Also somewhat off-point but I’ll post this anyways:
I’ll agree that this post is “male-centric” in the sense that Alicorn is talking about. But I don’t think it’s fatally so, as any smart woman (or homosexual for that matter) can of course recognize that the mate-choosing parallel is arbitrarily chosen, and can make the necessary changes to create a parallel example in mate-choosing that’s more relevant to his/her own life.
However, as a heterosexual man myself, I’ll respond directly to the example.
I must admit that I take a lot of pleasure in choosing women for “the wrong reasons” aka appearance (especially wide hips!). I’m wise enough now in my dotage to know that I’m getting myself into a world of trouble. But I tend to enjoy that trouble. It’s part of the peculiar spice of life as far as I am concerned. I’d rather have knock-down drag-out shouting matches and a relationship doomed to failure with a crazy, beautiful woman, than be with a “perfect partner” that inspires less viscerality in me. And even if offered the lucky match of sexy AND smart/wise/kind, I might even go so far as to say I’d prefer beautiful and difficult to beautiful and well-matched.… maybe. It does lend a fun tang to life.
But perhaps this only reinforces Yvain’s point. Those are my particular criteria, and I am best served as a rational person to seek out women with those criteria, knowing they are what makes me most happy.
What kind of (pseudo)scientist would I be then, to carry out this parallel? The kind that climbs Martian pyramids just because they are there, knowing full well it’s exceedingly unlikely they were made by aliens? Hmmm....
Also somewhat off-point but I’ll post this anyways:
I’ll agree that this post is “male-centric” in the sense that Alicorn is talking about. But I don’t think it’s fatally so, as any smart woman (or homosexual for that matter) can of course recognize that the mate-choosing parallel is arbitrarily chosen, and can make the necessary changes to create a parallel example in mate-choosing that’s more relevant to his/her own life.
However, as a heterosexual man myself, I’ll respond directly to the example.
I must admit that I take a lot of pleasure in choosing women for “the wrong reasons” aka appearance (especially wide hips!). I’m wise enough now in my dotage to know that I’m getting myself into a world of trouble. But I tend to enjoy that trouble. It’s part of the peculiar spice of life as far as I am concerned. I’d rather have knock-down drag-out shouting matches and a relationship doomed to failure with a crazy, beautiful woman, than be with a “perfect partner” that inspires less viscerality in me. And even if offered the lucky match of sexy AND smart/wise/kind, I might even go so far as to say I’d prefer beautiful and difficult to beautiful and well-matched.… maybe. It does lend a fun tang to life.
But perhaps this only reinforces Yvain’s point. Those are my particular criteria, and I am best served as a rational person to seek out women with those criteria, knowing they are what makes me most happy.
What kind of (pseudo)scientist would I be then, to carry out this parallel? The kind that climbs Martian pyramids just because they are there, knowing full well it’s exceedingly unlikely they were made by aliens? Hmmm....