I'm pretty sure it started around seventh grade. You know, that act of playing dumb around guys you want to impress. I remember in fourth grade rabidly competing to be known as one of the smartest girls -- reading aloud perfectly, raising my hand and practically jumping out of my seat to answer a question. But through the girlification process that seems to happen in this country at around 12 or 13, all the base I smeared on my face seemed to cover up something else -- my intelligence. It usually took the form of laughing at anything a boy would say and becoming less vocal about anything that would make me look smart.
This was back in the early 80s. It appears this behavior is still happening. I guess the power of the "dumb blond" or brunette or red head, is still powerful, at least in media. According to this article:
The 2004 movie "Mean Girls" portrays an intelligent and beautiful high school girl pursuing a relationship with the stereotypical "hot jock." To steal his heart, she deliberately fails math tests so she can get the jock to tutor her.More recently Disney got in on the act with "High School Musical" where Gabriella Montez attempts to cover up her intelligence to get Troy Bolton, the star basketball player.
But girls dumbing down to avoid scaring off the guys of their dreams is hardly just the stuff of movies or popular television shows such as "Desperate Housewives." It happens in high schools all over the country...
An article posted on heyugly.com, a popular teen Web site forum, lists young men, parents and the media as possible reasons young women think they need to dumb down to be attractive...Heyugly.com also had a survey showing that 35 percent of girls have essentially dumbed down because they fear a guy would be intimidated by their intelligence.
What's funny is that even after my parents forced me to go to an all girls school in eighth grade, I became the class clown, another form of dumbing down. Ypulse readers: Do you notice girls you work with dumbing down?
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Comments
I think this is an incredibly interesting post. However, to add to the conversation it is all about the constraints of the environment. I am a recent graduate of NYU's undergraduate business program and when I transitioned to NYU the notion of stupid = cool/hot evolved into forced intellectualism/political radicals/etc/etc. = cool. Nothing changes, people will always just adhere to what is "expected" of them. I personally have no patience for girls that play dumb or simply are unintelligent, but I'll take that any day over girls or anyone for that matter that regurgitating the 2 Nichze quotes they remember or rave about political blather they cant support. From College we join the workforce and the it continues. I work in the ad industry and people love to continually spit our redundant buzzwords. So the point to all this is you have to change the environment to change the behavior. Telling girls they are smart will never win over hormones.
Posted by: Seni Thomas | July 13, 2007 11:44 AM
It isn't just girls, it's guys too. Guys feel they have to "dumb down" in order to appear aloof or apathetic. In girls eyes that makes them "strong" because "there must be something more to him, he isn't fawning over me or hitting on me."
Posted by: Matt A.* | July 13, 2007 11:53 AM
I can say that I've dumbed down before and it took me until after college to really realize that to get ahead acting dumb and pretty will only get you so far. I still occasionally dumb down to get in the door and then prove myself. I'm not sure it's necessarily a bad thing in certain situations.
Posted by: Rebecca Thorman | July 15, 2007 2:10 PM
Sometimes dumbing down can be smart, too. I remember reading Milton's "Paradise Lost" in college and being mystified at the part where God comes to talk to the pair and Eve excuses herself. My (male) feminist professor interepreted it as Eve catering to Adam's ego by letting him explain everything to her himself.
The only point I remember "dumbing down" in purpose was throwing a spelling test in 2nd grade so one of the other kids wouldn't feel bad. (I was always an ace at spelling!) I threw it obviously enough that I got caught!
I didn't dumb down in high school/college for whatever reason. (Once you're a social outcast, what do you have to lose, really?) Maybe I should have, but things turned out OK in the end.
But yeah, give me a smart woman with big ideas and a mouth to match -- like Ann Richards (RIP) -- over Jessica Simpson any day.
Posted by: Meredith | July 16, 2007 7:27 AM
I went to a very laid back K-8th grade in which being smart and witty was celebrated. Once I went to highschool I didn't dumb down so much as I didn't give the answer...but that lasted about a year. Since then I have always made a point to express myself intelligently, if a guy can't handle my brain he isn't worth my time.
Posted by: Street Attack | July 17, 2007 7:45 AM
I'm not sure I can speak to the conclusions of the article but I have to disagree with the characterization of the Gabriela character in HSM. Thanks to my daughter I've seen said movie about 26 times. Gabriela was the smartest girl on the mostly female quiz team and solves some really hard equation at the end to lead her team to the win. Other intelligent female characters (including a fellow quiz team member and the composer of the musical numbers) also catch the eyes of basketball playing boys, which indicates to me that Disney did a decent job of trying to discredit the stereotype rather than perpetuate it.
Posted by: Mike Sledge | July 19, 2007 3:42 PM
On August 1, 2007, we asked the AllyKatzz tween girls (ages 10-15) if they dumb down around boys. Over 400 girls responded: 84% said "Never. That's just dumb!" and 15% said "Yes! Boys don't like smart girls." I just posted some of their comments on my blog www.girlssaywhat.blogspot.com.
Posted by: Denise Restauri | August 6, 2007 7:42 AM