Study Shows Men Can’t Deal With Women Who Are Smarter Than Them

According to a study performed by the University of Buffalo, California Lutheran University, and the University of Texas, men can’t deal with a girlfriend who might be smarter than them. The study went like this: 105 men were asked hypothetical questions about women they might find desirable. Many of them trended towards liking women who were smarter than them, outscoring them in math and English tests.

But when the time came to actually meet these women, the men did the opposite—they claimed to find the more intelligent women unattractive.

I can hear you asking now: why? The researchers told The Independent that it mostly came down to one thing: ego. They found that “feelings of diminished masculinity accounted for men’s decreased attraction toward women who outperformed them.”

Hm. Guess masculinity is pretty fragile.

(via AskMen, image via Shutterstock)

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Jessica Lachenal

Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.

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