It’s chilly and uncomfortable, and you’re more than likely to perish before you get that fire started. After years of disastrous travels and crucial packing lessons, we approach each trip with a bit more preparation. We’ve learnt tips, tricks, and lessons that can only be learned firsthand, as well as frauds, men who are simply attempting to defraud you, and places we’ll never return to.

We’ve altered our clothes, hair, and grooming styles to match the location, but there’s one thing we can’t seem to change that’s making the journey a difficult climb. Something we can’t hide and won’t keep at home. Something we will not check at baggage claim or hand over at customs. Unfortunately, for women, intellect frequently impedes our travels and keeps us from the promised land. Intelligent women are more likely to be single.

The common adage “ignorance is bliss” does not quite capture the wide range of emotions that women experience as they sit alone on Friday nights with no one to talk Nietzsche or read lines from Proust with. It doesn’t make a lady feel better when her parents question where her boyfriend is and why she can’t find a nice guy.

The phrase should be something like, “Ignorant women get the man, and intelligent women never feel bliss.” But why is that? Why don’t men seek women with whom they can communicate and who can push them? When did antipathy to powerful and clever women turn into a code orange? When did everyone want to vacation to the Bahamas and simply lay around?

In an article by “The Wire,” financial reporter John Carney gives one explanation for this phenomenon, deducing that “successful men date less successful women not because they want ‘women to be dumb’ but rather because they want’someone who prioritizes their life in a way that’s compatible with how you prioritize yours.'”

Essentially, they want someone who will never prioritize her profession over providing dinner and impressing them first.They want a woman who is stupid enough to prioritize them, and, regrettably, for all the reasonable, rational, and intellectual women out there, there are a lot of these women. There are plenty of women who will give up their lives for males, refuse to challenge or oppose them, and consider them as saviors rather than equals.

However, deciding what type of woman you are is like choosing between a rock and a hard place. If you are foolish, you are not taken seriously; if you are intelligent, you are treated too seriously. This double-edged blade is wreaking havoc on women everywhere. A gorgeous, attractive female is not desired in her opinion, and those with strong personalities are perceived as frightening, masculine, and unattractive.

A research of 121 British participants found that females with high intelligence in male/female partnerships were perceived as troublesome. Their intelligence was expected to pose complications in the partnership. In contrast, the male partner’s high IQ was viewed as desirable rather than harmful. These cultural preconceptions and gender biases prevent women from being perceived as equals.

Rational, educated women are disregarded and ridiculed for their intelligence. Women who teach, show, and help you grow are being selected over, sifted through, and dumped in favor of girls wearing revealing tops and platform heels. Of sure, there are many ladies with clever boyfriends. This is not to criticize women who have partners, but to alleviate the persistent, annoying pain that all clever women experience when men take them out to dinner, have a good time, and then decide they’re not worth the effort.