I mentioned this in ancillary and in the weblog--why do boys seem to find dumb girls so endearing and charming? Is there a reason for that? Please, enlighten me. I'm really dying to know why dumb girls are so damn captivating.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Answers

It's usually because dumb girls are cute - but that wears off after awhile.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Simply put, it's because boys are suckers for attention and adoration, just like the rest of us. All they see is that this girl likes them, and not that her IQ is smaller than her shoe size (or bust size)! But I think John's right, they get over it. It's hard to spend large amounts of time with a stupid girl. I'm with you Nanette... death to stupid girls!

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

I think guys find dumb girls much more endearing than smart girls acting dumb, or thinking they have to, and then resenting themselves and the men around them who ostensibly forced them into acting dumb. After all, if noone liked dumb girls, there would be many lonely dumb girls who are otherwise nice and good and sweet and just don't have the candlepower to compete with the likes of you. Certainly you're not saying that would be optimal? I'm sure you have plenty of geeky admirers, so what's wrong with the unsharp ladies around you getting theirs?

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

I don't think that dumb girls don't deserve to have people like them...it just irritates me when boys who are otherwise smart find their dumb act so endearing. Part of this may just be my own cranky jealousy slapping me in the face, part of it is just that I don't see why any boy with brains would want to have anything to do with girls who giggle and say crap like "I hate math! It's hard!"

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

I hate math. It's hard.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

I find most people have at least one endearing (nonphysical) trait, so you can use that excuse to date a person for a long time.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Some dumb girls may be smart in other things besides school and high culture.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Haha! Nanette, you couldn't have said it any better. I don't think dumb girls know what boundries are. Example of smart girl: Oh, cuteboy has a girlfriend so he is off limits. Example of dumb girl: Uhm, hehe, I like puppies. Wanna go get a drink?

I also think it is important to recognize that there are dumb boys also. Dumb boys are the ones that fall for it.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Dumb girls aren't smart enough to know not to date me.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

many men want the fantasy- the beach bunny, the dancer, the fish- market worker, the cheerleader. dumb, vapid girls often allow the men to assert their fantasy over their real personality. dumb girls are not necessarily just dumb as far as intelligence, but more aptly, in the way they choose not to speak for themselves. thy seek approval and will do what's necessary to get it. it's a very dysfunctional relationship which happens all the time- guy meets meek, "dumb" girl, looks at tits, thinks about upskirt panty shots, encourages girl to wear skirts, great sex entails, girl helps fantasy, they get married, pump out many rugrats, gir's ass begins to hang out of her bloomers, fantasy dies, man seeks replacement and cheats.

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

unfortunately, and i hate to even say it, 9 out of 10 times i think it's based on appearances alone. think about it - have you ever seen an intelligent guy with a dumb, but ugly, girl? nope. (the dumb *and* ugly girls have to settle for the dumb and ugly guys i guess) when you see this pairing it's always some guy that, at least prior to seeing them in dumb girl mode, you thought was intelligent, possibly attractive. the girl on their arm is always at least cute, occasionally a knockout, and she always looks at him like he's god. that's the attraction: the typical male dream is the bombshell on his arm that simply *adores* him and makes it clear to everyone around them that she adores him. this could also be the reason guys are threatened by smart girls - i know very few smart girls who would act this way. of course, this is a gross generalization and only my opinion too. maybe guys are just all secretly dumb and they want someone to share that.

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

Dumb girls are appealing because they aren't threatening. Smart girls challenge the man's pride, ego and intelligence. With a dumb girl, the man can feel like he's superior to her on some level. It makes him feel like he has the upper hand, which most men like. Often, girls who dumb themselves down have so little confidence in themselves that they feel like the only way they can secure a man's affections is by being a subservient dolt.

That's just my take.

Personally, I prefer the woman to be at least as smart as I am (hahaha, that sounds pretty vain). That way we're on the same level and have more to talk about than the Gap and the Backstreet Boys.

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

Ahem...

"Dunb Girls" I think can be further defined by saying instead, girls who have NO RESPECT. Fer instance, you might decide that I'm a "dumb girl" because math mystifies me when you take away my calculator, but that doesn't say that I'm not bright in other areas. (Screw all you math dweebs, anyways...)

However, girls/women/teens/grannys/babes/chicks/females/insert-femme- noun-here who refuse to display a positive image of, not only themselves, but females in general, enrage me.

"I can't lift that box 'cause I'm a *girl* >insert flash of tit here>," versus "I can't lift that box 'cause I'm a friggin wimp," are two entirely different things.

"I can't balance my checkbook 'cause it's just too *HARD* >inseret suggestive maybe-promise of sex<," versus "Fucking math; can you show me whant the hell I'm supposed to be doing here," are two entirely different things.

Using one's sexuality/beauty/scent-of-one's-cunt to derive personal benefit, especially when not being forthright about the motive of such, is obviously not showing respect for oneself, but also shows no respect for ME.

