Beauty and the Brain

[Lanolin]

What do you think/believe about this trope.
Women are beautiful, but don't necessarily have brains. We all know what the blonde airhead stereotype is.
Do men really think that women are just not that smart? Why do they lie to us?

Isn't there a proverb about this somewhere.

So ladies, what do you think..how important is beauty. What about brains?
Men can look scruffy and be slobs, but for women this is taboo. Being female requires a lot of maintenance. We must at all times look pleasing and beautiful so men can look at us.
Men can be foolish but women are easily fooled. It's in the Bible right from Adam and Eve.
Women are denied education and the vote for centuries.

I don't mean to be a raging feminist, I just live in a time where women have basically been emancipated. It wasn't too long ago that women were bound and chained. So I don't take this for granted. It's just interesting how times have changed. I remember when Girls just wanna have fun to the present day when we still don't have 'pay parity' and equality is like a pipe dream. When we find it, it seems like the goal always shifts.

It was Christian women who led the Temperance movement. But men still found a way to drink and control and beat up their wives. So who are the smart women here?

 

[Lynx]

What do you think/believe about this trope.
Women are beautiful, but don't necessarily have brains. We all know what the blonde airhead stereotype is.
Do men really think that women are just not that smart? Why do they lie to us?

Isn't there a proverb about this somewhere.

So ladies, what do you think..how important is beauty. What about brains?
Men can look scruffy and be slobs, but for women this is taboo. Being female requires a lot of maintenance. We must at all times look pleasing and beautiful so men can look at us.
Men can be foolish but women are easily fooled. It's in the Bible right from Adam and Eve.
Women are denied education and the vote for centuries.

I don't mean to be a raging feminist, I just live in a time where women have basically been emancipated. It wasn't too long ago that women were bound and chained. So I don't take this for granted. It's just interesting how times have changed. I remember when Girls just wanna have fun to the present day when we still don't have 'pay parity' and equality is like a pipe dream. When we find it, it seems like the goal always shifts.

It was Christian women who led the Temperance movement. But men still found a way to drink and control and beat up their wives. So who are the smart women here?

Beauty or brains? What about eyes? I think eyes are more important than either of those.

Like, anybody could use their eyes and look around and see that very few people these days hold this stereotype you mentioned.

In fact the only way to really think this stereotype is still a thing would be if you have been using your eyes only to watch movies from the 1950s.

 

[tourist]

My wife is legally blond, yet she is very intelligent.

 

[tourist]

It was Christian women who led the Temperance movement. But men still found a way to drink and control and beat up their wives. So who are the smart women here?

The smart women are the ones that don't marry abusive alcoholics thinking that they are going to change them.

 

[Lanolin]

The smart women are the ones that don't marry abusive alcoholics thinking that they are going to change them.

Exactly

 

[Lanolin]

Beauty or brains? What about eyes? I think eyes are more important than either of those.

Like, anybody could use their eyes and look around and see that very few people these days hold this stereotype you mentioned.

In fact the only way to really think this stereotype is still a thing would be if you have been using your eyes only to watch movies from the 1950s.

Er 1950s that was before I was born, haha
You don't remember the 90s? Supermodels drugged out on cocaine was a thing. People took pictures of them and put them in magazines.
Thank God everyone now appreciates smart women now. In 2026.
Though I still think some people were abusive to female leaders like say for example Jacinda Ardern. Loved by the young, despised by old men for her looks. They didn't say to her face, but they sure thought it. Though nobody was smart about covid really there was nothing that could be forseen.
However baby boomers are the majority like it or not and they often hold to those outdated views. And they are still in our churches and various sects that call themselves 'Christian' That attitude has been around for thousands of years....

 

[Lanolin]

I think those that married in haste repented at leisure.
Also...hell hath no fury like a scorned woman. I don't know where that comes from but if you've been scorned, (maybe for someone younger? and supposedly better looking? ) it's not a good feeling.

I guess men don't know what that's like, because they've never been judged on their looks like women have been. And eyes..well a lot of women wear glasses, and if they don't they need to put on mascara, eyeshadow, eyeliner and fake eyelashes just to get men to look at them.

 

[Lanolin]

Abusive alcoholics --a sign that someone might be one is if they are always at social events with a beer or some alcohol in their hand. It doesn't take much for a drunk man to turn violent.
Some men are happy and can handle it but many men can't and believe they can. Denial is not a river in Egypt.

Also if you kiss an alcoholic, you can absolutely tell by their beer breath. I can't begin to tell you what a problem alcohol has been for women on the receiving end of drunken violence and unwanted advances, or maybe been drugged drunk and raped. Because maybe a man with goggle eyes stared at them and thought, well here's a woman I can have.

Thankfully Jesus can deliver us from this kind of evil - but it takes a lot for alcoholics to actually stop drinking. A lot of women are with alcoholics because they think it's normal part of culture. It's not.

 

[Lanolin]

My wife is legally blond, yet she is very intelligent.

Pure blondes are actually quite rare. A lot of women dye/bleach their hair.

 

[Gideon300]

What do you think/believe about this trope.
Women are beautiful, but don't necessarily have brains. We all know what the blonde airhead stereotype is.
Do men really think that women are just not that smart? Why do they lie to us?

