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Yep, I was one of the first on the thread (maybe the first) to mention it was marketing.

That being said, the ideas of 'good looks' and 'money' are certainly very attractive to women, but that doesn't really tell us very much.

First: money. It's just a symbol of security and safety. Women are drawn to that - that's normal and natural. A man need not be a multimillionaire to offer a woman that feeling of security. Money isn't as big a deal as men think, except at the extremes:

a. an abnormal amount of money is appealing but often women courted by these men get antsy feeling he may be trying to 'buy her.' [Still, better to be loaded than not!]

b. an abnormal lack of money could be devastating to a man's sex appeal - a guy in his 40s living in his parents basement and who can't hold a job doesn't give women a feeling of security.

Almost everything in between really is fine.

As far as looks go, women are far more particular in their tastes than men. While there is certainly a broad, common standard of what women find as handsome (though not nearly as broad and common a standard that men share for what we consider a hot woman), the truth is that as a woman emotionally and physically bond with a man, his features become more handsome to her. He becomes very handsome to her, even if his looks are fairly removed from the general impression of handsome.

As I said in an earlier post, following up on my friends tortoise's and Mr. Jeeves excellent observations, the wide majority of men are good looking enough for the vast majority of women (even the vast majority of incredibly good looking women), provided they make a minor effort to be well dressed, well groomed, etc.

The truth is, you can look at a gorgeous woman out on a date with a devastatingly handsome man, well built, tall, expensive clothes and a fancy car, and the truth is just by looking at them we really have no idea how fulfilled in the relationship she is.

One guy on this thread thought that some of this discussion would lead to a slutty bride who gets pregnant by the pool boy. Regardless of his odd fixation, women in that position are what I am talking about - regardless of the socially accepted trappings of success and happiness, they are unfulfilled.

The sad part is that their men could go a long way to fulfilling them emotionally and physically if they were just attentive to a few little things.

Overstating the significance of good looks and money isn't helpful. When you understand it, it makes sense and you can learn from it. When it's used as an excuse for consistent failure on the part of average looking and average income men, then it's a needlessly limiting belief.

Overstating the significance of good looks and money isn't helpful.

Also, women want good looks and money to make up for the dorky personalities they have to put up with ("If I'm going to have to settle for a wuss boy, he had better at least be rich and good looking!") Offer her a masculine, self-confident alternative, and all of a sudden the good looks and money aren't so important to her. Hollywood is full of examples of the famous actress marrying her security guard or driver.

If a women feels like she has "settled" for you, you've got one foot in divorce court before you've even started.