[Kimberly-B]

Why do some men assume attractive women are not intelligent?
Original Code GE124. Click here to see responses from the original archives. Click "to respond" below to reply.

User Detail :  

Name : Kimberly-B, Gender : F, Age : 20, City : Temecula, State : CA Country : United States, 

[Ken]

My definitely unscientific theory is that the reason some men think that way is that some women play up that stereotype. There are more than a few 'beautiful' women (and I'm sure you know a couple) who have been told all their lives how good-looking they are and discovered their looks have gotten them a lot of attention and things they want, moreso than their brains. I have seen 'beautiful' women use that shy, coy, 'Oh, gee, I don't know how this works, help me you big, strong man' stuff to get their way. So I guess men are just responding to what they have seen and heard. And other 'beautiful' women who are intelligent, funny, etc. suffer for it. I wonder if some women think 'good-looking' men are kind of dense as well...

User Detail :  

Name : Ken, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 32, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : marketing, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[binh bui]

I've (almost) never assumed that attractive women were unintelligent, but social psychology tells us that it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. An attractive girl/woman in our society gets more breaks - and therefore has to do less, such as study less, think less, be less, to get by. Attractiveness goes far, so the person doesn't. That means some attractive people don't ever bother pushing their potential, sadly relying on their looks alone. However, to assume attractiveness and lack of intelligence go hand in hand is inexcusable. In fact, the valedictorians of my high school and college were both attractive women whom I wouldn't be able to stand toe to toe with. But I'd still try. "Don't chase women smarter than me," I was told, "because you won't catch them, or worse, you might!"

User Detail :  

Name : binh bui, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 25, City : San Diego, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[David26038]

Assuming that by attractive you mean pretty (dumb is not an attractive quality to me), in my opinion it is from the generalization that attractive women have always been able to rely on their physical attributes to have other people do things for them, and so they have never had to fight and struggle for whatever they need, be it a mate, job or any other kind of acceptance. If you're plain, you have to develop smarts, personality or whatever else to level the playing field. That takes effort. And with that comes character. If a pretty girl took advantage of her beauty in high school and never had to put forth any effort (relying on a gaggle of boys to do her homework for her, do the majority of the science project, etc.) it would catch up with her later in life.

Having said that, good looks are hardly detrimental. I have never heard of someone saying that, all else being equal, he or she would never date/hire/befriend anyone because they were just too darned good looking.

User Detail :  

Name : David26038, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Religion : Episcopalian, City : San Antonio, State : TX Country : United States, Occupation : Independent investor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Matthew S.]

In life, most people learn to use whatever they can to make their life more enjoyable and comfortable. Just as many male athletes get positive attention and a great deal of money because they can run a 4.3 40 or throw a 100 mph fastball in spite of not knowing the capital of their home state, it is possible for a an attractive female to get by on looks alone. An attractive female can start to figure this out quite early (early teens) and may never make the effort to develop any significant mental capability because it just isn't required. Since humans, by nature, often take the path of least resistance, it only makes sense that if you can get by on looks without doing any work, you might as well do it. Since that is what most of us would do if we could, we assume that someone who could probably is.

User Detail :  

Name : Matthew S., City : San Antonio, State : TX Country : United States, 

[Greg-Donaldson]

All hot chicks are stupid...that's just elementary.

User Detail :  

Name : Greg-Donaldson, City : Sterling Heights, State : MI Country : United States, 

[Cheston]

Because beautiful women have a natural power over men, and men usually know that deep inside of them (usually unsconciously, differently from women), they cannot (consciously) bear the fact that they are also intelligent, which would also challenge them. It's as if women could have only one advantage over men - good looks or brains. If she has both, there's nothing left for the men. The fact that your post has been unanswered for so long 'could' indicate the difficulty it is for many men to realize what I've written.

User Detail :  

Name : Cheston, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Religious Science, Age : 23, City : Belo Horizonte, State : NA Country : Brazil, Occupation : Biologist, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Sarah28598]

I think the thought that a women couldn't possibly be smart if she's a knockout has a lot to do with the media. Look around at all of the TV shows and movies, every time there is an attractive women she is filling the role of the ditz.

User Detail :  

Name : Sarah28598, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 19, City : Cedar Rapids, State : IA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, 

[Author]

Posts