Isn't there a proverb about this somewhere.

So ladies, what do you think..how important is beauty. What about brains?
Men can look scruffy and be slobs, but for women this is taboo. Being female requires a lot of maintenance. We must at all times look pleasing and beautiful so men can look at us.
Men can be foolish but women are easily fooled. It's in the Bible right from Adam and Eve.
Women are denied education and the vote for centuries.

I don't mean to be a raging feminist, I just live in a time where women have basically been emancipated. It wasn't too long ago that women were bound and chained. So I don't take this for granted. It's just interesting how times have changed. I remember when Girls just wanna have fun to the present day when we still don't have 'pay parity' and equality is like a pipe dream. When we find it, it seems like the goal always shifts.

It was Christian women who led the Temperance movement. But men still found a way to drink and control and beat up their wives. So who are the smart women here?

I think its a lot more nuanced. For a start, very often the supposed pay gap is a myth. It's based on averages, which can be misleading. Women tend to work fewer hours. In many countries it is illegal to pay women less for the same work as men.

Men can be foolish? The prison population is very much male. Folly does have a price. The graveyards also testify to male stupidity.

Men and women really are different. Feminists tried to tell us otherwise. I'm married, so I know. Right this moment, there is a woman on the roof of my house cleaning out the gutters. That would not have happened a few decades. She's welcome to it. I did that as a part time job many years ago. I got out of it as soon as I could. She can be as equal as she likes!

Part of the problem will surprise you. Young men have been encouraged to express their emotions more. That is a really stupid idea. Men generally are more violent and more aggressive. Telling them to express that outwardly leads to physical violence such as is commonplace now. We have teenage gangs that think nothing of murdering even if there is zero provocation. Our revolving door legal system lets them back on the streets and they keep on their violent behaviour.

There has always been domestic violence. I don't know that it has got worse, perhaps more likely to be reported now.

What has not helped at all is the demonisation of young men in our education system. You tell a youth that he is useless and a threat to society, don't be surprised if he becomes what he is told he is.

Girls do better in education. Education is skewed to teaching girls on the basis that they were underprivileged and more worthy.

Men generally do more dangerous jobs, are more likely to go to war and generally more likely to undertake risky endeavours. Sometimes I horrify myself when I think of how I rode my motorbike in my late teens.

The way men dress these days is a reflection of how they view themselves. I've seen photos from the early 1900's. Australians at an outdoor show were dressed in suit and tie, all wearing hats, in warm Australia weather.

I'm not excusing men or denigrating women. The outer is often a reflection of the inner. I used to see cars in many different colours. Now it is often a dull grey or black (absurd in Australia's heat), as if the owner was grey in outlook.

Men have an innate desire to protect those they love. That seems to contradict the violent tendency I know. But whenever there is a shooting incident, it is men who put themselves in harm's way to protect their wives.

Nothing will change until there is a change of heart. Trying to feminise men has backfired. The nature of the beast does not change. The only answer is the gospel. We all need new life.

One last point: the church has a lot to answer for. They've allowed too many men to get away with wicked behaviour. As one well known pastor's daughter said, her late father had a girlfriend in every church he pastored. Some men have preached the love of God and beaten their wives after the meeting. It's bad enough that pastors behave badly, but to fail to deal with that kind of behaviour is inexcusable.

And I would point out that in every case where a pastor commits adultery, another woman is involved. Is she blameless? I do not accept that idea at all.

 

[Lanolin]

Not sure about the pay parity, because some companies are quite underhand about how they go about their pay. Women don't get promoted, and are paid less in jobs men won't take..or something. Women don't get paid at all for housework and childcare if they are married, and it is work! If they didn't do it they'd have to employ someone..who would get paid!

Maybe it's a class thing too.

hmm With adultery I always wondered in the case of David and Bathsheba, whether Bathsheba could be blamed, for not rejecting David's advances (he was King? you can't say no to a King) or keeping it secret from her husband, or not using birth control centuries ago. She got pregnant! Their baby died. That was God's punishment I guess.

Feminising men. I remember in the 90s there was all this talk about the 'sensitive new age guy' and women starting to do things like wear the pants - and it be NORMAL to do so.

I worked in schools and the boys were noticeably behind the girls in maturity. Girls develop faster, it's true. I guess that's some of the reason why young women are often with older men. I think primary (elementary) education tends to have higher percentage of female teachers. I could count on one hand the number of male teachers in my primary school - everyone else was female.

Shooting incidents - not sure about this. Shootings happen in odd places like mosques full of men (christchurch) or schools (usa) where there are no wives and husbands protecting them. When JFK was shot, he had secret service and body guards. Jacqui Kennedy was absolutely traumatised. Though it's true that bodyguards tend to be male, but you have female ambos and police, so its not as if women can't do the job as well.

I did gardening with a majority male company and was harassed. I worked for female majority libraries but still got harassed by the men. It is so common in workplaces that you just kind of accept it comes with the job. Cos if you report it, you will probably lose your job for tattling. Especially if so and so is like your supervisor. You just learn to either push back or grey rock them but it's a hassle when you just want to concentrate on doing the job!

