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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026

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Most important for what?

Income, status, happiness, grades, romantic success, job hunting, everything. It's a pretty consistent finding in social research that people treat you better when you're more attractive. People treat you differently when you're good-looking. They give you things. They take your ideas more seriously. They're nicer.

For developing a soul-deep bond with someone you'd enjoy talking to every day for the rest of your life…

Being physically attracted to someone is an extreme prerequisite for wanting to spend the rest of your life with them.

Being physically attracted to someone is an extreme prerequisite for wanting to spend the rest of your life with them.

It doesn't seem to be for women. I've seen too many instances of "woman falls in love for another reason, finds guy physically attractive now that she's in love with him" to chalk it up to coincidence. I don't know why, but it certainly seems to be common from what I've seen.

Being physically attracted to someone is an extreme prerequisite for wanting to spend the rest of your life with them.

Sure; but it is not the only prerequisite, and past a certain level of time and energy spent looksmaxxing, you're going to be neglecting other, very necessary things that aren't confined to the merely carnal. Also, I'm not convinced that being the most attractive gives you anywhere near as big an edge in the fall-in-reciprocated-love game as it does in the getting-lots-of-one-night-stands game. A relatively high baseline of attractiveness is important to both, but comparative attractiveness seems much more important to the latter.

In any case, I think you're making an argument that these guys don't actually make. I might be mistaken - I'm not exactly an aficionado - so if you want to prove me wrong, by all means show me prominent Manosphere types evangelizing about the two-sided intellectually, emotionally, spiritually fulfilling romantic relationships that looksmaxxing has netted them. But my understanding is that the very notion embodied by the "Red Pill" meme involves denying that such things are possible.