Even when we are our most successful, 1:1 with men, we are still told to settle for something under our standards.
I mean the fact that you pointed out that she had the gall to want a man in her criteria that you didn't think she should even have the audacity to ask for is exactly the demanding pressure that basically warrants this behavior. Women are 100% pressured by men to look and act a certain way and it in some ways angers me that even in our media (which highlights this issue very much with men also making decisions for women) that you would think those pressures don't exist. See: Feminism.
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You make some very good points, and I'm well aware of the pressures women have to go through. They are constantly told what is and isn't attractive. They have almost unrealistic examples of what is deemed attractive.
But I think that men nowadays are starting to go through similar. There's definitely more pressure on men to take care of themselves than there might have been years ago. But it doesn't seem to be taken as seriously as what women have to go through, Perhaps it's because women have had to deal with it far longer than men, and with men it's relatively new.
I find what's also happening is women are realizing that they have the "power" and therefore can afford to be more demanding.
Ultimately my "issues" with internet dating aren't simply aimed at women. I know men that for whatever reason think they can and should be able to attract a certain kind of woman just because.
My views are the same towards them, you can't surely expect lot's of good looking successful women to come to you if you take no pride in yourself, have bad personal grooming, lack ambition etc.
I agree with your observations, at least based on discussions I have with some of the younger unattached guys at work. One guy (good looking, very fit, good job, basically a catch) was on a date with a girl from Tinder and while on the date she was on her phone...browsing Tinder. She wasn't doing it to be rude or because she didn't like him. He said she wasn't even conscious of it being a big deal, it was as inconsequential as checking her texts. When it gets to that point, that you can't even dedicate a few hours to one person without checking to see what other options are out there, it's gone too far, IMO.
That's another aspect that is creating these unrealistic standards. There's far too much choice. There's always a niggling thought that someone "better" could be just a swipe away, and often they are, on the surface at least, until they go on a date, find one minor flaw, and it's back to the internet once more lol.
I said it before but some people assume the grass is always greener, but the forget that sometimes the grass is greener where you water it. You can't always have everything handed to you on a plate.
Going back to the shopping lists, women (and men) can filter people by so much criteria, height, body type, hair colour, ethnicity, it's exactly like online shopping. No wonder it can go to some people's heads.
Before internet dating was really a think people had preferences, but it got to a point where they met someone they got on with, found attractive and just went from there. But now it's getting to the point where people don't want to settle for anything less than their perfect specimen.