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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   18624 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025

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I am wondering if we are going to see a rise in relationships between ugly women and relatively attractive men. A lot of men are priced out of the dating market and will be forced to date down. There could be strange effects were a woman who is a 4 and a women who is a 7 could end up dating equally attractive men. We end up with the elite of women getting the elite of men. Then a huge surplus of men who are 6-8 attractive and a large span of women being able to meet equally attractive men with many choosing not to in the hopes of dating up.

Anecdotally, in public I notice pairings where the guy is clearly a bit of a gymrat, good muscle definition, takes care of himself, and he's got a woman with actual physical fat rolls latched onto his arm.

And some guys are just into that. Whatever. But I think its the marginal effect of men having a harder time and the competition being stiffer.

The reverse pops up MUCH less often. Although I have seen a few petite, waifish women on the arms of some large, obese men.

And some women are into that. Whatever.

Also anecdotal but I see men who are not gymrats or muscly with extremely hot women absolutely all the time. They are reasonably fit, tall and athletic though. I'd say if you take the very most beautiful women of all, it's actually uncommon to see them with men who are on the meathead side of the athletic/strong spectrum.

Men get in shape for women, men become meatheads for themselves.

Truer words have never been said. You don't have to do that much to appeal to women. If you've got bulging pecs and veins, you're going to get a lot of compliments from other men and little else.

I knew this meme for years, but when I started lifting in earnest about a year ago, I was still quite tickled when literally the only people paying me compliments were dudes. "Arms looking thick!" "Great work on that bench PR!" "I see those biceps!"

Nary a peep from any woman, friend or otherwise.

That said, at least I can be pretty secure in the knowledge that if the guys are noticing it, then there are visible improvements that the women will notice too, even if they say nothing.

Interesting. My brother always got compliments from women by virtue of being handsome, and ever since he put on visible muscle it only increased. Rules 1 and 2 in action?

I think back when I worked out, I got maybe 3 compliments from women over 6 months for the pain.

To be fair, women just generally avoid compliments on male looks unless they're already very much into the guy. It's just too risky. What you need to look out for is staring when they think you're not looking, giggling/sheepish smile when you look at them, etc. It's probably also mediated by cultural factors I can't judge too well for India, but in general I'd say being complimented on your looks as guy would require one to be a rather extreme outlier, and a specific kind of hotness to boot (basically bishounen).

Looking back, I think it's important to note that he was in med school, and I expect that teenage or slightly older girls are probably more likely to openly gush about men and dish out compliments. He's also really handsome so that can't hurt.

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