I was musing on this the other day (beware; anecdote alert!). I went out for some drinks with a friend of mine from a long time ago - he is certainly not the sharpest of individuals, but a laugh and good fun in small doses (even if a lot of the jokes include farts :S).
For some reason he is also constantly surrounded by very attractive women. I've seen him out and about before and thought "I'd like to have some of that!". But my first impression when we were hanging out was that all these girls shared two things in common - good looks and zero intelligence. Most of the fart jokes came from them.
Which was a bit of a shock!
It took me a while to figure out that most of them weren't actually thick. I managed to have a conversation with one of them later on; and found she was a psychology graduate (one of my favourite pet interests :)), had even published a research paper on her work. Which was just confusing... there was this smart good looking girl, and she was hanging around acting thick.
Then I worked it out... they were acting as they were expected to (either by our perception or theirs) on a night out; shove on the lipstick, revert to street talk, laugh at fart jokes and play dumb around the men. The psychologist actually even said this about her career (paraphrasing): "oh.. well I never really tell people that, it puts them off".
Which is just a fucking sad reflection on society.
Then I worked it out... they were acting as they were expected to (either by our perception or theirs) on a night out; shove on the lipstick, revert to street talk, laugh at fart jokes and play dumb around the men.
I'm think, like me, you're British :-) So you probably know that British men generally go out and do exactly the same thing (minus the lipstick). The average British bloke on a night out is, unless he's on the pull, as dumb as a rock, generally rat-arsed and talking total bollocks with his mates ;-)
Dumbing down on a night out isn't a gender-based pursuit.
Your conclusion is that they were acting the way they were expected to - which is certainly possible. I'm not sure. But I don't think you considered another possibility, which is this night out was a release, and it was refreshing to go out and not think deep thoughts. Or, in other words, to go out and have fun.
Yes, when you're with good friends you know well, you can seamlessly go back and forth between serious conversation and fun, goofing around conversation. But when you're around new people, and you want to have a good time, I think we (as a species) tend towards goofing around conversation. If I've been working a lot, a night out where I don't think Deep Thoughts is exactly what I want.
And for the record, I tend not to go into too much detail about my work unless I'm seriously prodded because, really, what I do is boring to most people.
For some reason he is also constantly surrounded by very attractive women.
"Some reason" is that he projects confidence and high social status. IQ scores don't really enter into it.
Which was just confusing... there was this smart good looking girl, and she was hanging around acting thick.
Note that she was hanging out with him, not you, even though you would appreciate her intelligence. She's not acting dumb to attract men in general, she's acting dumb to attract men that she finds attractive.
It's one of the shameful effects of living in a society purely based one image. Most guys I know (anecdotal) love women that have brains, as do I. Studies dictate that men prefer women that are above average weight to below average weight. However, magazines tell us women need to be celebrity absorbed, stick thin bimbos who are utter bullshit. Why? Because that demographic is easier to sell to.
I could recount similar anecdotes, I think there is a lot to be said for the way that women who put their intelligence on display are treated. A talented intelligent male with an ego is regarded as a condescending elitist genius, but the same traits ascribed to a female makes her an intolerable bitch.
That is such a stereotype. If you are genuinely nice and intelligent, I can assure you that men would be very eager to battle their wits against yours. Most women just don't hold up to their own claims and they see such "attacks" as personal ; but the reality is that men are suddenly treating you as equal and you don't like it. Men do not discard a valuable member of a team just because of gender, that is ridiculous.
In my experience women are more prone to claiming intelligence despite actual intelligence. Please be aware that I do not claim to be intelligent myself. In fact, I'm pretty darn stupid. It just makes it that much more apparent when I'm faced with such claims.
Perhaps some nice and intelligent women don't care to battle their wits against others to prove their intelligence. Such arguments are often tedious, use baseless arguments, and leave others out of the conversation.
For some reason he is also constantly surrounded by very attractive women. I've seen him out and about before and thought "I'd like to have some of that!". But my first impression when we were hanging out was that all these girls shared two things in common - good looks and zero intelligence. Most of the fart jokes came from them.
Which was a bit of a shock!
It took me a while to figure out that most of them weren't actually thick. I managed to have a conversation with one of them later on; and found she was a psychology graduate (one of my favourite pet interests :)), had even published a research paper on her work. Which was just confusing... there was this smart good looking girl, and she was hanging around acting thick.
Then I worked it out... they were acting as they were expected to (either by our perception or theirs) on a night out; shove on the lipstick, revert to street talk, laugh at fart jokes and play dumb around the men. The psychologist actually even said this about her career (paraphrasing): "oh.. well I never really tell people that, it puts them off".
Which is just a fucking sad reflection on society.