Women: intelligent, secure, and self-assured. In this decade, women are socially conditioned by men to shut-off the intelligence that defines them, due to the insecure, ego-obsessed and dominant male presence in this society.
In Wednesday’s, edition of the New York Times, I came across an article by Maureen Dowd titled “The Baby Bust.”
In this article, I read a sickening fact. Women interviewed said that they have to “hide the fact that they go to Harvard from guys they meet, because it’s the kiss of death. ‘The H-bomb,’ they call it.”
I find it pathetic that men find it hard to deal with intelligent women.
Why is it that men always seem to be more attracted to girls who wear mini-skirts and mid-driff tops rather than business suits and brief cases?
Perhaps, male insecurity?
It seems that for most men, a well-toned body beats a well-educated mind. But why?
Are men afraid they will not be able to win an argument; that the dominance of a man is at risk because of the increase in successful, professional women?
Are men worried that women will surpass the standards that have been set by men throughout history?
Or are men just worried that the cat has been let out of the bag and the secret that women really are smarter than men has been leaked out?
For me, it is proof that men are insecure with the ever-changing role of men and women in society, and the threat of a flip of “power” between the sexes.
However, I will be realistic.
I have known many superficial women in my day also. I know plenty of women that prefer six pack abs to a self-assured, intelligent man with a hint of a spare tire.
I too am even guilty of dropping my jaw at the sight of a toned, bronze tan body, and striking white smile, however looks only last for so long. Sooner or later the dull conversations between my personal Abercrombie model and I will disintegrate into a need for stimulating conversations, brains vs. brawn.
I am not trying to say that all intelligent people are unattractive.
I know many that would make People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” issue. (Katie Couric, Cindy Crawford, etc). It just seems that in today’s society we speak more about a person’s beauty rather than their ‘Beautiful Mind.’
What it comes down to is the fact that some men think that when a woman stands up for herself on such things as, equal rights and equal pay, they tend to take the immediate defense.
These insecure men throw around words like man-hater, femi-nazi, and often times question a woman’s sexual orientation. And by doing this so frequently, men are showing their own ignorance. All because women are taking charge, and men are simply afraid.
From World War II until now women have been on the rise, while men stand baffled in the background, questioning why the sudden empowerment. And women have to explain that independence begins with I.
So to the men out there who believe that women should still stand barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, I offer this piece of advice:
Show a woman respect, value her intelligence and appreciate what being a woman stands for. Women are not living in the past, they are living in the here and now. Appreciate them because of, not in spite of their strength.
Amanda Stutevoss, a junior communications major, is sports editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at astute4@aol.com.
