Woman Says Her Husband Isn't Attracted To Her Anymore Because Of Her High IQ
She's confused about why her husband is treating her differently because she scored higher than him.
YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV / Shutterstock; KLH49 from Getty Images via Canva Pro A woman revealed that after taking an intelligence quiz with her husband, his perception of her drastically changed.
Posting to the subreddit "r/TrueOffMyChest" — an online forum where people can share personal debacles that are happening in their lives — she shared that she was stuck on what to do after her husband began treating her differently following an IQ test they took together.
Her husband admitted that he was not attracted to her after she scored higher than him on an IQ test.
In her Reddit post, she explained that her husband had come home from work one day and asked if she would like to take an online IQ test with him. When they both took the test, she ended up scoring higher than him, which seemed to drastically hurt his ego.
"First he was in disbelief then a bit sulky. I thought the whole thing was stupid and I never thought or experienced that I’m 'smarter' and I never understood the logic of these tests," she remarked. Since the two of them took the test, she's noticed a drastic change in his personality.
She shared that her husband refuses to cuddle or kiss her anymore, and has openly flirted in front of other women while she's around. "We attended a birthday party for my little nephew and my husband spent the evening chatting up my [sister-in-law's] sister who is very pretty."
When they got home from the party, she began to cry, writing that she was feeling overwhelmed due to her husbands' frosty attitude toward her for the last three weeks since they took the test.
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"He denied [having] changed with me since the test but I wasn’t backing down this time. I told him that I wasn’t stupid and that he stopped being affectionate since that damned day." After being directly confronted, her husband finally admitted that he felt a type of way about her scoring higher than him.
He confirmed that he wasn't attracted to her anymore, which only confused his wife even more. She told him that just because she scored higher than him on an IQ test doesn't change anything about her personality.
"I haven’t changed. I’m still me," she insisted. "He apologized and said that he would put his s--- together and that he knows how silly this is."
It's common for men to feel threatened by a woman they feel is more intelligent than they are.
Unfortunately, it's frequent for men to feel intimidated and less attracted to women who are considered smarter than them, or who they believe are too intelligent.
According to a study titled, "Psychological Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder," researchers found that while men like the idea of dating a smart woman, when it comes to the reality of it, they're not interested. And when a woman is better at a task than they are, they feel like less of a man.
Traditional gender stereotypes are to blame for that as they suggest that men should be more intelligent or dominant in a relationship. It's important to recognize that these gender stereotypes are extremely outdated, and a woman's intelligence shouldn't be the deciding factor for how a man feels about his own ego and intelligence.
These types of stereotypes can be harmful to both men and women. Men who feel pressured to be constantly smarter may experience stress or anxiety, while women may face discrimination or be discouraged from pursuing their intellectual potential.
In the comments section, people were quick to point out that her husband's insecurities aren't her problem.
"There are a lot of things in this post that I would view as troublesome. Your husbands' love doesn’t seem unconditional," one Reddit user wrote. "So he is only attracted to and loves you as long as he thinks [you're] not as smart."
Another user added, "If this test is the only reason why he doesn't feel attracted to you anymore, then he surely is not the smartest. The whole issue sounds like a pretext to me."
"This is an indication of something bigger on his part. He has low self-esteem and doesn't seem to appreciate if someone has a higher IQ than him," a third user pointed out. "We all know IQ tests don't reflect the whole intelligence of people but he is choosing to be affected by that."
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.