Eh, alert

[cleolinda]

Again, since y'all seemed desperate to get some: Twilight reviews are starting to come in (updated Fandom Lounge entry). Here's one from The Chicagoist, courtesy of my friend Marcus. And Roger Ebert just barely gives it a thumbs up. What I'm getting out of this is that it's not going to set the non-believers alight with cinematic fire, but fans are

Comments

[diddakoi]

This is a wee bit off topic, but: I was reading a comic way back in the archives of Head Trip, and it was about Mallory more or less beating a mother who was teaching a little girl that 'boys don't like girls who read big books.'

This made me wonder -- are guys actually intimidated by smart women? Do they really find intelligence unattractive, or is that one of those outdated fallacies? I was wondering if you could put that question out to the readership, although I don't know how many men read this. (I had always assumed lj was pretty girl dominated.) I'll ask my guy friends, but as grad students surrounded by smart women they're probably a biased sample.

[spectralbovine]

I am a guy! And I find intelligence very attractive! Perhaps to a fault: I'm irritated if I'm browsing a girl's Facebook profile and she can't even spell the names of her favorite TV shows/books/movies right (...or if they're all vapid and uninteresting, of course). Even if they're lovely people to hang out with and I crush on them in person.

I may be a biased sample too since I've generally only hung out with smart women, you know? I was in the honors classes; I went to a good college; I went to grad school.

I would definitely like a smart woman to engage in lively conversations with. I think that if a woman were obviously way smarter than I was, I would be a little intimidated, but I also think that's awesome and attractive. Besides, everyone has different fields of intelligence, so we can just share information. While making out.

[diddakoi]

Good to know :D

[pop_tothepeople]

That is wonderful to know, you have no idea. (I like your LJ, btw, I may lurk there from now on)

Yes, but from my (very limited) experience, I've seen guys who like to say "Oh, I prefer smart women!", when given a choice between a hot-but-ditzy-girl and a smart girl, choose the hot girl. Even if the other one was pretty, just not in that "huge boobs" kinda way.

[spectralbovine]

Hello, lurker! Glad you enjoy my journal.

I will not deny that sometimes I am ruled by my other head. But it's not a lasting thing. Which I guess is like girls saying that, sure, they're attracted to the bad boys but they really want a nice guy to settle down with.

[pop_tothepeople]

Yes, that does make sense. I guess that doesn't suck as bad.

[cleolinda]

Hmm... that is interesting. Although the impression I've always got is that the guys who are intimidated feel that way more because they're scared of being shot down than because they actually find it unattractive. I got told in high school by a guy friend that another guy had wanted to ask me out a couple of years before, and the guy friend said, "I told him not to bother, you're too smart to want to go out with him" (!!!).

[diddakoi]

Hmm, that's interesting. So it's more positive than being turned off by intelligence, but the end effect is still pretty much the same.

[cleolinda]

Yeah, which sucks. But that's generally what I've found--it's not that guys don't like intelligence, it's that it makes them feel like they're not good enough to go out on a limb. The last time I even went out with someone, it was because I made the move.

[brightlotusmoon]

I had something similar happen during my high school years. Even though I was considered "weird" and "bookwormy" (I was the school's most prominent writer as well), and "outcast," it turns out several popular boys had wanted to date me. But, apparently, they were scared of my intelligence. *blink*

I do remember one time when one of the most popular, attractive boys sat next to me in the school library and started asking me about the world mythology book I was reading. He said, "Talk naturally; don't dumb it down. Be smart!" And so I did. And he listened, rapt, head on his hand with elbow on the table, and said, "You know, you should be more confident. You have so much to offer but you're too shy to show it. Screw those idiots for making fun of you. You've got a beautiful mind."
When we all graduated, he signed my yearbook with, "I will always remember you as the goddess of mytholgy and writing!"

[promise19]

What a lovely story! I'm sure it makes a lovely memory as well. :-)

[brightlotusmoon]

It does. :) I remember it when I'm having bad confidence days.

[lovefromgirl]

My answer is... fourth or fifth, I think, on Cleo's PSA about your question. Short version: only the immature guys. The good ones embrace our brains.

[januaried]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm one of those girls who read big books, and my unofficial fiance finds my intelligence extremely attractive. Then again, perhaps he isn't intimidated because he's one of those people too. *shrugs*

[jubilantia]

I've definitely run into the guys-intimidated-by-intelligence thing. The weird thing is, plenty of them have been as intelligent as I am, but they simply aren't as confident. In my limited experience, a lot of guys have huge, fragile egos, and they're just as afraid of being turned down as we are. I've also noticed that some girls try to act less smart than they really are around guys, maybe even unconsciously, to boost said ego. I also think it's kind of "in style" right now to think bimbo-ess is attractive a la Paris Hilton (*twitch twitch argh*) but I think that guys will say they follow to "be cool", but don't really.

And if they do follow it, then they aren't worth it. But I think those are the exception, rather than the rule. I think if a guy honestly can't handle being around you if you're smart, than he needs to be avoided like the plague. Anyway, I ran into this a little on my undergrad campus; in my observation, intelligent women are more attractive to guys.