My husband was just in here and saw the title of this thread and commented, "Why are 'thin' and 'beautiful' together? Aren't those three choices and not two?" He's right. "Thin" and "beautiful" are related, not synonymous--cousins, not twins.
I'm already a pretty smart cookie, I'm already at least attractive if not beautiful, and I'm working on getting thinner. I don't have any of the three in great excess, but I feel pretty lucky to have at least a sample of all of them.
But if I had to choose super-beauty over super-brains (and if super-beauty is also defined as having a body like Heidi Klum's), I would choose super-brains. I have a good brain, but with a great brain, I would probably be able to understand concepts that mystify me now like string theory or how to fix a problem with our network without getting my husband to help.
There are times that I'd answer the other way, though, just because it would be fun to spend a year or two having a goddess-like physical form. I admit that life does seem easy for the ultra-pretty; I mean, when you can earn a living by standing there breathing while wearing expensive clothing, that's got to be nice.
Intelligent. Hands down. I have a wide range of interests and I like to thing these come from my need to ask questions and explore answers, which goes hand in hand with intelligence.
Sadly both men and women (on average) rate beauty higher in value/importance than intelligence for women. And for men, intelligence rates higher. And for both men and women, beauty is associated with perception of intelligence and all matter of goodness. In essence, male or female (though more true if you're female) if you're attractive, people assume you're smart and good. If you're ugly, people assume you're stupid and evil.
I find it incredibly sad that beauty is so highly rated.
Also, feeling beautiful is more important than being beautiful. I've always felt more beautiful than my younger sister who is much thinner and far prettier. She's never seen her own beauty. She thinks she's unattractive, so she acts as if she's unattractive (and sometimes it makes her seem unattractive. A smile can do wonders in improving a person's physical appearance).
I wouldn't be me without my intelligence, and as hard as it can be to be me, I like myself too much to wish myself into nonexistence.
I agree with Nola that this is really three options. Intelligence aside, I've seen some women that are very thin but had a face for radio. Then there are plenty of women that are beautiful and curvy.
So, my husband already thinks I'm beautiful and intelligent. In my experience, a man whose opinion is worth caring about isn't hung up on 100% looks. My husband is 38 and working on his degree so he's in classes with 18-22 year old girls. I'm sure he finds some of them attractive visually, but then they open their mouths and start "talking" (like, um... so I went to the mall.. and like, um... this guy came up to me and like, totally asked me out!) and he wants to duct tape it shut. Any arousal he might have felt vanishes abruptly.
Reality isn't an all or nothing thing unless you're with a real jerk (or jerk friends). Lucky for me, I'm smart enough to have avoided the jerks.
intelligence = being aware of what is going on around you. the more aware i am the less happy i am. if i could be thin and beautiful and completely unaware i would be down for that. i've spent enough time being unattractive and smart.
I am pretty sure that would want intelligence over thin/beautiful. My life lessons have taught me that while intelligence and beauty are great gifts, they are only as good as what you DO with that gift. Many people waste their gifts, so I would want the intelligence to use my gifts!
intelligence = being aware of what is going on around you. the more aware i am the less happy i am. if i could be thin and beautiful and completely unaware i would be down for that. i've spent enough time being unattractive and smart.
I've met a lot of unaware, stupid, angry, unhappy people. I think blissful ignorance is a myth - at least within the scope of normal human intelligence. If you were only as intelligent as the average cocker spaniel, maybe you could acheive blissful ignorance, but even the vast majority of mentally handicapped people have more than enough awareness to be miserable.
I think happiness has less to do with awareness, and more to do with what in psychology is called "locus of control," how much control you feel you have over your life (and what you do about it).
You can be stupid and feel out of control, taking no action (being unhappy), and you can be intelligent and feel in control and be taking action (being happy).
My ACT and IQ scores qualify me for Mensa (though I consider myself "too smart" to pay $60 to prove it). I used to have a nearly photographic memory, but now have a physical and sometimes mental disability (my illness and my medications severely mess with my short term memory and cognitive processes), so it feels like I've lost a lot of my intelligence (actually I think my intelligence is the same, I just have problems accessing it sometime). I definitely have not gotten happier, but I haven't gotten more miserable either. My outlook on life hasn 't really changed all that much, though I think I appreciate joy and happiness more.
For me, happiness is the living the Serenity Prayer (the abbreviated version that is used by 12 step groups).
God,
Grant me the serenity;
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage, to change the things I can;
And the wisdom, to know the difference.
All of my life, I would have responded to this question by saying intelligence. But, as someone who has always been the "smart one" who men either totally ignore or want to chum around with, I am getting to a turning point. I am so used to being brushed off like a piece of dandruff and would like, for just one year or so, to know what it is like to be the "beautiful" one. Then I'll go back to being intelligent.
I agree that thin isn't always beautiful, and you can be beautiful without being thin.. but the original question asked was if you would rather be thin, and beautiful, or smart. I would drop some IQ points to be thin, and beautiful.. even if it is shallow.
Can I get a smart and thin combo? Smart and average combo will do, too.
Beauty is so subjective. What's beautiful to you may not necessarily be beautiful to others. I don't care about looking beautiful... but I do care about being content and accepting of how I look.
