Obviously this was inspired by the "are intelligent women attractive" thread over in women's issues. I think a lot of people's reactions would be that of course intelligent men are attractive, there's not that "feeling threatened" or "behaving out of one's place" stuff to worry about...but is that true? Are men whose greatest or only positive attribute is intelligence - not intelligence plus wealth, intelligence plus power, intelligence plus good looks - considered attractive? Do such men get the sort of positive attention from women (sorry, homosexual attraction is kind of beyond the scope) that dim but wealthy/handsome/buff/funny men get?

My experience and observation has been that intelligence by itself just isn't much of an asset in the dating game. Some women are attracted to knowledge or competence in particular areas (e.g. in their own profession), but those aren't the same as intelligence and most women don't even that close to valuing intelligence for its own sake. Intelligence can even be a liability for men, just as for women. Women are not immune to the desire to be in control, to have the upper hand in relationships, and intelligence in a partner can be an obstacle.

What do other guys think? Do you feel that the size of your brain matters anywhere near as much as the size of your wallet, or your muscles, or anything else, to women? What do the women - if any even read this - think?

An intelligent man with conversational skills is very attractive. A man who has interests beyond everyday personal experience or who can articulate insights about his everyday experiences will continue to be interesting as time goes on. Mind you, this is just my opinion, but I backed it up by marrying such a man fifteen years ago. Intelligence and eloquence are sexy! (Good spellers are also sexy!)

An intelligent man who is hung up on his intelligence is as unattractive as a jock who can't walk past a mirror without looking at his reflection. The most attractive thing about a potential companion is attentiveness to the person s/he is dating!

As far as money goes, earning potential for future security can be a real plus--but I would not choose wealth over intelligence.

(edited to add last sentence)

A man who has intelligence will have some wealth and/or power, both are very attractive. Intelligent men do not sit in corners all day and talk about how smart they are they go out into the world and prove it.

Good looks is purely subjective... however I can tell you that MOST executives are over 6 foot and have at least "average/above average" looks. Looks do not come into play as much when a woman is looking for a man to provide for her... this should be evident from the number of sexless marriages.

O.

I can speak only for myself, but my answer to the question “Are men, whose greatest or only positive attribute (I’m assuming they’re also at least nice) is intelligence, considered attractive” is yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

I believe the Ayn Rand premise that the ‘man who is certain of his own value, wants the highest type of woman he can find’ holds true absolutely in reversed roles as well. The woman who is truly secure in herself wants the highest type of man. No one is defined (ultimately) by what they have in their bank account, or what they look like on the outside.

I grow weary of the company of dim men quickly, regardless of their less significant but better attributes. A stupid man is a complete turn off, even if he’s rich, buff, and handsome.

I like intellectual discourse. I enjoy playing strategy games with a person who challenges me. I want someone that I feel is intellectually superior to myself (although that certainly doesn’t mean they’re always right). If I were to rank the most important qualities for a relationship with a man (assuming the person is basically caring and nice), ranked in order from 10 being the most important to 1 being the least…10 intellect, 9 cute butt (just kidding), 8 intellect, 7 intellect, 6 humor, 5 reliable employment, 4 similar interests, 3 intellectual curiosity, 2 money, 1 looks (barring severe disfigurement or morbid obesity)

To give a direct example, from my life, of how important I consider intellect to be…
When I was at the University, this ROTC guy would sit next to me every day in physics class. It became annoying. No matter where I sat in the room of 500 people, he would find me. I was a granola nature type of girl, and the last thing I was interested in was a military man, with a crew cut!

Eventually, he convinced me to study with him. We met at the library and talked for hours about anything and everything, accept physics. Then I knew that the unassuming, unimpressive looking (his appearance has improved since then) guy was probably one of the smartest people I’d ever met. That did it for me. After about 3 months of study dates, we went on one real date. I moved in with him the next day. We were formally engaged 6 weeks later. At that time, I believed (erroneously) that I was going to be destitute for life as a military spouse. I believed (correctly) that it would be almost impossible for me to have a solid career of my own (which until that time was all-important to me) because of our moving and future locations. I also knew that I could have my own career, and the pick of pretty much any other man I might ever want (I wasn’t exactly ugly back then). It wasn’t even a decision for me.

Through the years, we’ve both changed in many ways. We’ve become closer and grown apart, but the primary thing I looked for in the beginning has survived. I am reminded of it every time we have a moment to sit down and have a conversation and every time he helps me consider the solution to a life problem. Similar to how a man might feel about his ‘trophy wife’, I feel about my husband because he is an intellectual giant compared to most, for all of his charming and unassuming manner.

