120 pointsby embedding-shape6 hours ago25 comments
  • operation_moose5 hours ago
    Also of note the income data is combined household income (2 incomes for a married couple) and over the entire population (including 40+ later-career incomes).

    It's likely significantly over predicting how common $100k yearly income is among the 20-35 year old "dating pool". Though probably balanced out some by being 10 year old data by now.

    • throwawayffffas5 hours ago
      Buuut it's from 2014, and in case you didn't notice there was quite a bit of inflation between 2014 and now.

      Back in 2014 the share of household incomes earning more than 99,999 was 34.5 in 2024 it was 42.8

      • isoprophlex5 hours ago
        The tragedy of it all is that with all this inflation, my dick never grew longer...
        • ClikeX4 hours ago
          There's a fetish joke just hiding here.
      • jimmydddd4 hours ago
        Probably what was meant by "Though probably balanced out some by being 10 year old data by now."
      • economistbob4 hours ago
        [dead]
  • 0-_-06 hours ago
    The information that was missing from my life:

    For the Average Man, gaining an inch of height is worth losing roughly $25k in annual salary. Meanwhile, an inch of pecker is roughly offset by reducing annual salary by $128k.

    • ladyanita225 hours ago
      So smaller penises are rewarded with higher salaries?
      • layer84 hours ago
        Something to bring up with your manager for the next salary review.
      • red-iron-pine4 hours ago
        why do you think they chase the money?
      • szundi5 hours ago
        [dead]
    • 6 hours ago
      undefined
  • itsmemattchung6 hours ago
    This is solid reporting:

    > A 6" wiener is even rarer than being 6' tall. The average erect penis length is 5.166" with a std dev of 0.654".

    • s_dev5 hours ago
      It's not about length though. It's the dick to floor figure.

      One of the many gems from Silicon Valley.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-hUV9yhqgY

      This thread is just life imitating art.

      • ClikeX4 hours ago
        South Park also had a great episode about it.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81bt0ZJLMas

      • bena5 hours ago
        No, D2F only matters if you're trying to optimize stroke between two hot-swappable participants.

        And then it's really if an angle allowed by Base to Floor (B2F) and Length (L) is compatible with an angle allowed by the other participant's B2F and L.

        A single woman trying to derive pleasure from a single man has a totally different set of criteria she needs to qualify.

    • 4gotunameagain5 hours ago
      The data cannot be right. Is the average penis really that small in the states ?
      • rsynnottan hour ago
        All such data is a _little_ dubious, as it's pretty much always opt-in, and there'd always be a question of whether you have a fair sample.
      • JsonDemWitOster5 hours ago
        There is a correlation with average waist size here...
      • koe1235 hours ago
        No wonder for the overcompensation on the worldstage!
  • quadruple5 hours ago
    I really thought this post was gonna be adjacent to the hip-hop group, and I was patiently waiting to be told that Poppin one's Collar accounts for a pecker deficit.
    • nixon_why695 hours ago
      Really, it should be, they should volunteer for measurements.
  • giancarlostoro4 hours ago
    And here I was shocked and really happy to hear about Three 6 Mafia on HN.

    Fun fact: Three 6 Mafia used to be Triple 6 Mafia, they changed their name to be "radio friendly" (Three Six Mafia rolls off easier than Triple Six Mafia) after signing a record deal.

  • rayiner4 hours ago
    Putting on my atheist hat for a minute, I think these statistics are interesting in reminding people that there is an underlying biological and evolutionary process underlying mate selection. You’re being evaluated for biological fitness criteria.

    That said, individual chemistry is highly variable so these particular criteria are just a proxy and negotiable. Don’t take stated criteria at face value. My now wife’s type was chubby 6-foot plus midwestern future lawyers. But then she met a 5-9 Bangladeshi in law school and got baby fever and that was that. My personal view of it is God has a plan for all of us, but if you’re an atheist you can see it as the chemistry of biological compatibility being highly complex and individualized.

    • graemep3 hours ago
      > Putting on my atheist hat for a minute

      What is atheist about your comment? Nothing I can see. God has a plan for us does not contradict the evolutionary factors.

