Type the words “woman intellectual” into a Google search engine and the results may surprise you. A scathing blog entitled “The Intellectual Inferiority of Women” from a blog site called the Return of the King is number one, How To: Pick Up A Smart Girl-Ask Men is number two, a welcomed change of tone comes in the form of a women’s historical website, albeit an amateur site, called Women’s Intellectual Contribution, which is number three, the Wikipedia definition of “Intellectual” is number four, and yet another derogatory article on women intellectuals appears as number five, which is called “David Stove: The Intellectual Capacity of Women” and begins with the line “I BELIEVE THAT the intellectual capacity of women is on the whole inferior to men.”

I wish I could say I had to dig to find this demeaning and outlandish material, but the reverse is true for the credible material on intellectual women, for it starts to surface at the bottom of the search results page. One of the first credible sources that turn up, which doesn’t treat the concept of a woman intellectual as a joke, comes from the New Statesman article by Karen Armstrong called the “The Loneliness of the Intellectual Women.” In the article, Armstrong reveals that serious intellectual women are common members of the population but probably pass unnoticed because the intellectualism of women is not celebrated in either the U.K. or U.S.. Armstrong goes on to reflect on the solitary existence she has experienced as the direct result of being an intellectual woman. Armstrong finds her isolation comes from a bias in which, “academic women are often characterised as sexless, dowdy, humourless and frigid.” However, in the case of men, Armstrong observes, “[…] [intellectual] abstraction is usually regarded as noble and inspiring; but, in a woman, it is often condemned as selfish. It seems that such a degree of concentration is too far removed from the caring and sharing ethos popularly associated with the female.” Armstrong hits the nail on the head when she observes that intellectual women are unpopular because they are regarded as unfeminine (the worst characteristic a woman’s identity can often suffer in Western society), and this popular portrayal of the intellectual woman has preserved the vigorous campaign against intellectual women.

In turn, this prevailing 19th century bias has also driven intellectual women into hiding. We may find ourselves playing down our intellectual interests or apologetically referring to ourselves as a “nerd,” rather than a “science scholar” or a “patron of the arts”. I am certainly guilty of that kind of girlish meekness. We certainly don’t want anyone to think we are too serious, or jeopardize the image of an affable, docile, and recognizably feminine woman. What would the neighbors say? Betty would spread that gossip faster than she spreads marmalade on Frank’s toast.

Furthermore, the unpopular archetype of the woman intellectual has also contributed to a large scale misunderstanding of the scholarly woman, and, as a result, she is often singularly represented as a lonely cat lady surrounded by musty old books. This has made it difficult for intelligent women to identify themselves as intellectuals, for all intellectual women are not the same, and this brings me to the purpose of this quiz, which is to encourage you to discover what kind of intellectual woman you are dear reader, and to encourage you to celebrate your intellectualism alongside your womanhood.

1) In the fashion of many serious thinkers, you are enjoying the stimulating effects of coffee and good conversation with your cherished friends. How would you describe your friends?

A) A coterie of idealistic writers who emphasize with your need to capture and understand the human condition.

B) Eccentric and exotic visionaries who find beauty in everything.

C) Trusted colleagues who have a grip on reality and share your refreshing analytic perspective of the physical world.

D) The cultured and informed intelligentsia who will reflect on important world events with you.

2) Your boss wants you to produce a report that focuses on your recent progress and demonstrates the importance of your work. For you, what is the best way to present your work:

A) A persuasive and detailed written report that covers every angle of your work.

B) An engaging slide show that clearly illustrates your focus and the tangible results that your work is producing.

C) Pffft….a persuasive paper. How quaint! I would provide my employer with indisputable facts in the form of precise graphs and metrics.

D) I would collaborate with my other team members in order to deliver the most accurate report. My boss is unlikely to dispute the impact of my work when he sees the effect my work is having on the entire department.

3) It is time to take a break from so much involved thinking and producing, and enjoy more contemplative mental activity. You relax with:

A) Austerlitz, Northanger Abbey, or The Times Traveler’s Wife.

B) The Poetry of Pablo Neruda, Memoirs of a Geisha, Lolita, or Whitman’s Leaves of Grass

C) The Elegant Universe, or Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach

D) Plato’s Republic, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, or Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies.

4) How can you be expected to think and create if you don’t have the environment that sparks ideas and provides a welcoming retreat from a sometimes senseless and chaotic world? The ideal home you strive to maintain:

A) Is tinted in a soft and fresh hue like pale green and is inhabited by precious treasures: rustic old books, tranquil arrangements of flowers, and articles of refinement like glass clocks and dreamy oil paintings.

B) Is an expressive and colorful personal statement. The home is filled with various forms of evocative artwork from different movements. Everywhere you look, you find inspiration. You often prefer bold colors and novel furniture to stir your imagination.

C) Is a quiet and comfortable place of harmony. I don’t have many decorations, but I have the important items that make my home practical, serene, and best all my private space that is far from so many senseless distractions.

D) Is a cool, sophisticated, and eclectic place. It is filled with books and artifacts, and it often reflects my various interests. You will find everything from African artwork, my copious music and book collection to treasured family heirlooms and fun artifacts reflect a life well-lived.

5) How do you receive your news:

A) The New Yorker, Harper’s, The New York Review of Books, and the New Statesmen.

B) Salon, Slate, Writer’s Digest, Hi-Fructose, and The Atlantic.

C) NPR, Popular Science, and Technology Review.

D) Economist, The New York Times, Harvard International Review, Americas Quarterly, and NPR.

6) Which Skills or Gifts would you like to cultivate?

A) My imagination, my insight on the human condition, and my capacity to understand the secrets of other intellectuals’ great power.

