[L.N. Smithee]

Oprah Winfrey and Condoleeza Rice are 2 examples of sucessful black women who have never been married, and probably never will. Damn shame.

Oprah, definitely. She will have marriage experts and proposals of marriage on her show when she has steadfastly denied Stedman Graham and she ever plan to make it official. But Condoleezza? I have never heard such a thing suggested before. Why wouldn't she get married except for the fact that her brilliance probably intimidates men, keeping them away from her like a force field?

[strela]

Why wouldn't she get married except for the fact that her brilliance probably intimidates men, keeping them away from her like a force field?

For the longest time, I simply refused to accept the possibility that some Freeper men were capable of being intimidated by intelligent, strong women. Surely, I thought, the idea of an everyday, intimate relationship with a first-class mind (especially when combined with a first-class body) just has to be every man's idea of the ideal relationship. No more begging on the Internet for a good chess partner, no more explaining for hours on end the rules of bridge, no more having to play Go against the computer yet again. And as for the idea that men are vulnerable in such a relationship, well, love by its very nature is an exercise in vulnerability anyway, isn't it?

Then, I started reading the Annika Sorenstam threads and the scales fell from my eyes.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I think Condi does intimidate men, and that's too bad. She'd be a great mom...but since she isn't married or a mom, maybe she'd make a great president in 2008 :)

No matter how hard the tabloids try, Oprah conducts herself like a lady. There is nothing they can say about her except her weight, which is a mean thing to do. This has been the point I've been trying to make about older folks who choose to have a discreet non-marriage arrangement. Oprah is a decent woman.