Okay.
The idea for this thread came from a thread that was disappeared due to its having apparently been opened by a sock, in which an apparently fictional young man was bemoaning his love life prospects.
In that thread I had speculated that we might be in a time in which women are much more often going to be more educated and more economically successful than many men their own age are, yet we still possess some ingrained biases that make some women, relative to men, less comfortable with a partner significantly less than her equal in some combination of intellectual, educational, economic, and status level, and conversely make some men, relative to women, a bit intimidated in a relationship in which they are significantly less than the equal of their partner, and less uncomfortable than women are with partners who are significantly lower levels than they are on each.
I know that is worded awkwardly but I think the point is clear. For the purposes of that thread I speculated what that possibility would mean for relationships in the 20s and in the 30s but the initial speculation is still just that.
I based this thread on the presumption that this is a more progressive than average crowd but I hypothesized that even here we might see evidence that more women are comfortable with a partner higher in those metrics than are they than are men, and conversely, more men are comfortable with a partner lower in those metrics than they are than are women.
So far that hypothesis seems to be being supported: 22 to 17 straight males preference to being the higher level one in those metrics compared to the opposite direction for straight females with 16 to 8 preferring a partner being the higher level in those metrics.
Gay males have too few reporting to make a meaningful conclusion and no gay females answered at all.
Honestly I had not expected in this particular subculture for the divergence to be that dramatic. I was thinking it would be marginal. Boy, if this rather “enlightened” crowd has that magnitude of difference than the difference in the broader population is likely much higher.
I do not judge it. We are unavoidably products of our cultures and our upbringings and those do not change on a dime even as the realities on the ground change quite quickly. I also note that despite my constant making fun of princess stuff my 14 year old daughter only half jokingly this year stated that her career ambition is to be a socialite. Oh I know that she will turn out to be a strong independent successful woman maybe partnered in a relationship and will end up comfortable I hope with the possibility of being the larger breadwinner and better educated one if/when that day comes. But dang … a socialite? This is NOT how we raised you girl!
Does the above have an impact on how happy young well educated, intellectual, economically successful females are with their romantic prospects with their age cohort? Of course moving up an age cohort to find available males closer (or above) to their equals in those metrics is an option and one that many females are comfortable with and that society in general has always found to be normative.
Does the above have an impact on how happy young, less highly educated, less intellectual, less economically successful males are with their romantic prospects within their age cohort? Males who might also be less than comfortable moving up an age cohort in romance and who might not be all that appealing to those women either.