Why is it your experience that most women want other, superfluous things? Because the world is replete with shallow, hollow, stupid people….Half of whom happen to be women. That’s why, when you find a person of true substance you have to pounce immediately (which, since you’re married I assume you did) or it might pass you by.

Edited to add: I hope that next poster doesn't say that cute butts are the most important thing, or I might get a strike for being inflammatory with that last paragraph!

Well hopefully intelligence is as attractive in men as it is in women, or even more so - I hope the latter, as I count myself to be pretty intelligent.

But intelligence on it's own isn't much use.

If I'm massively intelligent, but inarticulate, plain-featured, unkempt, rude, standoffish, out of shape, po-faced and insular, and the woman I have my eye on finds herself in a room with me and another man who is taller, more lively, engaging, "buffed" (even if only by comparison), well groomed and well dressed, easy-going, interested in what other people have to say, flirtatious, and so on, then I think I'd be behaving unintelligently if I felt hard done by when the woman pays more attention to the other guy.

So if it's a choice between ONLY intelligent and intelligent AND buffed, buff-boy wins. (I think I just convinced myself to start going to the gym again!)

This is only fair, as I'm not particularly interested in the intelligent woman who is too shy to come out of her house, because I never see her; the intelligent woman who weighs 300 pounds and eats three packs of cookies as a ligth snack, yet swears it's beacause of her "glands"; or the intelligent woman who lives in gumboots and jodhpurs whose interests extend no further than horseriding, foxhunting and the "rights" of "the countryside" - because I'd be driven up the wall within minutes. (None of these dislikes are gender specific - I wouldn't seek out men as friends who shared them.) Other men might be more interested - it takes all sorts.

I am quite intelligent. I am fairly good looking. No woman has ever been attracted to either.

In fact the only time I have ever been attractive to women is when I made them laugh by means of charm.

Allow me to say that the Internet has allowed a new social experiment to take place. In this sort of environment, only intelligence (broadly defined to include sense of humor, charm, and other qualities that can be communicated through the written word) is being tested as a means of attraction.

Whatever moif's experiences may have been in the real world, there is no doubt that in the science fiction forum to which we both belong, he is very popular with women. Specific threads have been known to fill up with females just because he has posted there.

oh yes... thats true... I hadn't thought of that aspect of it...

I can't speak for anyone but myself on this, but intelligence, compassion, creativity and kindness are at the top of my list. If a man has these things, then physical attractiveness, in my mind, naturally follows. By the same token, if I meet someone who is very handsome, and then after some discourse, I find that he lacks compassion or kindness, in my mind, his physical attractiveness fades as well.

Edited to add: If I had placed money or muscles at the top of my list, I would have never developed the wonderful relationship that I have with my significant other. He was, after all, homeless when I met him. It was his kind, gentle nature, his intelligence, and his skill in sculpting found, metal objects that drew me to him in the first place.

Intelligence is definitely an important factor in how I sum up an attractive man but it is not the only one. Compassion for others is important as well as physical attraction.

That is not saying that physical attraction has to be the American Ideal of the Perfect Man because I have been physically attracted to men who, if I didn't know their good personality traits, would be otherwise completely unappealing to me... however, with all honesty (and at risk of sounding heartless), if someone had an INCREDIBLE personality but was a complete mutant (not conventionally ugly, but to the point that I couldn't even look at them without shuddering) I would remain uninterested.

So I guess what I'm saying is that positive personality traits (intellect, humor and compassion) are a modifier on my physical attraction to someone.
IE: Were I at a party and in one corner was an Adonis belching, chugging down beers, laughing at and making fun of the people walking by and in the other corner was a slightly chubby, though with a pleasing face, geek in glasses debating the merits of Linux I'd be more physically attracted to the geek.

But, not to disappoint, I have a feeling I'm the exception rather than the rule on that one.

intelligence may not by itself make a man attractive...what I mean is it tends to put men in that interesting friends zone. However, it can definitely make an average looking guy FAR more attractive than he might be initially. The same thing goes for sense of humor. I don't think that intelligence can set you back at all, unless you are condescending about it in whichcase it might have a tendency to turn people off. But I might not speak for the majority of women...

