In the essay "Fail: Bright Women" author Matina Horner asserts that women will fail intentionally throughout life for all the wrong reasons. Using examples where competition, partnership, and solitary work are present Horner demonstrates to the readers real life occasions where women will fail on purpose.
             Matina Horner discusses her idea, which she calls "motive to avoid success", as one-problem females have in which they fail on purpose. Success is an outcome women are afraid of. The first aspect of the motive is the social aspect. Females are afraid of success because of social reasons and problems that may arise out of success. When competition between opposite sex is present, especially for success, women often will back down and let the male party absorb the success. If she was to not back down there is the fear of the male becoming angry, upset, or resentful. Succeeding over a male affects their pride, which is worth more to them than most other fixations in life. The female fears her reputation or her 'appearance' to others if she succeeds over a male; looking smarter than a male is a fear the male as well as other males will feel which will in turn make them outcast her because she is smarter and therefore thinks she is better than them. Social problems of a female when it comes to success over a male include worrying about how males see her physically and emotionally, worrying about relationships between males presently and in the future, and also worrying about how it will affect the females and make them feel.
             Through Horner's tests, she develops three main categories in which women fall into under certain situations, which include competition for success against a male partner. The group that was most frequent from the females was the one where they fear social rejection as the result of success. These girls "showed anxiety about becoming unpopular, unmarriageable...