Is joining Mensa a smart move?

I took Mensa's IQ test to fight preconceptions about big-eyed petite women, but I ended up feeling cringingly self-indulgent
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Being a petite 5ft1in has its advantages: I always have plenty of leg room on long-haul flights; I can buy clothes from the cheaper teenage ranges on the high street; and I can usually extricate myself from difficult situations with a well-placed smile.

On the other hand, people often assume that I'm young, dumb, or a bit of both. First glances show long hair and big eyes, not the first-class computer science degree or the two published novels. First glances prompt people to ask if I want a child ticket at the cinema, or if I have a young persons railcard on the Gatwick Express; they don't show a 28-year-old woman who can lead or command.

Thankfully, those initial perceptions change once people talk to me, but there is usually a prevailing sense that I need to be protected more than respected. A previous manager called me "little one" on almost a daily basis while another took great pleasure in highlighting a survey which said that, on average, petite women earn £5,000 less per year than their taller counterparts. I wanted to point out that the correlation could be due to ethnicity rather than height (Chinese, Pakistani and Bangladeshi women generally being shorter than their white British counterparts), but I knew it would appear to be defensive.

The need to prove my smarts isn't due to a Napoleon complex, as one might suspect, but more to do with the superwoman complex; a hyper-feminist need to continuously prove my independence and ability.

In the latest complex-induced bout of madness, I decided to sit a Mensa supervised IQ test. If I passed, I would get a conversation-friendly way to broadcast my genius, and if I failed, then maybe I could finally get rid of the chip on my shoulder. The test came back with a score of 150 and an invitation to join the "top 2% of the population".

Instead of feeling smug, I immediately felt embarrassed. The whole exercise suddenly felt cringingly self-indulgent. Intelligence may be a more respectable pursuit than beauty but I felt as uncomfortable about joining this smart-people's club as I would joining one for beautiful people.

British Mensa says its purpose is three-fold: to provide a stimulating intellectual and social environment for its members; to identify and foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity; and to encourage research into the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence.

There isn't much of the latter two happening from what I can see on Mensa's News page, and in this internet age where anyone can find a group of likeminded individuals, surely the former is redundant? I wanted a way to broadcast my genius, yes, but not by membership of an organisation whose only real purpose is to allow members to broadcast their genius.

This brings me to my second issue: just how accurate are these tests as a measure of intelligence? Even the narcissist in me refuses to believe that I'm more intelligent than 98 people in a random group of 100. And if I am, why on earth aren't I a big-shot executive doing something smart rather than sitting cross-legged on my bedroom floor, merely writing about being smart?

I may have already answered my own question, but is Mensa really worth joining? Is membership respected and impressive or is it a surefire way to lose friends and alienate people?

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