# Bachelor / genius

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Joke
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-joke-bachelor-woman-genius
- Themes: humour, gender
- Life situations: singleness

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

If a man is not married he's called a bachelor; if a woman is not married she's called a genius.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

if a man is not married he's called a bachelor if a woman is not married she's called a genius

## Teaching point

Told as a feminist joke that some will object to and some will find funny.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

An unmarried man is a bachelor; an unmarried woman is a genius. Some will object, Ajahn Brahm admits, and some will laugh. Laughing together takes the heaviness out of life. It reminds us we're all in the same human condition. Stop trying to fix everyone, yourself included, and enjoy people as they are.

## Source

- [Expectations | Ajahn Brahm | 15 April 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV0wiAuOqik) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 33:07 to 33:21: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV0wiAuOqik&t=1987s