http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/2009/11/17/your-looks-and-online-dating/

Quote :

" As you can see from the gray line, women rate an incredible 80% of guys as worse-looking than medium. Very harsh. On the other hand, when it comes to actual messaging, women shift their expectations only just slightly ahead of the curve, which is a healthier pattern than guys’ pursuing the all-but-unattainable. But with the basic ratings so out-of-whack, the two curves together suggest some strange possibilities for the female thought process, the most salient of which is that the average-looking woman has convinced herself that the vast majority of males aren’t good enough for her, but she then goes right out and messages them anyway. Just to illustrate that women are operating on a very different scale, here are just a few of the many, many guys we here in the office think are totally decent-looking, but that women have rated, in their occult way, as significantly less attractive than so-called “medium”: "

Granted, online dating arguably attracts less "desirable" people (however you define that) and women are more scarce and therefore more valuable than men online communities in general. But I have two questions:

1) Do you agree with this chart when it comes to online dating sites?
2) Do you agree with this chart when it comes to eligible men IRL?

12/7/2009 8:14:48 PM

12/7/2009 8:16:45 PM

[Edited on December 7, 2009 at 8:18 PM. Reason : ]

12/7/2009 8:18:20 PM

you're reading too much into that crap, son

12/7/2009 8:18:37 PM

12/7/2009 8:18:50 PM

[Edited on December 7, 2009 at 8:21 PM. Reason : so much fail]

12/7/2009 8:20:36 PM

im still not certain what the question is

12/7/2009 8:22:00 PM

Basically the question is whether or not you agree with this:

Quote :

"As you can see from the gray line, women rate an incredible 80% of guys as worse-looking than medium."

Sorry if it wasn't clear, I thought this might be good fodder for discussion.

[Edited on December 7, 2009 at 8:25 PM. Reason : quote quot]

12/7/2009 8:24:48 PM

a. are your standards too high
b. do you message ppl that you think are below your "standards" anyways?

12/7/2009 8:24:56 PM

12/7/2009 8:26:21 PM

I agree with your hypothesis that it's most likely due to a selection bias of male participants in an online dating service like OK Cupid. I also take issue with their wording, as there's no real reason to expect that "medium" attractiveness should be equated with the looks of an "average" guy, so a null hypothesis that their 80% figure should actually be 50% is also a flawed expectation.

12/7/2009 8:28:01 PM

Quote :

"Does sound about right"

12/7/2009 8:31:17 PM

ugh i hate when i do that

12/7/2009 8:32:12 PM

So this is about women on dating sites?

12/7/2009 8:32:47 PM

Quote :

"the average-looking woman has convinced herself that the vast majority of males aren’t good enough for her"

lols

12/7/2009 8:33:35 PM

i dont get the graph at all. It looks to me like 13% of men or less are considered average or above but whatever

I dont walk around putting guys looks on a number scale. If they are smart, original, or can teach me something they go up in attractiveness. If they talk about how aattractive they are, how cool their car is (unless its a legitimately bad ass car), how great the last nickback concert was, or wear to much hair gel they go down several notches.

[Edited on December 7, 2009 at 8:38 PM. Reason : d]

12/7/2009 8:35:09 PM

Well now that i finally figured out what it is saying.

Yeah...I mean I know I'm not a looker, but I still find myself judging a guy and I will often only make the first "move" on a guy if I think he is below me and won't reject me.

If I guy is hotter than I am then I normally won't start flirting with him until he's done it first, just so I don't feel the mean rejection.

ftr, I'm talking about just by going off looks alone....once I get to know someone my opinion on how attractive they are changes.

[Edited on December 7, 2009 at 8:36 PM. Reason : ]

12/7/2009 8:35:19 PM

simple. women are less interested in how their mates look than men are. apples to oranges.

12/7/2009 8:36:31 PM

12/7/2009 8:41:27 PM