Would you rather be seen as smart OR sexy?

[Pagey]

Lol at everyone saying they can't imagine having to choose between the two because they're both (no offense, it's just kind of funny to read...)

my attractiveness is for no use if no one can see it whereas my smartness holds its own worth.

sexy

This.

 

[Renz Envy]

Sexy.

Everyone is intelligent in their own minds. Being known as "intelligent" would probably have every psuedo-intellectual trying to prove why their views are more developed than yours. (In some meaningless alcohol fueled debate I am sure.) This would get really annoying. Of course if you're a decorated scientist it would be different.

Sexiness provides people with a pleasing image which makes almost everything easier. (Most everyone is capable of being attractive.)

 

[Morphling]

I am smart and sexy, so bollox to having to choose betwixt the two!

 

[selanfene]

I want people to think of me as both, because I am both and it'd be really sad for them to miss out on one for focusing on the other.

 

[Dave]

Heh, never said that I was both, just that they weren't mutually exclusive.

Totally glossed over the "seen as" distinction. Ah well.

 

[Pander Bear]

ITT:

People appearing not smart by failing to note the "seen as" caveat.
People appearing unsexy by bragging that they're both smart and sexy.

 

[L2R]

jocks versus nerds

 

[Jean-Paul]

uggghhhhh i guesss ugghhhh both
i heard some shit from some assholes in a library one day that i was as "librarian fantasy". since then i still need to get my lenses in my frames.
i ignored them

 

[LutherF]

sexy...you can get things done.

 

[One Thousand Words]

As a man I would choose to be smart. It is often a lot easier being a sexy women than a smart one, people are often intimidated by intelligent women for some reason, where as an older smart man is always sexy.

 

[Al_S_Dee]

uggghhhhh i guesss ugghhhh both
i heard some shit from some assholes in a library one day that i was as "librarian fantasy". since then i still need to get my lenses in my frames.
i ignored them

How about some pics, preferably with your frames on?

I have actually thought about this before. All said and done, I'd pick being sexy. I think intellect can be developed but sexiness is more or less a have it or don't have it proposition. Either you got it or you don't. Being sexy does make life easier in many ways and which guy (or gal) wouldn't mind the unbridled affections of the opposite sex? Easy. Gimme sexy.

 

[ebola?]

I would rather be seen as smart, as my particular constellation of personality-attributes makes being seen as smart more easily to capitalize on socially than being seen as sexy.

ebola

 

[His Name Is Frank]

You can't really be seen as smart. You're either smart or you're not. It's pretty hard to fake intelligence. "It is better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln

As for sexy, it's all in the eye of the beholder. One person's idea of sexy is another person's meh. I'm happy with both my intellect and appearance. I'm not the smartest or the best looking, but then again, I'm not competing with anyone. I can't control other people's opinions. All I can do is be myself and honestly I couldn't care less what others think of me. I don't mean that in a harsh way. It's just that I hear so many people talking shit about one another, judging them by their looks, the clothes they wear, their jobs, the things they say, and it makes me sick.

 

[badandwicked]

Looks fade. You hit 50,60 the grey hairs come, you become invisible to all the young sexy people.

Smart is sexy and won't leave you high and dry when the time comes (unless you get Alzheimers).

 

[ebola?]

Actually, per many measures, cognitive decline begins at age 17 (at least in terms of the types of fluid intelligences (those not dependent on accrued knowledge) that make for a world-class theoretical theoretical mathematician, chess player, or musical prodigy). For quite some time, the importance of 'crystalized intelligence' (that is, abilities stemming from accrued knowledge) supersedes that of fluid intelligence (and in some cases the former can compensate for the latter's absence), bringing about a seeming increase in cognitive ability extending into middle-age for many individuals' activity in many domains.

You can't really be seen as smart. You're either smart or you're not. It's pretty hard to fake intelligence.

I disagree vehemently. People often mistake verbal acuity for general intelligence in a way that has benefited me greatly over several years.

ebola

 

[mrs_mia_wallace]

I hate these kinds of questions. It's the 21st century. Hopefully women can be both.

 

[ebola?]

Anyone can. This is a thought experiment to tease out the dynamics of possessing either social ability at the cost of the other.

ebola

 

[L2R]

Actually, per many measures, cognitive decline begins at age 17 (at least in terms of the types of fluid intelligences (those not dependent on accrued knowledge) that make for a world-class theoretical theoretical mathematician, chess player, or musical prodigy). For quite some time, the importance of 'crystalized intelligence' (that is, abilities stemming from accrued knowledge) supersedes that of fluid intelligence (and in some cases the former can compensate for the latter's absence), bringing about a seeming increase in cognitive ability extending into middle-age for many individuals' activity in many domains.

IME it's the mid aged focusing of interests which results in the seeming increase in intel growth.

I disagree vehemently. People often mistake verbal acuity for general intelligence in a way that has benefited me greatly over several years.

ebola

Conversely I regularly teach fuckheads the fuckin wisdom of the ancients and reveal the answers to age old fuckin mysteries but people think I'm a doofus cuz I say "fuck" a lot.

So I guess I'll be spending more time in the fuckin gym then.

 

[34-dihydroxyphen]

I know taste is subjective, but I don't really see too much of a distinction between smart and sexy. Sometimes I'm out and about, and I see some visually striking girl, and I think "damn she's sexy" until the moment she opens her mouth. Then she isn't sexy anymore.

So, I can't really answer the question. I'm not overly picky about intelligence, but a certain degree of it is necessary for me to form any potential romantic relationship, including one night stands, with a woman.

I would have to imagine a substantial number of women feel the same way. That a potential partner has to be at/slightly above average intelligence and/or take an active interest in becoming more intelligent (i.e. reading, pursued or achieved college education by their own volition, or at the very least interested in picking up skills in their chosen career).

 

[ebola?]

Conversely I regularly teach fuckheads the fuckin wisdom of the ancients and reveal the answers to age old fuckin mysteries but people think I'm a doofus cuz I say "fuck" a lot.

I've actually found the most swearing in academia compared to other domains (including working on a factory line). You have a highly informal environment with a lack of typical manager-subordinate relations which never involves children. The result is sentences scaffolded primarily by gratuitous polysyllaby and "fucking" used as a modifier.

ebola