Study findings re online dating similar to the above Yahoo piece are cited in the third chapter of noted economist Steven Levitt's popular book 'Freakonomics'.
Or... as the currently popular rock band 'Good Charlotte' puts it in the refrain of one of their better known songs,..."Boys love girls and Girls love cars and money..."
Would one have to be angry to notice and admit this fairly obvious stuff? If this stuff is true, should we as a society try to change...and if so , how?
I'd be interested to see that data. I've never online dated but practically every man I've ever talked to that has says they hardly ever see a woman on there that wants a man that makes less than 50K a year and some won't respond to anyone making less than 100K. LOL
Apparently most of the services have some type of function where people can tell what they are looking for in a mate.
It derives from biology and a cultural frame of reference. It's a given that women around the world have an innate desire for economic security to guarantee their offspring a better life. Women from the Third World find American men highly attractive because even an average wage earner can offer her children a much better chance in life than almost any man in her native country. The problem in the USA comes from American television and its portrayal of upper middle class lifestyles as the norm. When a young woman watches TV all of her life, there is no way she is going to feel satisfied living in a small apartment with a young man who is just starting out - she feels cheated. And she will look to trade up at the earliest opportunity, because the cultural pressure to do so is just too strong.
I'm not sure the problem is fixable at this point. It's just a reality - smart men and women will realize what they are being pressured to do and try to make their own decisions, dumber people will just the the culture choose for them.
Your request to investigate whether we can change nature reminds me of Rush's opinion that those who think man can cause global warming is the height of conceit.
I think what I have to do is to recognize what the nature of the beast is, then try to use that information to my advantage.
Roll with the tides, y'know.
..You say you want a revolution, well I say, you'd better change your head; you tell me its the institution, well, you'd better free your mind instead...
-Beatles
See #99. It's just a biological imperative.