Do you think Penny (from the big bang theory) is a good girlfriend?

[Anonymous]

I was watching the show with my brother the other day, when he pointed out that he thinks she's kinda a bitch and a terrible girlfriend. Making him feel inferior to her, not masculine and being a gold digger.

To be honest I never thought about it like that or heard someone else say, but I think he has a point.
Which begs the question of why Lenard in with her in the first place?

[Anonymous]

Though her character has gotten a little less bitchy over the course of the show, she's still a pretty lousy girlfriend, yes.

Penny has quite a thing for being insulting. She insults the guys' hobbies, clothes, physiques, professions, you name it. She always makes fun of the guys for being incompetent at something, yet is incompetent at most things herself (acting, singing, waiting tables). It's understandable for her to make fun of Sheldon, since Sheldon also makes fun of her, but with the other guys it's just uncalled for.

Other than being attractive, Penny has very few positive traits. One thing that can be said about her is that she does take her friendships seriously, and she does actually care about her friends once it gets down to it. At this point in the show, she actually does seem to be concerned about pulling her own weight financially too, rather than just bumming food and drink off of everyone else like before.

The main reason Leonard goes for her is because of the general implication that, as a nerd, Leonard doesn't really have options. This is kind of subverted, seeing as how Leonard has had a couple of other girls into him during the show, but the general idea is that she's the only one who will put up with him being a nerd (read: put up with his nerdy hobbies and beta mannerisms).

Her character has gotten a lot better since the start of the show, to the point where she's actually a tolerable person now, but at the beginning she was a complete bitch.

[electrollama]

It's a comedy, and it's part of Lenard's character to be made inferior. I wouldn't go so far as to call her a bitch. I would actually refrain from calling anyone a bitch. It has too many connections to being used against empowered or "bossy" women in general.

[bombamboum]

I don't think so. Relationship are complicated and even harder when you come from different background. In the show, she just learn to adjust. You can say about Leonard that he only went after her for her apparence. This is always a subject in the show, how hot is she? I don't think she's a bad girlfriend.

[SomethingWicked]

Because she's pretty.

Hmm, like everyone I guess she has good and bad moments, it's whether you deem the bad to outweigh the good. I think they're on equal footing though.

[evenlift]

Is she a gold-digger? Maybe she was in the past. I can't remember.

The worst girl is Bernadette, though. She really is controlling and bad-tempered.

Amy is nice and well-suited to Sheldon.

The best is Raj's new girlfriend (I can't remember her name). She seems really easy-going. And she's hot! Well done, Raj, LOL.

[GreaseMonkey68]

I never thought about it. I suppose she does seem like an average GF. But she does kinda make Leonard inferior to her.

I cannot stand the new tomboy haircut.