The Root: Fear of A Successful Black Woman?

The "men are intimidated by successful women" story is always touted as a reason many women are single. I didn't believe it at all until it sort of happened to me recently. I'm in my early 20s, not discouraged but shocked. What's your experience and take on this? --T.D.

The truth about partnering is that the more educated you are, which increases your likelihood of success, the more likely you also are to have a spouse. Don't believe the hype. There are many men in the dating marketplace who see themselves as a will-be Barack Obama, and they are looking for a could-be Michelle Obama type who can alternately support and even lead as they go through this thing called life.

But women aren't often told this, and as such, there's a big fear that our professional accomplishments will come at the expense of having a partner. Last week I spoke to a ladies-only room in Washington, D.C., at the National Black Law Students Association. My fellow panelists and I addressed issues ranging from getting ahead in a career and maintaining a healthy work-life balance to, of course, finding a mate.

The students breezed through the first two topics, passively scribbling notes on their BlackBerrys and iPads, but it was the subject of dating and mating that got the high-powered room's full attention and took up most of the program. You could practically see the thought bubbles above every young woman's head, wondering about the myth you and too many other women have heard, and even bought into, about men being intimidated by a successful woman.

Smart men -- the only kind you want as a partner -- know the advantage of having a power player by their side. After the panel, I struck up a conversation with a man in the lobby, also a lawyer, who was newly married and happily bragging about his wife's professional successes. He told me he had been the breadwinner in their relationship until she opened up a catering company that was currently making more money than he was earning. Thinking back to the panel I'd just finished, I asked, "Are you bothered by that?"

He didn't let me down. After he looked at me blankly, trying to determine if I was serious, he exclaimed in a thick Southern accent, "Hell, no! When she's winning, I'm winning!" Lucky for you, I've encountered many, many men who think like he does.

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