What makes women with INTP type so rare? Probably, a set of unusual personality traits and quirks, most of which are not typical of women. If you ever happen to meet an INTP female, you’d better forget about gender stereotypes as she will be nothing like the society’s image of how a woman should be.
Here are some of the quirky traits and perceptions which will only ring true for a woman with INTP personality type:
Most women follow certain self-care and beauty routines every day to look more attractive. Washing your hair, doing some hair styling and applying makeup are sacred rituals for any woman. However, an INTP female may find it difficult to stick with these daily self-care activities. I’m not saying that we shower once a month or never make up our face – we are just not so concerned with our physical appearance.
INTPs, both men and women, tend to be more focused on the things which are beyond the material side of existence. For this reason, it just doesn’t make sense for us to spend hours of our time for the sake of looking better. We’d better read an interesting book or immerse in an inner dialogue on a meaningful topic.
Some men think that all women enjoy things like shopping, manicure and reading fashion magazines. Well, it’s certainly not the case with female INTPs. We are just not interested in this stuff and are bored to spend our time and energy on it, for the reasons described in the previous point. This also makes it difficult for us to relate to other women, especially those who love talking about nails, celebrities and clothes.
But it’s not only about interests – we struggle to make friends with other women simply because our way of thinking is different. Sometimes it feels that we can easier relate to men than to women because we highly rely on logical thinking (IN(T)P stands for thinking). So all those jokes about the “women’s logic” are certainly not about female INTPs.
Housekeeping and cooking are certainly not our cup of tea, which is another way an INTP female breaks gender stereotypes. INTP is an example of chaotic mind, so anything that has to do with putting things into order is not our thing. So if you are a man who seeks a perfect housewife who will cook and clean, be sure that a relationship with an INTP female is not going to work.
This is mainly caused by the traits discussed in the first point – anything about the material side of life is not of great interest for INTPs. As long as we have something great to occupy our mind with, we just don’t notice that mess in the room and it doesn’t bother us at all.
Another reason why women with INTP personality are such bad housewives is that we are incredibly impractical. According to the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator, there are sensing and intuitive types. The first ones have pretty good practical skills while the latter ones (I(N)TP stands for intuition) are better at working with theoretical concepts.
This basically means that we would find it easier to solve a mathematical equation (if we are math geeks, of course) than to choose the right fabric softener for our washing machine. Sometimes, these kinds of mundane tasks make us feel completely incapable and helpless.
This lack of practical thinking also influences our ability to engage in social interaction. INTPs are some of the most socially awkward and quirky personalities who seem to lack any social skills.
It doesn’t mean that we hate people and don’t like to be involved in an interesting discussion though. We just don’t do well with superficial connections which are based solely on the social obligation. And we absolutely can’t stand small talk.
That’s why an INTP female may be perceived as arrogant or weird by the people she doesn’t feel connected to.
Most women adore flowers, cute gifts and other expressions of love in its romantic sense. But not the INTP ones. We tend to look for the essence of things, so more superficial expressions of affection like giving teddy bears or calling sweet names don’t touch us.
What really touches us though is to feel understood and appreciated for our personality and intellect. For an INTP female, there is nothing better than to have a deep conversation about meaningful things with her significant other.
Independence in any sphere of life is one of the highest priorities for an INTP. For this reason, people with this personality type rarely work in office jobs or public/military service. So it’s highly unlikely to see an INTP female working as a personal assistant or a client manager.
The same is true for relationships – an INTP needs healthy boundaries and a certain degree of freedom. This personality type also tends to be highly reserved (INTP stands for introversion), so we need pretty much time to stay alone with our thoughts.
That’s why an INTP female will never tolerate possessive behaviors in a relationship. She’d better be alone than with a man who tells her what to do or where to or not to go.
Since this personality type tends to highly rely on independence and needs a personal space, starting a family can be a great challenge for an INTP female. Even if we are lucky to have a great man in our life, the idea of having children really frightens us. Because in this case, we will have to sacrifice so many things that are essential for us – privacy, alone time, personal freedom. And we will also have to face so many mundane problems which accompany the upbringing of kids.