 

[Lanolin]

When I was in high school we had a school uniform, and girls had to wear skirts and boys had to wear shorts. But that started to change because in winter it would be freezing, so both genders got to wear trousers.
When I went to university nobody cared what you wore. lol
You could turn up to lectures in pyjamas ..and you wouldn't be told off.

 

[Lanolin]

How men dress --funny saying isn't it because men don't wear dresses as a general rule...

I don't think its so much they dress how they view themselves. It's they dress to fit in with others. If everyone is wearing jeans and t-shirt then that's what they wear. To stand out and be different is taboo. Men are always in tuxedos at formal events while women get to wear colours and be different and if they wear the same dress as somebody else that's a no-no unless they are a bridesmaid.

Oh and bridesmaids are meant to wear some awful frocks so as not to show up the bride. lol

 

[Lanolin]

Cars in different colours. Its cheaper for manufacturers to stick to a few colours. Not necessarily a reflection of a person, sometimes they have no choice. I always wanted a car in a colour that I'd be able to pick out in a carpark. So it's baby blue and I was happy. No grey or black for me, even if the grey/silver was a safe colour because it wouldn't fade, was easier to onsell...men often don't think in terms of colour as important for a car, they are often thinking of engine power as first priority. Also men tend to be more colour blind then women.
My male cousin was horrified that I would consider an orange car, or a pink car. If I bought a coloured car, it would be less likely to be stolen as well. lol
He had a white car, everyone else had a white car, and sometimes I got confused when it was parked and could have got into the wrong car! I often had to mansplain things to him. Men often joke about female drivers but I tell you it is plain scary to be a passenger in a car with an angry, maybe drunk male driver. It seems its acceptable for men to drink alcohol, but women no, it affects pregnancy..even if getting drunk was how they got pregnant in the first place.
Make it make sense...!

 

[Lanolin]

Men more likely to go to war?? Are you kidding me. Men were conscripted, women were not. In the past, it was compulsory for men to fight. Men who refused were labelled cowards, even when they conscientously objected.

Women were meant to stay home and look after the children and do the mens job while the men were away at war.

 

[Lynx]

"A dog that walks around will find a stick." And a person who looks for a reason to complain will find one.

 

[Lanolin]

"A dog that walks around will find a stick." And a person who looks for a reason to complain will find one.

Oh great, someone else who thinks I am a b*** or likens me to a dog.

You've had it in for me for quite some time Lynx. I am so tired of it. Why can't you be nice instead of sarcastic and laughing AT me all the time. I must be a joke to you.

I come here for encouragement and maybe a bit of light heartedness in this dark world and all I find is derision. Make fun of Lanolin for sure.

Maybe quote some scripture instead of being so clever. I am not erudite like you. I am actually quite simple. Stupid even. I don't know anything about life, like you say...oh people don't have this attitude that women are dumb oh really? Then why am I treated like I don't know any better? Its because if you are treated like you are stupid all your life and ask stupid questions, you start to believe that's all you'll ever be, despite all the education in the world, it won't make you any smarter, because you are female.

That is what it's like.

 

[Lanolin]

I am wondering if I am just not getting something about church, or christianity.

I remember the day I was down on my knees dusting the lowest shelves in the church library because nobody else ever did it. I volunteered to do the library because I love books and I'm a librarian right? Well one of the make church elders entered the lobby where the libarry corner is and made this joke about how he loved seeing a woman down on her knees.

What was I supposed to say, laugh back? Did he offer to help? (uh..no) Was he meaning some kind of innuendo? I don't know, I'm just a woman. Well actually no, another elder church lady who I don't really trust, often came up to me and told me I was beautiful and special to God etc. She was always complimenting me in an overly familiar way. It was flattering, but I kind of am wary of flattery.

She kept saying I was a wonderful woman and a gift to God etc. I am like really? She was saying I am precious etc woman - she then said girl, whatever..what are you?

And I'm like, you don't even know who I am? Why was she saying these things like I am some kind of charity case that has to be told this all the time? Like people point out that I am skinny or my fingers are long and I'm like...well I know, tell me something I don't know. And then I get asked where I'm from like I am a foreigner in my own country.

I never ask people I just met where they are from. I just accept them for who they are.

 

[Lanolin]

I thought about this and had come to the conclusion I was being love bombed.
its a thing in religion where someone sees a new recruit or target for conversion and proceeds to compliment them all the time and tell them how special they are etc - like I don't know..given all the attention, boosting my ego and then wham I'm supposed to start going to this church all the time and tithe and do all this stuff for them...for love. Really?

How do I know I'm not in a cult?

 

[Lanolin]

Its kind of like..in the secular world being seduced or tricked into giving up your body to a man...and him making believe that he loves you, just to get you into bed or something and then he just gets his thrills and thats it, he goes on to another woman, while the woman all this time believes he's really in love with her. To the man, its just a means to an end, to a woman, she thinks its the beginning..but if so she gets kind of pressured to keep on with this and do this all the time.

???
The honeymoon is over lol
I am only laughing because if I didn't I would cry.