While The Kettle Boils

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 65, 20 September 1940, Page 41

While The Kettle Boils

Dear Friends, Have just been reading with interest the observations of a Dr, Louis Bisch, and as his discourse concerns the feminine sex, I thought I would let you in on it, The learned Doctor’s big question mark is, can a woman be successful in love without brains-and is a woman actually better off without a surplus of grey matter? Dr. Bisch must be a man of courage -he gets straight into the argument. He asks us all to agree on this pointthat women, first and foremost, are bent on getting their man. If she has not the gift of exercising this instinct, there is really nothing that can compensate her adequately for the loss. Man, said the Doctor, is different. Man’s supreme ego has to be reckoned (continued on next page)

WHILE THE KETTLE BOILS (continued from previous page) with, and often his romantic interests are side-tracked by the driving power of this ego. Whereas a woman will sacrifice anything for love, man will draw a definite line if his ego is trampled on or his pride hurt. It is the intellectual woman, Dr. Bisch contends, who is liable to hurt a man’s ego. That is why he shies away from her and explains, perhaps, why some giants of intellect marry silly, little, loveable women, The trouble is, the argument goes on, that so many brainy women can’t resist flaunting their intellectual powers when in a man’s company, which you'll agree, is not a very subtle thing to do; but there it is. Men like to engage in small talk with women, or they like to impress them with tall talk about themselves. If the woman listens admiringly, paying due tribute to the man’s intellectual powers, he will get a far greater satisfaction than to be praised for his clothes-or for being a great lover. The woman who allows herself to be impressed by brains invariably makes a hit. Dr. Bisch remarks that often he has heard the criticism that the intellectual type of woman loses her femininity. Men claim that her seriousness makes her old before her time-that she does not laugh readily or appreciate the lighter side of life. The Doctor does not however advocate the Dumb Dora type of behaviour. But to be successful with men, he believes that a woman, as a matter of politics, should avoid upsetting the masculine poise. Lovemaking enters into the argument, as this is as much a part of the mind as of the emotions. One would expect the intellectual type to excel in it. Yet, she doesn’t. Maybe her superior intellect causes her to despise the love intrigues resorted to by her less gifted sisters. Dr. Bisch divides the mind into two parts-the intellectual and the emotional processes-and perhaps the two cannot flourish equally well in the same woman. The Du Barrys and Cleopatras of history Dr. Bisch regards as clever rather than intelligent.

He also draws a definite line between "intellect" and " intelligence." A person may not be gifted with intellectual powers (reasoning, logic, etc.), yet be highly intelligent. To use the Doctor’s words: "Intelligence is the ability of individuals to adapt themselves to their own environment, by using their intellectual equipment for their own advantage." The brainy woman with intelligence can and does attract all kinds of men. In short, she is subtle and clever in her management of them. Thus ‘the brainy woman, who is also intelligent, can actually turn her handicap into an asset. As Tweedledum said to Alice as she wandered through that magic lookingglass land: "I know what you're thinking about, but it isn’t so, nohow. Contrariwise, if it were so, it might be, but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic." Yours cordially,

Cynthia