[SauronOfMordor]

There seems to be some truth to "Men marry down, women marry up." She's not likely to marry "down" because she thinks her own snooty crowd will make fun of her. If she wants a man, all she needs to do is go get one. But she can't rid herself from her own image of "success." She's trapped, she doomed, and her biological clock is ringing so loud it's keeping the neighbors awake.

It's not that "men marry down" as much as men have different search criteria. Men look for a woman who is

• reasonably pretty
• has a compatible (high) libido
• is generally cheerful and fun to be with
• is intelligent enough to be worth talking to

For most of the guys I know, if she fulfills the above, then her earnings and social status are secondary. It's easy for a high-earning man to find a girl that meets the above criteria

Many women place a high value on "somebody with high enough status that my circle of friends will be envious". A lot of women see their status being determined by the status of the guy they're going out with. For high-earning professional women, the pool of available guys that meet the "status" criteria is small. The pool of guys who don't have better options is even smaller

[Perdogg]

I cannot figure why people make finding someone so difficult on someone else.


I think here in DC metro area, women make it especially hard for men to meet someone.

[Enterprise]

I was trying to say that, and you said it better.

[Jim Noble]

It's not that "men marry down" as much as men have different search criteria.

Yes, and it drives "successful" women crazy.

These "afraid of strong women" howls appear frequently. The etiology is simple.

Women (all women) eroticize success in a man. There's no question about it, you see it everywhere, every day.

Babes like this one use projection to infer that, just as they get excited thinking about a man who is successful, that because THEY are successful, men should be attracted to THEM.

But we're just not.

We are not afraid of, intimidated by, turned off by, worldly success in a woman. But we don't really care very much about it, either. It certainly isn't a relationship starter, in the way it is for women.

Therefore, the field of potential female mates for a successful man is very large, because a) most women are attracted to him, and b) any attractive woman, regardless of employment or social status, can be a player.

For a successful woman who will only be turned on by status higher than hers, however, the talent pool starts small and shrinks rapidly after age 25 or so, as her wiser sisters pick a winner and take him off the market.

By age 38, that pool is vanishingly small.