Does She Want You To Be Smarter Than Her?

My mom was watching "The View" on TV today.  Apparently they were discussing whether or not men were intimidated by intelligent women.  I did not hang around to find out what they said (I have no interest in that show), but it did get me thinking.  So I was looking for some articles online about it, and I happened to find several that indicate that men are intimidated.  I looked most closely at an article by Hannah Orenstein (www.hercampus.com/love/dating-hooking/are-guys-intimidated-success-why-girl-who-has-everything-doesnt-have-boyfriend) and a blog post (www.therulesrevisted.com/2013/01/what-men-think-about-your-intelligence.html).  According to these articles, and seemingly from several others spanning the past decade, apparently men are intimidated by intelligent women.  It seems that it is a power thing.  Apparently men feel the need to be the provider, the protector.  And it seems they cannot feel that way when a woman is more intelligent than them.  And it seems that works both ways . . . not only does the man feel inferior to a smarter woman and therefore less powerful, a woman is less interested in a man who is less intelligent because she doesn't feel that he is powerful enough for her.  So it would seem to be a function of power and strength as opposed to the mere level of intelligence.  I find this interesting if true, because this is really looking at basic, more primal differences between the genders.  Have we really not evolved beyond that yet?  Apparently we have not.

For myself, I feel I can say that I prefer a match on intelligence.  I really don't want someone smarter than me, and I would prefer not to be the absolute brains of the operation.  I'm interested in equality and a partnership, and really a balance between us.  I would hate to think that I am operating based on  an old concept of men are the hunters and warriors and women are dependent on them.

What do you think?  Are you interested in someone more intelligent than you or not?  Do you feel threatened or otherwise intimidated by someone of the opposite sex who is more intelligent than you?