"My sisters are very academically inclined so whenever they would fix me up, it would always be from someone in their world, people they would find attractive. When they came to the door in suits, it was over"
About this Quote
Perkins sketches a whole social ecosystem in two brisk strokes: the academic world her sisters inhabit, and the kind of man that world reliably produces. The line isn’t really about bad dates; it’s about how desire gets outsourced to other people’s definitions of “impressive.” Her sisters “fixing” her up reads like care, but it’s also soft power - a quiet attempt to fold her into their value system, where intelligence signals status and status comes dressed as credentialed masculinity.
The killer detail is wardrobe: “When they came to the door in suits, it was over.” A suit here isn’t neutral. It’s a uniform of ambition, conformity, and a certain rehearsed adultness that can feel like a job interview masquerading as romance. Perkins compresses an entire mismatch - class cues, temperament, even sexual chemistry - into that one visual. You can hear the door opening and the internal sigh landing at the same time.
As an actress, Perkins also understands casting. Her sisters are effectively typecasting her love life, selecting candidates who look good on paper (and in a hallway) rather than people who spark something idiosyncratic. The humor is dry but pointed: “academically inclined” becomes a polite euphemism for snob-adjacent taste, while “it was over” is the punchline and the boundary. She’s rejecting the idea that compatibility is a resume, and insisting - lightly, but firmly - that attraction isn’t a committee decision.
The killer detail is wardrobe: “When they came to the door in suits, it was over.” A suit here isn’t neutral. It’s a uniform of ambition, conformity, and a certain rehearsed adultness that can feel like a job interview masquerading as romance. Perkins compresses an entire mismatch - class cues, temperament, even sexual chemistry - into that one visual. You can hear the door opening and the internal sigh landing at the same time.
As an actress, Perkins also understands casting. Her sisters are effectively typecasting her love life, selecting candidates who look good on paper (and in a hallway) rather than people who spark something idiosyncratic. The humor is dry but pointed: “academically inclined” becomes a polite euphemism for snob-adjacent taste, while “it was over” is the punchline and the boundary. She’s rejecting the idea that compatibility is a resume, and insisting - lightly, but firmly - that attraction isn’t a committee decision.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sister |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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