The Shadow said:
http://www.geocities.com/protopop_1999/evde.html
I just took a class with the infamous Randy Thornhill who co-wrote "A Natural History of Rape". There's a lot of statistical evidence showing a positive correlation between the perceived attractiveness of a woman in her society and the economic social status of her husband or boyfriend.
The link was down for bandwidth reasons just now -- I'll have to try again later.
Without reading the source material, let's say that there IS a positive correlation between the perceived attractiveness of a woman and the economic/social status of her significant other as you say. Unfortunately, correlation isn't enough to prove causation, so you'd still have to do some work to show that those women chose their partners BASED on economic/social status, and not for some other hidden, coincident reason.
I'll give you at least one other explanation for that correlation which seems plausible to me...and yeah, this is based on my personal experience, so
caveat emptor. I have observed that people in significant positions of economic or social influence TEND to be more attractive than average. There is an old joke about high-level people in an organization having "executive hair," but the more I meet senior staff from a variety of companies, the more I realize that it isn't just a joke. Highly-paid celebrities are certainly attractive -- in fact, you'd practically consider it to be a job requirement.
The second half of the argument is the observation that, in most successful relationships I've seen, each half of the couple tends to be equally attractive. (I remember reading a study at one point which supported that conclusion, but it's been a while...) Your own personal experience, if it was anything like mine, would tend to bear this out: social cliques tend to form in high school and early college based on physical attractiveness, and dating partners are chosen from within the same group.
So, if you take those two together -- attractive people tend to date other attractive people, and attractive people can get access to high-level jobs -- then you could also explain that correlation without invoking "women are after your money" as Incognito did. I'm too lazy/tired to Google for supporting evidence at this point, but at least my theory is falsifiable.
My own personal opinion is that a LOT of (bad) relationships center on power, and physical attractiveness -- like wealth or influence -- is a source of power to be used. I know from my own personal experience that some women have been far more interested in my perceived wealth and/or status than in my personality or body, and I haven't kept company with them. However, it is just as true that MANY other women have entirely different motivations. Incognito's anecdotal evidence doesn't excuse blanket statements about intent.
Incognito said:
uh, excuse me? spare us the knight in shining armor routine. pray tell, king jinx, how can i provide factual evidence of MY LIFE pertaining to the women i've dated?
Wow, you figured me out. I'm just trying to get in the pants of all the lil' cuties on the board. Shit, I've been cockblocked, BRAH.
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