“Crumb later boasted that after becoming famous he made up for lost ground, but he always retained his cynicism towards women because of his high-school experiences.”
Yeah well - boo hoo Mr. Crumb.Join the club.
Some of us ladies have retained some of our own cynicism towards men because of our high school experiences too.
You're right, and Crumb himself used women as throwaways on achieving success. (He did have one particular quirk in determining how attractive a women was: he found the most desirable (to him) women were the ones with very prominent i.e. large posteriors.) It works both ways. If you are a relatively unattractive wallflower type, your prospects are a lot less than than the popular, athletic, or in-crowd types. Facts of life.
I will bet that Crumb, as a nerdy high school guy, was only interested in dating the homecoming queen or other beauty queen types. If he found them to be shallow due to the fact that they were uninterested in him, I think he should first look at his own shallowness. Did any girl who was not Playboy material have a chance with him? He expected them to appreciate his good qualities and “inner beauty” when he could not appreciate theirs?
I think many of us who were not either beauty queens or star athletes had similar high school experiences with dating (or lack of it). Most of us grew out of it. Those of us who are lucky manage to find partners who grew out of it, too!
Sure there are guys and gals out there who are still shallow. Plenty of men over 50 are only interested in dating women in their 20s. But would you really want a guy like that? Many women are only interested in dating Brad Pitt. Do you really want a woman like that?