I'm sure good looks do carry a competitive advantage, although I suppose presenting the information in an easy to understand format is far more important. Back when Jeri Ellsworth was making videos, her looks were a very significant part of her fame.
Being female and having looks does make for a competitive advantage in terms of media exposure.
For example, Jeri would never have gotten those articles written about her if she wasn't a compelling "story" to the media. Never would have happened to a fat nerdy male MIT graduate who did the exact same stuff, as there is no "story" there.
But Jeri's success was in large part to her fairly unique content.
Similar thing with Limor Freid and her pink hair and piercings, it creates a compelling media narrative.
Taking nothing away from either of course in their ability and success and hard work etc. But there is an advantage in having a compelling story, that's just the way the media works.
Namomi has (had?) that too, although not nearly as remotely talented as Jeri & Limor, she's pretty much relying on her extreme looks and uniqueness. And hey, there is a market for that too, but it's not the same market as most technical people on here are into.
But when it comes to success on Youtube it's a brutal and fairly level playing field, and being female and having looks often accounts for very little. You are selling your content to the individual in a crowded market, not to a magazine that wants a nice juicy front cover photo and story.
Naomi does go the extreme though, so that's a market right there as she has found. Shame she has seemingly tossed it all away.
It seems like there's a certain sense of sadness when a beautiful woman in technology goes largely out of view of the general public.
Whats beauty got to do with it?