To cheer you all up

[MistOnTheWater]

Hi, I'm just a lurker but I thought this might cheer people up.
There isn't a man clever enough to keep a clever woman quiet.
It was my man who said it. True though.

Thanks, Mist. Yes, I think this has been the year when women have started making themselves heard on crucial issues. And the opposition may have been loud and aggressive, but it certainly hasn't been clever.

a man who is really clever, would not want to keep a woman quiet, whether she is clever or not.

Very true. Men know this.
That's why they use brute force, or threats of it to shut us up.
Intellect doesn't really come into it when you get down to the nuts and bolts.

Patriarchy is built on keeping women quiet. So probably a fair few!

I can only assume this was said in context, ie the context of the current climate where women are being shut down and silenced, and the OPs OH has thought about it and said that.

I assume he didn't just randomly come out with it.

@Wearywithteens

Who and why would anyone have a saying about ‘keeping women quiet’? I don’t get it.

Well, quite. I am reminded of the following old saying:

a whistling woman and a crowing hen are neither fit for God nor men

I think this charming little epithet is meant to discourage women from indulging in activities which are regarded as stereotypically "male".

He has seen the current climate. We've talked about it. He doesn't try to keep me quiet. Good point from pp about it being brute strength not cleverness.

That was a cheering post OP. I got that it was in response to women being silenced with slurs and threats. I do think decent men listen and try to understand.