A woman in her 60s argues that school prestige doesn't measure real intelligence. True intellect means curiosity, emotional awareness, and openness to different people. She describes a date obsessed with "big brain" credentials and fit bodies, then explains why that narrow view misses what actually matters.
Chapters
What is it that makes somebody intelligent? Is it that they went to a good school and therefore they read a lot of books and sat a lot of exams and passed them with flying colors? Or is what makes somebody intelligent more nuanced than that? Is it around emotional intelligence? Are there different types of intelligence? I feel really triggered at the moment, I have to say, because I went out with somebody recently who was looking for somebody that he said had a big brain, which was a big turn-on for him, but also wanted that big brain to be accompanied by a fairly slim and predictably fit body, like most men that I know. And whilst I didn't go to an Ivy League university and I never considered myself terribly academic. I do know that for me what constitutes intellect and just smarts, if you like, is just someone who's generally curious, someone who's willing to step outside of their comfort zone, somebody who's open to new experiences and who's open to the opportunity to meet people, all different kinds of people, and engage with them in all the different ways that we can engage with human beings, whether it's sexually, intellectually, socially, whatever it happens to be, and not be so narrowly defined by this very narrow concept of what constitutes smart.
