For a while now I’ve been hearing feminists lament about how men prefer to date and marry subservient uneducated women.

Maureen Dowd in her 2005 collection “Are Men Necessary” cites various studies done by online dating services showing that women with support-orientated, low-paying jobs get more dates. Then there’s Cynthia Nixon who gets more play in “Sex and the City” when she pretends to be an airline stewardess when she is in fact a high-powered attorney (don’t ask me how I know this). I always thought that these episodes were mere lies and statistics. What man could possibly fail to see the clear advantages of dating smart chicks?

But the evidence is mounting. The other day in class, my professor (a certain Ms. Schwartz) referenced a study in which many high school girls participated less in class for fear of not being liked by boys. Then a good buddy of mine admitted to preferring to be the smart one in his relationships.

I have decided (on the behalf of my clearly misguided brothers) to enumerate the clear and decided advantages of dating smart chicks.

1. Interests – First and foremost, the best thing about dating a smart chick is that your interests will more often coincide (unless, of course, you’re an idiot). How much easier would it be to pick up women if you could connect over topics that interest both of you?

2. Money – Now I realize this comes off as cold and unromantic, but the problem most often described as the reason for divorce is money. With a smart chick you can kiss this problem good-bye. Smart chicks earn salaries in the future that may even exceed your own! While your friends make jokes about who wears the pants in your relationship you can blow by them in your Porsche 911 GT.

3. Glasses – I realize this is a stereotype, but have you seen Tina Fey’s glasses? [Enough] said.

4. Independence – I don’t know if you’ve ever dated the kind of girl who isn’t doing anything, but it’s time consuming. She always wants to hang out with you and there’s no time for drinking heavily while watching sporting events. Smart chicks have their own stuff going on. They don’t have time to bug you because they’re involved in groups, jobs and I don’t even know what. Granted, this can get irritating if it’s too extreme, but most of the time it’s liberating.

5. Gifts – Smart chicks give the best gifts. I’m a huge “Lost” fan, and my favorite character on the show drinks this fictional scotch called McCutcheon. For my birthday a smart chick I was dating bought me a bottle of scotch over which she was able to post the McCutcheon label scanned from a snapshot of the series.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not advocate assuming a subservient role in your relationships and becoming some kind of “boy-toy” to be trotted around. Instead I would propose a sort of competitive, but mutually beneficial relationship in which two equals can enjoy the fruits of each others interesting and frustrating personalities. One that might entail a fight, forcing you to refer to them as intelligent women, rather than smart chicks.

Daniel Bland is a fifth-year journalism, English and philosophy triple major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].