A guesstimate? Or is there something concrete?

If you dress like a disco queen, is it out of line to think you might like disco dancing?

Most of the Essex Girls featured on that TV show are not the brightest bulbs, not by a long shot.

What she is an exception to the general rule--and that is something that is noteworthy. It doesn't "suck that everyone is surprised" -- it's expected. It is natural. It is normal.

It's like finding a genius amongst Valley Girls, or Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, or in a crew of Hillybilly Handfishers. None of them "look the part" either.

Essentially, it's the Brit version of a Valley Girl - ie vacuous and uninterested?

It's called TOWIE (The Only Way is Essex). Ghastly!

I wouldn't look for a genius in that crew, either.

What I hope is, given she just 16, is that she doesn't want to be seen as 'different' and will find her way in a world that doesn't exactly reward intelligent women, much less genius level intelligence. She may literally live in a different perceptual level.


I had a attractive math teacher once--some college course--who said men were 'intimidated' by her profession, and she had award time dating. I remember thinking 'what kind of bullshit is that'

I'm a nurse, which falls into 'Traditional women's role' but I don't think people understand exactly what type of education you need and what it is you actually do. It's more than brow wiping and suppository giving, that's for sure. They've finally started a Phd program in nursing, you used to have get a doctorate in philosophy or something to get across how strong a knowledge base you had.

It's not like people are intimidated by Snooki look alikes!

Sometimes, appearance is the key to breaking down barriers. If she's a genius, she'll use her brains to find a way!

I mean, I've always been smart, but not that smart. I would love to grasp advanced logic courses or particle physics or linguistics, or all three if I was smart enough, but I'm just a bit above average with great reading comprehension

I've always wondered what it must be like to be a genius. But even geniuses need good input.

Brains in men are tolerable. Brains in women are intimidating and off-putting. Compensating through appearing to be a lightweight is pretty normal. By the time people notice the brains, they've already managed to notice the person.

And to that I'll add the tale of Marilyn Monroe's dress. I believe the movie was Some Like It Hot but I could be wrong. Marilyn didn't like the dress. Director did. Costumer did.

A young costume lackey named Ben Compton came upon Marilyn and the dress. With a razor blade. She wasn't destroying the dress, oh no. She was delicately damaging the seams. The dress didn't fall apart. But the next time she wore it, it just didn't fit as well as they'd thought it did. Marilyn got a different dress.

Jennifer Marlowe was smarter than everyone on the show, but was the eye-candy, to boot!

He was a 1970s British pop musician. He introduced his song "Billericky Dickie" by saying: I'm from Essex. In case you couldn't tell!