  • sagebird3 hours ago
    These variables are not independent so you can't just multiply ratios to get combined ratio.

    (If height were not correlated with income that would be surprising, for example.)

  • blaze335 hours ago
    The three six rule is a low bar for dating: you should also have a 6 pack. If you only want three sixes, here are 666 cents I keep in my pocket!
    • tclancy5 hours ago
      The night I met my wife I had just bought a whole case, so the six pack thing probably works too.
  • codedokode5 hours ago
    I am curious why is height important? Understandably, income affects the lifestyle and opportunities, but what does height affect? What changes if you are several inch taller or shorter? I cannot understand.

    Also, why those who care about height so much do not go for basketball players?

    Also, the picture with income graph says "household income", not "personal income".

    • hackyhacky5 hours ago
      > I am curious why is height important?

      It's a common aesthetic preference, similar to liking large breasts.

      > Also, why those who care about height so much do not go for basketball players?

      Some of them certainly do. But there aren't very many professional basketball players.

      • swat5352 hours ago
        > I am curious why is height important?

        Isn't there simpler explanation in terms of evolution: taller men look more intimidating and can provide better safety for their offspring?

        I think a lot of physical preferences (generally) have some kind of evolutionary roots to it, crude as they are in 2026.

        I'm not sure how well researched this area is however, since it can be a bit controversial in the modern age.

        • hackyhacky12 minutes ago
          > Isn't there simpler explanation in terms of evolution: taller men look more intimidating and can provide better safety for their offspring?

          That is certainly a simpler explanation, but it doesn't mean that it's a correct explanation.

          * "Looking intimidating" doesn't necessarily mean that they are better at providing safety

          * Providing safety isn't necessarily the sole responsibility of a sexual partner

          * Other factors may be more important than height in selecting a sexual partner

          * Evolution selects for attributes other than mate suitability

          Given the wide variety of preferences across the human species, I find it highly reductive when someone asserts a simplistic reason for such a human behavior, ignoring the many cases when humans do not follow that behavior.

        • tavavex2 hours ago
          Aesthetics and societal factors probably factor into this because I find that Americans in particular are absolutely obsessed with height. Yes, it's a factor in the beauty standard of most cultures, but it feels like no other Western country has as much staked on a person's height alone. Whenever I see posts about needing to hit a certain height barrier to be worthwhile, or people openly expressing disdain for short people, or idolizing being tall, you can almost guarantee the poster is from the US.

          This is just my own observation, so it's probably biased. But if this correlation is real, that shows this is not just evolution. Subjectively, it feels like there's a lot of societal influence stacked on top of whatever is there initially.

      • codedokode5 hours ago
        So for example, a 6 feet tall nerdy-looking geek is better than 5' 6" athlete or celebrity? Doesn't seem logical to me.
        • Archer66214 hours ago
          Could be, depends on the woman and what she values. Celebrities are usually in a league of their own. The way you have to see it, is that women look for a certificate of potential for success (and many other things, but this is one of them). Since being tall is generally desirable in society, it acts as such a certificate. It is definitely not the only trait or circumstance that acts as such, but it is pretty much impossible to fake.

          The reason why height is so important, is because it serves as a proxy for strength, potential for dominance, and protective capacity. Women feel safe from the world and other men, when they are with a tall man (assuming they also feel safe from him). The circular effect of this is that tall men are seen as a successful archetype from all the attention and resources they get, which inflates their true sexual value. Probably social media and internet has a big hand in this too.

        • hackyhacky4 hours ago
          No one claimed that height is the only or the most important metric; simply that it is a metric by which partners can be judged.
        • orangepanda4 hours ago
          I’d prefer anyone else over an athlete or a celebrity, regardless of height. Humans are allowed to have different preferences.
        • alberto4674 hours ago
          Athletes and celebrities are famous people who have a lot of eyes on them and thus naturally get more attention.
    • tclancy5 hours ago
      What does weight affect? Breast size? Hair color?

      Cultures create an archetype of attractiveness and then everyone feels like they come up short. Tale as old as time.