B) My sensitivity to beauty as well as my corporeal senses, so that the outer world can better inspire me.

C) My mental awareness and my mathematical accuracy. I want to see and understand the world more precisely.

D) My knowledge and understanding of world events and culture. My library could better reflect my diverse and vast interests.

7) You’re an intellectual, so naturally you entertain the subject of time travel. All intellectuals are a sort of time lord in their own right. If only the want-to-be Kardashians and sad under achievers had discovered a library’s power to transcend time and space, the world might be more sophisticated. On that note, which great historical figures do you occasionally like to visit?

A) The one and only “Bard of Avon” first and foremost. Then, the rest of the great masters: James Joyce, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf.

B) All sorts of influential figures. It is hard to keep track of them of all, much less pick a few favorites. Possibly, Picasso, Rumi, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Joan of Arc. Figures that bravely followed their unique visions are the movers and shakers I want to be acquainted with.

C) Looking back can only help me so much. I prefer future progress to romanticizing about the past; thus, I am interested in people making breakthroughs right now. I would like to meet people like the biologist John Craig Venter, who created the first synthetic genome in 2010 and the physicist Konstantin Sergeevich Novoselov whose work on grapheme (a monolayer of carbon atoms) is making waves in the field of physics.

D) Inspirational people that lead or have led important movements. People like the Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai, Aung San Suu Kyi (who strived to bring democracy to the present day Myanmar and has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts) and many other important activist like anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.

8) You pride yourself on your worldliness, or rather knowing the world on a deeper level than those who just exist in it. So what places would you travel to that you think will broaden your understanding of the world:

A) Cornwall England: the mythical land of King Arthur. I also would like to travel further inland to visit all the Oxbridge libraries and spend some time in the world of all my literary heroes.

B) England! I just see bleak and foggy landscapes and dusty old buildings. I’d rather be enlivened and inspired by Tuscany or Paris.

C) I prefer to take a real vacation and go to a place intended for relaxation. However, I wouldn’t mind traveling to Hawaii or the Florida keys, but if I had to choose a place to visit for enlightenment I wouldn’t mind visiting the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C. or Kennedy Space Center.

D) I want to see the world! I especially want to see the places that would seem incredibly foreign to me and are likely to change my world-view. I would like to visit places like Iran, China, and Russia.

9) What seemingly non-intellectual hobbies do you enjoy:

A) Calligraphy, cooking, making period costumes (or general sewing), collecting antiques, or journaling.

B) Painting, sculpting, photography, sketching, or maybe some acting.

C) Star gazing, computer gaming or role-playing games, or nature hiking.

D) Social networking or attending community events and political groups.

10) Which major life achievements suit you:

A) Be a published author or recognized leader of a movement.

B) Become an established creative personality or artist.

C) Make a breakthrough in my field or make a discovery that could greatly improve my community.

D) To once and for all break the glass ceiling and make major changes in my place of business.

Mostly A: The Romantic Intellectual

You find solutions to the world’s problems through the power of your imagination and creativity. Your keen perception and openness to knowledge have also made you an unconventional and sophisticated person who is not always easy to understand. And your sensitivity and gracious idealism does not make life any easier. It is these unique faculties that prevent you from belonging, and can even make it hard for you to accept yourself as an intellectual or respected authority, as it is hard to understand the true value of your gifts. Yet, your great faculties in the end do not just separate you from everyone but instead elevate you from the crowd as they have other romantic intellectuals such as Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and the great Virginia Woolf. If you cultivate your great imagination like the romantic intellectuals before you, it will eventually allow you to communicate a vision that could enrich and subsequently change the human condition.

Mostly B: The Artistic Intellectual

You are a free spirit that can’t be confined by society’s expectations. While many people in your life disagree with your avant-garde interests and forward thinking sensibilities, those that matter are won over by your boldness and your inspiring and beautiful vision of life that can only be imagined by a true artist. May your fearless search for truth and beauty take you as far as it has taken other artistic intellectuals like Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’keeffe, and Marina Abramović.

Mostly C: The Scientific Intellectual

Where are we without highly sophisticated people like you? Probably in a desperate situation in a dreary medieval world. While the value and the significance of your intellectual potential and work are perhaps clear to any moderately intelligent person, you still confront your own struggles. If you are women in a technical or scientific field, you might face the remaining challenges that come with being a woman in a male-dominated environment. It is also hard for everyone to appreciate the beauty of science and mathematics, for not everyone finds quantum mechanics or computer algorithms as interesting as you do. It takes the most committed intellectual to appreciate your work. These special hindrances you face as scientific intellectual can make the world an exceptionally lonely and unfriendly place. Nevertheless, your ceaseless curiosity that compels you to comprehend the universe cannot be belittled or thwarted, and this will lead to great accomplishments that will have the deepest intellectual impact, this is if you have the same fortitude as the scientific intellectuals before you such as Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin, and Barbara McClintock.

Mostly D: The Political Intellectual

You have a world of great qualities to offer. The most significant among these is you are as intellectual as you are socially conscious. This brilliant combination has given you an aptitude for working with people along with grand ideas, and this has consequently prepared you for an important leadership role. American women especially want to see political intellectuals like you succeed in their country because according to report from USA Today “Eighty-nine is the number of nations that still surpass the U.S. in terms of women’s representation in government.” Women intellectuals also depend on your desire to pursue your ambition because without your willingness to lead how can the rest of us fully recognize how powerful and important a woman’s role in society can be. We need you to keep opening doors for us, and if you succeed you will join the ranks of Simone De Beauvoir, Gloria Steinem, and many other important world leaders.