Do guys tend to go for women who they think are more attractive than themselves?

[JustPassing]

Just curious, do you guys out there typically date women who you think are more, equally or less attractive than you are?

Would you prefer to date a woman who you consider to be more / equally or less attractive than yourself?

Or does it make no difference?

[vashti]

I just read a study that shows that the most solid relationships occur when the woman is more attractive. Men try harder to keep a woman happy when he thinks she is more attractive than he is.

[smackie9]

Read the ladder theory. The guy's only have one ladder (wome they want to have sex with ). The most attractive women are at the top of the ladder. If someone more attractive comes along, everyone that is on the ladder gets knocked down the ladder to make room for the hottie that just walked in the door.

[JustPassing]

But guys can fall in love with someone and love them for more than just their "sex appeal" too right?

Also if guys only have "one ladder" does that mean women tend to have many ladders? (i.e. rank men according to many different factors that affect their "sex appeal" ?)

[Boisdevie]

If it's a choice between women who are identical in every single way then of course I"ll go for the best looking one. That said I"m not going to date some ugly woman even if she has a heart of gold. But basically your question can't be answered unless you can come up with a super duper definition of the word 'attractive'.

[JustPassing]

But basically your question can't be answered unless you can come up with a super duper definition of the word 'attractive'.

Attractive: Appealing to look at; sexually alluring

[Boisdevie]

Fine. But now we're being asked if we judge others to be more appealing to look at, more sexually alluring than ourselves. It's an impossible question to answer because we're talking about how we perceive ourselves. I might be attracted to women who I believe to be more attractive than me because I have a low opinion of my own attractiveness. The reality might be different than my perception. And in any case I am so god damn handsome that of course all women are less attractive than me.

[JustPassing]

Fine. But now we're being asked if we judge others to be more appealing to look at, more sexually alluring than ourselves. It's an impossible question to answer because we're talking about how we perceive ourselves. I might be attracted to women who I believe to be more attractive than me because I have a low opinion of my own attractiveness. The reality might be different than my perception. And in any case I am so god damn handsome that of course all women are less attractive than me.

That's all I'm asking, do guys prefer dating women who they perceive to be more, equally or less attractive then themselves. Thanks for the answer.

Ok... looking at the question I realize I could have worded it better. I should have really made it...

"I prefer to date women who I think are..." .. or "I prefer to date women who I perceive as being..."

Apologies for the confusion.

[Boisdevie]

Equal or more.

[JustPassing]

Equal or more.

Can you make polls where the user can select multiple options on this forum? If you can... I've clearly made a massive mess of this... maybe I should delete this whole thread and start again. =Z

Oh well was only out of interest.

[smackie9]

But guys can fall in love with someone and love them for more than just their "sex appeal" too right?

Also if guys only have "one ladder" does that mean women tend to have many ladders? (i.e. rank men according to many different factors that affect their "sex appeal" ?)

Yes women have two, a friends ladder and a relationship ladder. Guys don't like being on the friends ladder. The biggest problem guys don't know which ladder they are on, or they think they are on the relationship ladder but find out later they are not.

[JustPassing]

I guess I'm weird then.. because I want my boyfriend to be my best friend too .. so I think friendship before a relationship is really important

[smackie9]

Wanting to get to know someone is way different than the friend zone. The friend zone is someone you don't want to date at all but don't mind hanging out with them. Taking your time getting to know someone (friendship) you feel has potential to be your BF is totally different.

[haxan]

Read the ladder theory. The guy's only have one ladder (wome they want to have sex with ). The most attractive women are at the top of the ladder. If someone more attractive comes along, everyone that is on the ladder gets knocked down the ladder to make room for the hottie that just walked in the door.

The only thing to add, is that the ladder is an individualistic thing. Everyone's definition of the perfect woman is different to some degree.

A guy at work thinks I'm just messing with him when I say that Claire Danes is hotter than Kim Kardashian. That's just the way it is though, him and I have different tastes, and therefore ladders.