Setting the stereotype that all women have deceptive motives, or are stupid, or are conniving bitches shows no respect for anyone. Not me, as an intelligent, up-front, honest, non-snatch-waving woman, but it also doesn't show any respect for the snatch-wavee. It purports that the wavee (if you will) is too stupid to have an interest in an intelligent woman.

Someone can have a low IQ and not be an outdated stereotype enabler, or worse yet, an outdated stereotype ABUSER, because THAT is what a stupid girl is.

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

I think we should make a stirng of favorite (read: most irritating) dumb girl traits.

My personal fav:

Penised-Prey: blah blah blah, leads conversation away from topics about dumb girl (maybe even a foray into intelligent conversation!).

DG: obvious cute/witty remark, usually trite, tired or cliche, and accompanited by cleavage flash, prolonged elbow- or knee-touch, etc. Generally UN-funny.

Followed by a L-O-O-O-O-N-G silent, eye-batting pause, where DG coyly grooms herself while waiting on applause, a pat on the head, or a marriage offer because she is so fucking cute/witty.

Pardon my bitchiness... my company just hired a snatch-waver that I must work with closely... That is, when I can beat the resident dogs away from sniffing her stanky crotch.

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

When your IQ rates in the 95+ percentile damn near every girl is a dumb girl. After a while you stop trying to figure out just how dumb any one person is and you put up with them all.

Thank God for smart girls like YOU Nanette... You sweet thing you...

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2000

i personally don't go for dumb girls. and i think guys get pegged as dumb-girl chasers a lot of times...but no guy (and i mean NO guy) wants to spend the rest of his life with a dumb girl. actually, i don't know one guy who chases dumb girls. i think smart, non-dumb-girl-chasing guys are in the majority as a matter of fact. hope that clears this issue up.

-bunbury

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2000

I would never be with a dumb girl. I'd much rather have the average- looking witty, smart girl, than the gorgeous girl with no brain.

...not that I could have either if I tried. heh

-- Anonymous, February 05, 2001

I think dumb girls are inherently easier to pick up. going with the theory that most men just want to get laid, dumb girls are preferred over smart girls. captivating, maybe not, but easy to get into their pants, yes.

-wank

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001

dumb girls???? no reason, no accountability. bingo.

hope all is well, wargo.

zach

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2001

I want to know why girls of average intellegence who are unattractive (at best) always find it necassary to ridicule girls who may not be as "bright". I'd like to see this standardized test that dictates smarts and looks at the same time. It seems to me that girls who ended up on the bottom shelf of the looks department are always trying to tell us how much smarter they are than every good looking girl out there. Only the girls with real small breasts or incredibly saggy breats tell me how much the real thing is better than the fake. Girls with great real breasts don't think about the other's. Smart girls who are beautiful don't bother with an I.Q. test for other women to figure out why they don't have a date this weekend. They are already out.

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2001

I work with a younger girl, 18 , I'm 25, who is just not that great of a person, she isn't that bright, isn't that kind, isn't that understanding, thinks she is all of these things i'm sure. Foremost,this bauble, walks around in an entirely inapropriate strut of total superiority, that could only have come about by means of her vanity as she clearly has nothing else about her of to offer the world.She really isnt all that good looking, but spends ,quite obviously, alot of time in the mirror emulating whatever forms of beauty pop culture has permeated her with the necessty to fulful her capacity as a grrrrl by imitating, in other words ,skank,breast implant recipient in the making.I feel sort of bad about how strongly i have disliked her from the very first glance, i think it's assumed i dont like her because i cant have her and i of course need her with every fiber if my being, how could i not with all those maybeline products bonded to her. BUt the truth is i hate her, what she represents, because she is false, she i s a lie that she uses those around her to propogate, i am a tool for her version of herself,as is every other man she can get a glance form and every less assertive girl than herself.That said i dont think she is a bad person just a very, very deluded one..

I see it every day, you dont have to be a great person, or care or learn or grow, or understand, you don thave to do anything but remind other homo sapiens that they enjoy sex, and age,and perhaps breed because you never learned any better.

fine, just dont take it from me

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2002

dumb girls r free spirited....i like that. guys have to act stong to get ahead in life. guys cant get ahead acting dumb. a dumb girl on the otherhand can get ahead by acting dumb(attracting strong successfull guy that will take care of her, or she can choose the other route by educating herself becoming smart successfull. if i was a chic id choose the dumb careless route sounds much more blissful..like always my opinion is the best

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2002

I agree with the ego thing. If a girl acts dumb, it makes the guy want to show off all his wonderful intelligence to her, as everyone likes an attentive audience. The rest of this idea has already been said.

As for me, I would not go for anyone I could not respect. Do most boys find dumb girls attractive? How many of those boys are themselves not that intelligent? It might all just be a coincidence :)

-- Anonymous, March 21, 2002