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"For
Such Despite They Cast On Female Wits"
"A girl with brains ought to do something
with them besides think".
-Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Say a woman is ugly, beautiful, plain or even homely and you'll get a
plethora of agreement and disagreement from both sexes. Describe one of
the fairer gender as "stupid" and the reaction will not be unanimous one
way or the other. "Plain", "efficient", "house proud", "sexually focused",
"man-mad" and "upwardly-mobile" will be met with anything from full concurrence
to vicious contradiction.
But try this one: Refer to some female as "intelligent" and you'll be
met with the same poker-faced indifference as if you had described Enda
Kenna as a great statesman. I can guarantee you'll get neither a "she
certainly is" or a "no, she's not" reply. Any comment about a woman's
physical attributes, attitudes, or social traits will cause anything from
grudging accord to lively discussion. But any reference to her IQ and
you're in no-comment country. If you comment on the superior intellect
of a male you will get anything from a begrudging, concise, if rhetorical,
"what good is it to him?" to a diatribe about his shortcomings and track
record with maybe a bit of, derogatory, genealogical information thrown
in. But you will be answered!
Recently a, female, letter-writer to the Irish Times was critical of a
journalist for describing camogie players as "chicks"; on the grounds
that it is "...a derogatory word when used for women because it's specific
definition is something other than intelligent, mature, full human beings".
Of course camogie players are intelligent, mature, full human beings and
nothing to the contrary was implied. But the minute anyone, anywhere says
anything which could, by any stretch of the imagination, be interpreted
as meaning that any female, or females, are below par Mna na hEireann
are up in arms. Yet when the opposite is voiced...silence.
If it was simply a case of men feeling intimidated and women feeling inadequate
by a female of higher than average intelligence, surely they'd argue about
it. Quotes about intelligent women are few and far between. Why were thinkers,
poets and philosophers so shy about lauding intelligent women; were they
afraid of being ignored? You can go through the words of "The Rose of
Aranmore", "The Darlin' Girl from Clare", "The Wild Flower of the Laune"
and a hundred other Irish ballads and will you find a word about their
cerebral prowess? Not one. The heroin of our songs has pearly teeth, golden
tresses flowing down over a milk-white neck, ruby lips and a body to make
the mouth water. You would think that grand colleens, comely maidens and
the objects of dozens of glowing sobriquets were devoid of thinking equipment.
And you can trawl through art and literature from "A Woman's Heart" to
" A Woman of No Importance" and what will you find? Maybe an ambiguous
line like that of Anne Ingram; " A female mind like a rude fallow lies"
but no concrete pronouncement on any female with grey matter above the
national average. Jane Austen referred to "A woman of education" but not
to her IQ. And how many would agree with Shelagh Delaney that: "Women
never have young minds. They are born three thousand years old". Or Edward
Fitzgerald who said; " A woman of real genius I know...But what is the
upshot of it all?".
Yeats saw Maud Gonne as "A woman Homer sung" but no reference to what
she had between her ears. And even those, like Charles Baudelaise, who
paid tribute to the older females who: "Would sit on a park bench pensive
and apart, gave them very little credit in the upstairs department. Men
are told (even if they don't always agree) that their spouses are; beautiful,
desirable, astute, charming etc. I even witnessed a man being informed
that he had " a solvent wife" but have you ever heard anyone say: "you
married a very intelligent woman"? There's another thing...and it only
struck me while watching Ann Robinson's "Test the Nation". I'm sure women
make up at lease half of the "top two percent". Yet up to the time of
writing nobody has said to me; "She's a member of Mensa".
By the way I reckon my spouse is up there with the best. Didn't Kipling
say ;" It takes a very clever woman to manage a fool".
by
Mattie Lennon
19th May 2003
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