Monday, September 12, 2011

Do Men Think Smart Girls Unattractive?

I just scheduled this article by Anthony Buono for Catholic Exchange for next week, but in reading it, I was so flabbergasted, I had to post about it now. In his article Do Men Think Smart Girls Are Unattractive? he makes the following statement:

Unfortunately, the person women become while they’re single and pursue a career can be unattractive to certain men. By certain, I am thinking about Catholic men who want a traditional role of provider, and hope to have a stay-at-home mother for their children.

Does that sound too old-fashioned and stereotypical? Maybe even shallow? Regardless, a serious Catholic man will not mind a smart woman, as long as she is smart enough to want to give up her career once children come along and stay home to raise them. That’s what they are thinking.

And this is where a HUGE misunderstanding occurs, and both men and women can mess things up. The fact is, smart, educated, intelligent, practicing Catholic women who are successful career women do want to give up their careers to stay home with their children and be homemakers!




Certainly, this is true of some women, but not all. There are those who were truly destined to be mothers. They have spent their whole lives dreaming of the day they could nurture small children and they excel at it. And then there are those who, yes, want to be mothers, but also want something else.

Some women are totally fulfilled by motherhood and that is wonderful. Others, like me, are not. I love being a mother and I try to do the best I can at that vocation, but if I didn't have the opportunity to use my education and my skills in some way, my mental health would greatly suffer! I look forward to my time in the evenings when I get to work. Most women I know, dedicated mothers all, work part-time in some fashion - whether that be from home or outside the home. God gave us talents and the opportunity to be educated. Why would He not want us to use them in some way?

Amazingly, not one of the people (thusfar) who commented on this article took issue with this statement. Maybe the question should be, "Why do these men feel we need to give up our brains when we have children?"

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