to begin with, this is met with an apparent lack of enthusiasm and seems like something... middle of paper... . ...and therefore have no role in nerds and sex. The goal is to understand how pop culture portrays nerds and sex, and how these portrayals influence how nerds view sex and how their peers view them in a sexual context. This episode also raises questions about ideas of gender and race, as well as the role they play in the sexualization of nerds. Understanding these ideas will lead to a better understanding of how nerds are misrepresented in pop culture as asexual beings and how this impacts the lives they live. Works Cited "Abstinence". Seinfeld, NBC. NBC, New York. November 21, 1996. Television “The Café”. Seinfeld, NBC. NBC, New York. November 06, 1991. Television "Qualifying Test Scores." American canteen. American Mensa, Ltd., nd Web. March 24. 2012.Anderegg, David. Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.