      • nchmy5 hours ago
        While cultures tend to have different standards of attractiveness, weight is most definitely, objectively related to health. If you care about having a healthy partner, you should probably care about their weight.
        • tclancy3 hours ago
          The same is true of long hair supposedly (hair displays a record of illness). Does someone's attractiveness inherently change after a crew cut?
          • nchmy3 hours ago
            If you cant recognize the difference between weight and hair length as a reflection of health, I dont think we need to continue further
      • codedokode5 hours ago
        Weight varies much more than height (there is 3x-4x ratio between extreme values) and is instantly noticeable unlike height, so I think this is a bad comparison.
        • nixon_why695 hours ago
          Ok but it's still a really basic evolutionary signal, taller is better, especially for the hunting/fighting gender. Some dogs get up on their hind legs to piss higher on trees.
        • perpetuallunch5 hours ago
          You don’t instantly notice how tall someone is?
          • codedokode4 hours ago
            Unless they are very tall or very short, probably no.
      • perpetuallunch5 hours ago
        There is nowhere in the known universe where the average woman is taller than the average man.

        Therefore, women will tend to select mates who are taller than themselves.

        It’s not a cultural phenomenon, it’s universal.

    • JKCalhoun4 hours ago
      I feel bad for Paul Simon—probably never got laid.
    • fhdkweig4 hours ago
      There was a service called Baller Alert (the name seems to be ungooglable now) that would stalk basketball players and send announcements whenever they were spotted in clubs/bars just so the women could try to flirt with them. https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=baller+alert+30+for+30+brok...
    • alberto4674 hours ago
      In my country there is a saying: height is half of beauty.

      A tall person moving around a social setting naturally attracts more eyes, gets more noticed, attracts more attention. She literally “stands out”.

      For both male and females I’d say. Then societal complexes pressure some people into the shorter gal taller guy couple stereotype, but the height itself is just a physical thing that brings more attention.

    • swolios4 hours ago
      because in nature a bigger male = stronger and better to protect me...
    • vovavili5 hours ago
      That's the male equivalent of women asking why men care about boobs and body count. The answer is "evolved intuition", like it or not.
      • brettgriffin5 hours ago
        I would liken it more to the male equivalent of facial beauty or weight: most men have a general level of facial beauty and weight they expect in a partner. And if not met, there is really nothing else that can help bind the attraction. For women, that is height. But yes, it is "evolved intuition."
      • globular-toast5 hours ago
        Possibly, but not necessarily.

        Your argument is that it's just more attractive. That might be true. That would also mean there's an underlying reason for females finding this attractive. This could be due to taller males being able to protect their offspring from other males, hence more of us are descended from taller males and females that found taller males attractive.

        But being taller could also give other advantages like perceived or actual dominance over other males which is, in itself, an attractive quality.

      • Forgeties795 hours ago
        You’re going to need some serious sources to back that up man because that flies in the face of our understanding of socially constructed beauty/physical/etc. standards. What we consider “attractive” has historically been incredibly varied and heavily determined by society, class, etc.
      • hackyhacky5 hours ago
        > The answer is "evolved intuition", like it or not.

        Maybe. A lot of what we assume are innate sexual preferences are actually determined socially.

        No one was talking about "body count" (at least not publicly) ten years ago.

        These days, a full-figure on a woman is considered attractive, but in the 1990s, being skinny was in vogue.

        Insofar as an attractive partner is a status symbol, the definition of "attractive" changes with fashion.

        • vovavili5 hours ago
          >These days, a full-figure on a woman is considered attractive, but in the 1990s, being skinny was in vogue.

          This is usually based on a selective and wishful interpretation of historical data. The best argument I've found is here - https://www.jsanilac.com/dispelling-beauty-lies/

          • BigTTYGothGFan hour ago
            > This is usually based on a selective and wishful interpretation of historical data

            My lived experience says they're right. In the 90s one didn't have a "phat ass", one was just a "fatass".

            > The best argument I've found is here

          • hackyhacky5 hours ago
            I was alive in the 1990s. "Heroic chic" was definitely a thing.

            I'm also alive now. It's not hard to find big butts being idolized.

            Your linked article is not very scientific. For example, it cites porn-store purchasing preference as evidence of actual male taste in partner selection.