IMHO, if there is no sense of humor, there is no intelligence. And you need intelligence combined with knowledge for either to be effective. And if you can't be nice and/or civil along with it, you just alienate others.
I spent way too much of my life searching for some unknown something, and only in the last few years have found the type of material that really challenges my ability to think. I blame that on not getting exposed to college until I was 30. Technical stuff always came easy, but that just gets me a job. Understanding myself, others, government, politics, philolsophy, etc. is where intelligence becomes more personally rewarding. It isn't much use for producing income, though.
Go to your favorite search engine and type in "problem thinker" and you will find a funny ditty that would be serious if it was about problem drinkers, but the word thinker has been substituted and makes it funny.
Those who don't, or won't think may feel threatened by those who can and will, especially if they vocalize their thoughts too much. Sometimes, keeping your opinions to yourself is the best thing to do.

To really answer this question you have to first consider what is defined as intelligent. Is it book smarts? Common sense? Artistic ability? Problem solving? Something else?

It is highly probable that everyone finds intelligence very attractive but not everyones definition of this is the same as any other given person's.

So it all comes back to the subjective nature of us as humans...which doesn't really answer the question as there really isn't one.

Oh well....

My definitions:
Smart, learns quickly.
Dumb, learns slowly, but still learns, eventually.
Ignorant, lacking in knowledge, or unaware.
Educated, has a lot of knowledge, more aware.
Educated idiot, has a lot of knowledge, hasn't made any sense of it yet, but insists on applying the knowledge incorrectly, and in an untimely manner.
Intelligent, having the capability to connect the "dots" of knowledge, and form new ideas (new to the person, if not the world).
Stupid, has the capability to learn, but refuses to.

Knowledge without intellect is a tool not used effectively (see educated idiot)
Intellect without knowledge is an unused tool. (see ignorant)
Combine knowledge and intelligence, and you finally have something.

Attractive men can sometimes get by on their looks.
Unattractive men don't have that option.
I would like to think that intelligence is an equalizer, but I know better.

Intelligent men are attractive. The same concept I used in the 'Are Intelligent Women Attractive" thread applies to men also.

A man who is a studmuffin yet can't converse with me about politics, current events, etc., will only hold my attention a short time. Physical attractiveness only goes so far.

I have to have someone who will stimulate the gray mass. An average looking man who can do that, will become more attractive to me as time goes by.

Heck yeah! I already have a "different" idea of what's physically attractive than most Westerners, though

Of course, most people will turn heads when they see someone they are physically attracted to. I'd say, unless you met online or in some other forum where there was no visual contact, the initial attraction to a person is going to be looks (meaning you won't notice someone's intelligence the moment you see him/her because it's not something that can be "measured" in a matter of a 2 second glance).

My husband isn't totally "my type" in terms of what I would normally "go for" with respect to looks (some ways he is, some ways he isn't), but he is one of the most friendly/outgoing, sweetest, respectful, hard-working, funny, intelligent, insightful people I've met, which is what drew me in...once I stopped looking at his cute butt I've actually had some form of attraction though (I'll admit, sexual/physical) to folks I wouldn't normally find physically attractive because of his intellect, compassion, or sensitivity.

And as someone else mentioned, intelligence is relative/subjective. I tend to like a well-rounded person - someone with a little bit of everything...maybe not "knock-your-socks-off" intelligent in any one area, but above average in all areas. That's my husband

Just as intelligence is relative/subjective, so is attractiveness. Like I said earlier, most of the people I find attractive are not your typical American "standard" of beauty. I like tall skinny men with butts You can keep the muscles, chiseled faces, and pretty boys, too (for the most part) One example of someone I find incredibly "sexy" is the talented actor Giancarlo Esposito (he could be my father, but man something about him - he strikes me as intelligent so maybe that's some of where my attraction lies?)

All that said, when a man is intelligent, YES he's attractive (or at least his level of attractiveness gets a big boost).

I think self-confidence is a key ingredient as well.

"Geeks" tend to be less than confident in social situations, no matter what they look like. Often, this leads to them giving up on their looks, thinking it doesn't matter.

Intelligence by itself is no great thing. However, one needs a dose of intelligence to succeed in any endeavor (relationships included).

I agree completely with your post. Confidence (esp. socially well adjusted sort) + intelligence makes for a much better situation than intelligence where one is socially inept. I think intelligence is not enough in and of itself but that combined with other traits (ie: confidence, personality, humor, or good looks etc.) it is a positive (booster) for attraction.

Heh. My boyfriend never really found me attractive until we'd known each other for a while, and although he is quite attractive his intelligence is one of his best features as well. We're both rather geeky looking by other people's standards.

You mean like Einstein?.............now theres a little raver mate...

In high school I would have said no...but as a woman I say intelligence is a must.