It’s no secret that a lot of guys are intimidated by strong, smart women, but that’s generally been knowledge based on experience rather than scientific fact… until now.
- A new study proves it. A new study performed by researchers at the University of Michigan and led my sociology professor Elizabeth Bruch finds that it really is true: the more educated you are, the less guys want to date you.
- The massive study of online dating, published this month in Science Advances, aimed to uncover the truth about looking for love online. To do so, they reviewed messages sent on a “popular, free online dating service” between 186,000 straight men and women in four major US markets: New York, Seattle, Boston, and Chicago. It’s worth mentioning that the messages reviewed were sent only in January 2014, so it’s possible things may have changed slightly since then, but something tells me this is pretty spot on.
- For men, education is seen as a plus. Women like smart guys, and the higher the degree they receive, the more attractive they are. Makes sense, right? Who wouldn’t want an intelligent partner? Well, a good portion of guys, apparently. While they’re not into high school drop-outs, many of them don’t want women to achieve too much, or else they’re just not interested.
- It gets worse. According to the study, “Desirability is associated with education most strongly for men, for whom more education is always more desirable. For women, an undergraduate degree is most desirable; postgraduate education is associated with decreased desirability among women. These measurements control for age, so the latter observation is not a result of women with postgraduate degrees being older.”
- There’s no way to win. That’s right—dudes don’t want you if you’re too old (the study reveals that a woman’s desirability peaks at 18 and goes downhill from there, while men peak in their 40s and 50s!), but they also don’t want you if you’re young and too smart. WTF?
- This is NOT your problem. While the findings of this study are preliminary and contained to four major US cities, it does reveal a trend that seems to apply across the board and is pretty disheartening, to say the least. Being disciplined and smart enough to get a Masters or a Ph.D. is something to be proud of, and if guys are too insecure with their own intelligence, screw ’em.
