stand up for yourselves, bitches

Thursday, October 18, 2007

My latest bugbear surfaced unexpectedly during conversation with XH last night over a hearty, if imperfect, meal at Au Petit Salut.

"Why is it that when girls are around their boyfriends, their IQs seem to drop by 50 points?" I demanded of her.

She couldn't answer because her mouth was stuffed with onion soup. Or, if she mumbled something, I don't remember it. (Happy birthday XH!!)

This IQ-drop is a phenomenon I have subconsciously observed over many years without ever really thinking about it. Now that I am (thinking about it), it strikes me that this may be why I've lost respect for a lot of my female friends over the years. Taken individually, they are all smart, witty, independent entities (I try not to make friends with dumb people). But once a boyfriend looms on the horizon, BANG, they are reduced to simpering, cutesy, whiny, clingy idiots. Instead of discussions and repartee they have babytalk and playful slapping. Instead of rejoinders and comebacks they resort to pouts and puppy-dog eyes. I have one or two friends that are spared this disease. All the others, however, have succumbed.

What are the possible reasons for this strange behaviour?

I thought, at first, it could be a Singaporean guy thing. Maybe Singaporean guys are insecure and egotistical and need their girlfriends to pander to their macho pretensions. I think this is the root problem for a lot of my friends. But even those with angmoh boyfriends suffer the same problem, so it can't just be a Singaporean guy thing.

Then, I thought, maybe it's a Singaporean girl thing. Maybe, for all their professed confidence and self-reliance, Singaporean girls are afraid of being alone and left to their own devices. So they put on a brave front around other people, but with their boyfriends they assume their true clingy forms. Or maybe it's the other way around - maybe they really have pluck and backbone, but have to put on a front around their boyfriends. I'm not sure which option is sadder.

Of course, it could just be that human males are a parasitic species that leeches off the brainwaves of human females. Or so I comfort myself by thinking.

 posted by zyn :: 1:17 PM :: 7 Comments :: permalink


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