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Dating, education, and sex ratios

robkhenderson.com

201–210 of 446 posts

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like most women don't find men who program interesting/fun. or Most men who program aren't "good with socializing" let alone "good with socializing with women".

or many men who program have an avoidant attachment style?

N=1, but...

I'm a male who programs and have an avoidant attachment style. I haven't struggled to find a date since 11th grade or so.

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#202
This article points out what is probably real friction from shifting mores but seems mainly preoccupied with implying that a return to more conservative values around women's role in society would be called for.

What I feel is needed is to understand what the fundamentals are and how those things could be achieved in a society that is also compatible with human freedom. Most of the problems described in this article stem from a totally artificial "bundling" of companionship, sexual satisfaction, child-rearing, economic support, and intellectual stimulation into a singular person who not only is expected to satisfy these needs for you (and sometimes fails), but often prevents you from satisfying those needs with other people.

So of course finding "Mr. or Mrs. Right" becomes existential, and of course we turn to dependable sources of entertainment as the anxiety of picking the "right" life mate prevents any of us from actually committing to anything. But with some creativity we can think of actual escape routes from this dynamic that don't require a return to treating women as property, like supporting single child-rearing, allowing people to form mutual support structures with friends or family, detaching self-worth from relationship status, a further liberalization of sexual mores, expanding economic safety nets, and so on and so forth.

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#203

While the article offers nothing of value outside of its provocative title (but I clicked so I guess it works), I’m genuinely fascinated by why every article about dating here leads to such a slew of poor comments. I mean the discussion is full of entitlement, misogyny, cynicism or a mix of the three. A casual reading lends me to think that this is because this place skews rather young.

My guess was always that HN has a lot of men who moved to Silicon Valley that has more men then women or work long hours in male only jobs. So, there is a lot of resentment over unsolvable situation.

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#204

Towards the end, the article posits that the reason men fail to attain higher levels of education is video games. I would be curious to see how the effect of video games stacks up against the effect of the significant support industry established for helping girls succeed in STEM while comparable support for boys is nonexistent.

For my case at least I'd agree that video games, and the increased amount of entertainment more generally, are the biggest reasons I'm not very interested in a relationship. I did succeed at attaining higher education and a white collar job though. I just don't mind spending tons of time alone.

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#205

While the article offers nothing of value outside of its provocative title (but I clicked so I guess it works), I’m genuinely fascinated by why every article about dating here leads to such a slew of poor comments. I mean the discussion is full of entitlement, misogyny, cynicism or a mix of the three. A casual reading lends me to think that this is because this place skews rather young.

The nature of dating is that the people who have a good experience dating get married, and so they stop dating. People who have only bad experiences keep dating. So the people who are eternally struggling have much more experience at it and have far more to say about dating.

It's kind of like job interviewing. If you do five job interviews, get three offers, are happy at the job you take and stay there for five years, then you're averaging one interview per year. If you're struggling to find a good job you can do ten interviews per week forever. So the people who are eternally struggling at the job interview process have much more experience at it and have far more to say about it.

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#206

All the data is good, but the way it is framed is a bit misleading. First, lets get one thing straight: dysfunction in the dating world negatively affects both men and women. So framing it as "men floundering, women most affected" is disingenuous. What is it about the prospects a man has that he has no desire to become desirable? If men's lives are less rewarding wouldn't it be them, not the women, that are the most…

> So framing it as "men floundering, women most affected" is disingenuous.

My 2c as a gay man that has many women as friends. They aren’t looking for “status” they are looking for someone who is emotionally intelligent. And thinking that gaining status is how to gain women is pretty much the opposite of that.

Patriarchy hurts both sexes. By thinking of status and power as avenues to sex you stunt your ability to connect with others. And it sets up a negative dynamic because if gaining power is the goal then having an egalitarian relationship with your lover is not possible.

> Maybe men use porn and play videogames not because they'd rather have that than a real relationship, but because modern relationships don't offer much more than that.

If you think that lowly of women, why would they spend any time with you at all?

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#207
post #205

While the article offers nothing of value outside of its provocative title (but I clicked so I guess it works), I’m genuinely fascinated by why every article about dating here leads to such a slew of poor comments. I mean the discussion is full of entitlement, misogyny, cynicism or a mix of the three. A casual reading lends me to think that this is because this place skews rather young.

The nature of dating is that the people who have a good experience dating get married, and so they stop dating. People who have only bad experiences keep dating. So the people who are eternally struggling have much more experience at it and have far more to say about dating. It's kind of like job interviewing. If you do five job interviews, get three offers, are happy at the job you take and stay there for five years…

> The nature of dating is that the people who have a good experience dating get married, and so they stop dating. People who have only bad experiences keep dating. So the people who are eternally struggling have much more experience at it and have far more to say about dating.

It’s kind of untrue nowadays. Married people get divorced. People split. Plenty are not interested in marriage.

As a data point, I am a currently single average looking and averagely successful guy with no intention of ever getting married (I will probably settle into a long term relationship at some point but I’m not planning to in the near term) and who has dates (as much as such a thing exists here) semi-regularly when I feel like it. I have nothing particularly bad to say about the experience. At its heart, it’s just meeting someone new. It’s not particularly complicated or difficult hence my puzzlement.

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#208

All the data is good, but the way it is framed is a bit misleading. First, lets get one thing straight: dysfunction in the dating world negatively affects both men and women. So framing it as "men floundering, women most affected" is disingenuous. What is it about the prospects a man has that he has no desire to become desirable? If men's lives are less rewarding wouldn't it be them, not the women, that are the most…

I take it that your expectation is that a woman takes more care of the house?

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#209

All the data is good, but the way it is framed is a bit misleading. First, lets get one thing straight: dysfunction in the dating world negatively affects both men and women. So framing it as "men floundering, women most affected" is disingenuous. What is it about the prospects a man has that he has no desire to become desirable? If men's lives are less rewarding wouldn't it be them, not the women, that are the most…

> So framing it as "men floundering, women most affected" is disingenuous. My 2c as a gay man that has many women as friends. They aren’t looking for “status” they are looking for someone who is emotionally intelligent. And thinking that gaining status is how to gain women is pretty much the opposite of that. Patriarchy hurts both sexes. By thinking of status and power as avenues to sex you stunt your ability to conn…

As a bi man, the dynamics of dating men and women are very different. It ranges from the very explicit (you must plan the date; you must pay for the date) to the comparatively subtle (you must be emotionally stoic and not show too much vulnerability; you must have a stable, well-paying job; you must be "confident"). These things aren't standards you would be subject to in a purely platonic relationship. It's not even so much those things making you "hot" but those being prerequisites to being considered a potential partner.

Gay men are much less strict about demanding a performance of the male gender role (except for those elements of it relating to physique).

Re: Dating, education, and sex ratios

#210
post #205

While the article offers nothing of value outside of its provocative title (but I clicked so I guess it works), I’m genuinely fascinated by why every article about dating here leads to such a slew of poor comments. I mean the discussion is full of entitlement, misogyny, cynicism or a mix of the three. A casual reading lends me to think that this is because this place skews rather young.

The nature of dating is that the people who have a good experience dating get married, and so they stop dating. People who have only bad experiences keep dating. So the people who are eternally struggling have much more experience at it and have far more to say about dating. It's kind of like job interviewing. If you do five job interviews, get three offers, are happy at the job you take and stay there for five years…

The second woman I dated I married. It's been 20 years so far. This is the opposite or what anyone tells you to do.
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