The truth is that INTPs rarely make great parents because we fail to devote ourselves to our children as well as give them the necessary emotional support. So an INTP female is very likely to have fears and doubts about her ability to become a good mother.
As you see from the above, women with INTP personality type bash so many gender stereotypes about how a woman should be, think and behave. We certainly don’t look like the image of a perfect woman the society wants us to strive for.
Do you know anyone with these characteristics or are you an INTP female yourself? If you are unsure, you can check out the detailed description of the Myers-Briggs personality types to find out which type resonates with you most of all.
Please feel free to share your experiences in the comments below.
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I’m an INTP female and man could I chose the hell out of some fabric softener, well maybe not fabric softener... unnecessary set of chemicals... but designing domestic systems can be a pretty rewarding hobby. My fiancé of 11 years is an INTP too so without good design, nothing would get done but get a robot vacuum, and a Dyson hand held vac for dusting - put it in an easy location, a washing machine and dryer in one, modify a steam mop, set up automatic payments for all your bills (average the variable ones), get all Kaizen on your whole house, bucket for weeds and gardening gloves by the door for tiny bursts of gardening, etc... if you don’t end up sticking to the system, you didn’t make it easy enough, redesign the system. If you get bored of the system, redesign it you didn’t make it novel enough. All these INTP articles make us sound like we are useless procrastinating basket cases but we have the capacity to think this stuff easy. Anything can be as intellectual, logical and creative as you make it. Same with work. I’m not incapable of anything.
Kristy - I totally agree. I am definitely INTP (although I'm towards the middle on some characteristics) and I've always loved the challenge of redesigning domestic organization. More specifically, I loved making the most of tiny spaces so moving into a larger home (and still managing to do laundry for 5) was initially overwhelming for me. But, I've finally developed some habits that work for me. Most of all, I LOVE the fact that I don't get hung up on little inconveniences, because they usually make room for my creativity, which I attribute to my INTP personality. Like, when I was tired of our unscented detergent, I added essential oil to the wash and voila! I am finally convincing my husband that automatic payments are the way to go - keeping track of due dates is just oppressive.
There is a lot of truth to what's in this article, but the outlook is dismal at best. Thank God that I did not know I was INTP before I married and started a family, because apparently the diagnosis should have been terminal. Not so!
About the girly stuff, I'm actually pretty into that. I enjoy makeup and fashion. The majority of intps I know do too.
I can occasionally dip into the feminine stuff, but for the most part no, leave me out of it. And I can appreciate the thought behind flowers. Love kids though. Definitely having kids one day. Completely agree with the rest of it, though.
Everything that you have said is really me. My room is an organized mess- it looks like a mess to everyone else but I know where and what I put in that. And for the girly stuff, 5 stars on that. I find it hard to relate to girly stuffs. I often think I'll be a horrible parent, since I am zero in cooking and other housewife stuffs.
I test as INTP and I’m a woman. I’m honestly a tad vain! I love fashion because it’s creative and imaginative. I think the creative side of INTPs is not accounted for enough in most descriptions. I’m something of an aesthete and an artist too. I like poetry, art, philosophy as much if not more than science and math. I’m not particularly masculine....more like an alien!
It’s true I don’t relate well to other women (well PEOPLE...it’s not like your average bro isn’t a shallow meathead), but stuff like makeup and shoes is the Venn diagram overlap area. It’s the “he said she said” crap that makes me want to kill myself. I can actually be very empathetic, but I stay calm and seek solutions rather than mirror emotions, and this may seem detached. Still, many people come to me for insight . So I have interpersonal skills, but I am admittedly socially dense too.
I often do hate mushy, sentimental stuff but mostly because I’m a snob and it seems so unoriginal and, well, embarrassing. But I actually love Romanticism as an aesthetic and really appreciate emotional depth in others.