Would you date a woman who’s much smarter than you?

Men like clever women but don’t want to date them. A recent survey revealed men are likely to rate an intelligent woman as attractive if they had no chance of meeting her. 

We paid a visit to Old Spitalfields Market and asked 14 standard London men whether they’d date a woman who’s much more intelligent than they are.

Rory, Insurance Broker

Alex, RBS

“Yeah I’d date a woman who’s clever. I’ve dated people who are smarter than me before and never really had a problem.”

Raz, Barista and James, Advertising

Raz: “Nah, no way would I date a woman who’s smarter than me. It would just get boring wouldn’t it? They’d make you feel stupid.”

James: “I would definitely date someone smarter, in fact, that’s basically what I’m looking for.”

Raz: “To be fair James you did just get made redundant, so you’ll take what you can get.”

Joe, Barber

“Look, if there’s a click there then there’s a click there, you know what I mean? Smartness doesn’t even enter it for me.”

Cody and Jed, Bar Managers

Cody: “It depends really. Are they smug about it?”

Jed: “If they used it as a weapon in arguments I don’t think I could hack it. I’d probably dump them.”

Cody: “If they’re not obnoxious if doesn’t matter.”

Bret, Stylist

“It wouldn’t bother me initially, but further down the line it might cause problems.”

Chris, Brand Representative

“I don’t consider myself very smart, but you know what? It would only be a problem if they were a dick about it.”

Anton and Simon, Tourists

Anton: “What do you mean?”

Simon: “No, I would not do it.”

Mckenna, Student

“It is a difficult one. You date someone for a lot of different reasons. I’m not usually in this position though. I think I would dump them if they made a deal of being much smarter than me. If not it would be OK.”

Michael, Retail

“People’s characteristics are made up of loads of different components. Smartness is just one of them. If she had lots of other redeeming qualities smartness wouldn’t be a problem for me.”

Astradur, Chef

“I’ve just moved here from Denmark. Are British women much more smarter or something? I think it would be ok, I’m pretty smart myself.”