Good topic! Follows somewhat on last week's, too. I'll post a response shortly...

Here's my response. I took a half-personal half-political approach.

Something I wonder: is self-doubt and its expression gendered in some way? Maybe the expression is, but I think doubt is an inherent quality of humanity.

i am so smart: the homerizatoin of women's intellectual power. this week, my favorite thought-provoking site asked the question: are women asked to downplay their intelligence in deference to men? personally, i chose to attend a women's college so that i would avoid precisely that. you may rightfully feel that this is a cop out, and that it might be more useful for me to have attended a coed school where i could have broken down stereotypes, but i knew and still know that for myself, i needed to be able to stand on my own feet before i knocked other people off theirs.

to be truthful, i have downplayed my smarts in response or in deference to men. with boyfriends in high school, i often did not betray my academic interests and intellectual ambitions for fear they would label me a 'brain' or lose interest. at the same time, i would keep quiet in classes, thinking that no matter how smart my comments were, i was bound to be put down by my smarter and more 'correct' male counterparts. in college, this trend of mine has continued to some extent. i perceive that my male teachers are much less likely to endorse my ideas, while my female professors actively encourage me to think. this situation does not always hold; there are many professors here of both sexes who foster intellectual development. whatever the reality of the situation, there is a feeling of what i can only call deference to male, especially older, professors.

this needs to change. acting out of fear towards male professors and supervisors in offices only serves to reinforce the historical idea of women as naturally intellectual inferiors of men. we must be proud of whatever natural intelligence we have been given, be assertive when relating our ideas, be bold in our imagination and creative endeavors. we must, as young women, speak up and be heard.

Alison, I answered the first part of your question on my blog and will get around to answering the other parts later. Thanks for another intriguing question, kitty cat.

It's a typical problem that has a root in antropocentrism. We're taught that all great scholars were/are men - that strong ideas and empires were built because of men. Of course, the enlightened know that things aren't what they appear - more men than women excelling in academics only has to do with the fact that they are often awarded opportunity where women aren't.

To latch onto your mention of School Girls and my own experiences with students' gender specific classroom behavior, a lot of "success" differentials between boys and girls or men and women have to do with self-esteem. If girls are still (yes STILL) being taught to take a back seat, we'll continue to question ourselves, even when we do get to the level of career academia. It's disgusting, but it's culturally ingrained.

The other day, I had a conversation with one of my students about gender roles and the emotions or personality traits that are supposed to be specific to each gender. Women are supposed to be sympathetic, selfless, and forgiving. Women aren't supposed to be cut-throat go-getters, and sometimes that's what one has to be when trying to achieve in school or any other "work" setting. A woman in that position will have to "sacrifice" something - she might understand that losing friends (for acting "like a bitch") is just a necessary consequence for success. Or, she'll wind up taking on feelings of guilt - or, as you mentioned, fear - for/of being successful and progressing over others. I notice, as I get on in my own career, that men don't seem to have that problem, or that they're not as apologetic when it comes to success. In fact, they revel in it with no regrets, fears, or second thoughts to who they might have done better than and why.

All of this, again, leads to another culturally ingrained idea - that women aren't "people" to begin with, they're "women" - non persons. Does a non-person have the right to be successful? Can a non person be successful? No. Therefore, the non-person must have "fooled" someone or bs-ed their way through school. As much as I'd like to say otherwise, I still fight that daily.

My response is up on my blog

I added a bit more to my response, and will continue adding to it.

Kerri, Vic, Thanks for the kick in the butt. I've posted my sputtering start on my blog. Of course, I had to overcome my own imposterhood to do it.

My answer's here, though I haven't read anyone else's response yet. Good question. Not definitively answered by me.

I've added more to mine. Again. The more I thought about the notion that "ALL" smart women thought of themselves as fraudulent, the more it angered me.

Wow! I love the responses thus far. I am formulating mine - or at least, finding the time to put it down on paper or at least, screen.
I'm mixed. I often feel like people will think I'm a fraud, so I overwhelm with intelligence. In my masters program, I lead groups, I ooze knowledge and I am generally known as a strong, intellectual student.
However, I self doubt so very much. Sometimes I worry that this paper or that presentation will show me to be a fake and that it's all an act. Then I sit and I remember that it's not an act. It's who I am.
I think that the statement, 'all smart women' is, as April pointed out, angering. Even in the responses we've gotten on this forum, we've gotten mixed ones - certainly not all feel one way or another. Some, like me, feel both ways. Some feel one way or another. It's too complex a topic to say that all feel one way or another.
Anyway, thanks for the comments thus far! Keep 'em coming and I'll have my offical response up soon!

Can relate to it in a million different ways, and each turns my heart in a different direction.

I posted about it here. Thanks. :)

Hey! My friend Bernie to responded to your topic on her BRAND NEW BLOG Give her a visit at The Bernie Blog, leave her a comment and encourage her!!!

great topic! response here.