            • vovavili4 hours ago
              >Your linked article is not very scientific.

              That's the whole point. Due to the touchiness of the subject matter, these kinds of topics would be quite difficult to discuss frankly in a politicized institution guarded by a peer review process.

              • hackyhacky20 minutes ago
                I didn't mention peer review. The bare minimum for scientific analysis is conclusion drawn from observations based on data points. This article is more like a rant occasionally augmented by pictures of anime boobs. There is no attempt at scientific rigor. A serious presentation could have maintained the rigor even outside the peer-review process (which, despite your assertion, would likely have no objection to the subject matter).
          • codedokode3 hours ago
            The article is too long. Judging about beauty standards by using sex dolls as an example is not very smart, first, because they are targeted to a small niche audience with specific tastes, second, they do not look especially attractive in the photos in the article. Also the font is awful and a pain to read.
          • armenarmen5 hours ago
            Evil Vizier’s work on the topic is fascinating
        • rhrhfjfjjr445 hours ago
          >No one was talking about "body count" (at least not publicly) ten years ago.

          Why do you think that is? Our great grandfathers were practically guaranteed to be marrying virgins, while today's young men seem to consider themselves lucky if their girl is still in single figures. Things have changed, people are talking about it.

          • hackyhacky18 minutes ago
            > Our great grandfathers were practically guaranteed to be marrying virgins,

            Is that what your great-grandma told you?

            Cultural prohibitions on discussing sexual matters didn't actual limit in pursuing sexual matters.

          • BigTTYGothGFan hour ago
            > Our great grandfathers were practically guaranteed to be marrying virgins

            They also walked ten miles uphill (both ways) to school every day.

          • quickthrowman4 hours ago
            > Our great grandfathers were practically guaranteed to be marrying virgins

            Lol yeah, and fetishes were invented in the 1950s. Very few people in history made it to marriage as virgins.

            • 3 hours ago
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        • Lio4 hours ago
          > No one was talking about "body count" (at least not publicly) ten years ago.

          People have been talking about virginity and monogamy for 1000s of years. Men want to know that the children they raise are their own.

          It might have blipped a bit since the invention of the pill but women cuckolding their partners has been frowned upon world wide for a very long time.

          Sex before monogamous marriage has historically been a big thing.

          There's even songs, sagas and religious books that make virtue of it.

          • hackyhacky16 minutes ago
            > Men want to know that the children they raise are their own.

            You realize that the number (>0) of prior sexual partners has nothing to do with the parentage of one's children, right? You can marry a virgin and still be a cuckold; or you can marry a prostitute and sire a large family.

        • red-iron-pine4 hours ago
          body count was definitely a topic in the early 2000s
        • perpetuallunch4 hours ago
          Women, the world over, are, on average, shorter than men.

          Therefore women will, on average, select mates who are taller than them.

          Cultural relativism has fallen out of fashion, universal truths are back in.

    • lo_zamoyski5 hours ago
      For one, because it's an indicator of health and healthy development, which are in turn related to other desirable features. Analogous things can be said for women.

      You also can't ignore assortive mating. We're not all in the same mating pool, as it were. Women prefer men taller than they are, but that doesn't mean that a woman of 1.25m will pair with a man of 2m. The typical height difference between husband and wife is about 10-15cm, regardless of the absolute height of either spouse.

      • Archer66214 hours ago
        I've seen plenty of evidence that goes against this. From what I have seen, short women will absolutely prefer a man who is taller than other men, regardless of their own height, so something does not add up. In fact, I've seen it often be the other way around; a man will sometimes prefer a woman who is not a midget compared to himself, purely for practical reasons (unless of course he falls in love).

        I will go as far as to say that assortative mating is likely a side-effect of people ending up in the same or similar socioeconomic circles, but that is just me reaching. In reality I would guess that it's a bit of that, and being used to people from a certain "class".

    • panny4 hours ago
      >I am curious why is height important?

      Height coorelates with lots of things. Taller means longer feet. Taller people have larger heads as well. A large head means larger cranial capacity and therefore, likely higher IQ. Mostly, it's just our monkey brain which says taller is more formidible.

  • BigTTYGothGF5 hours ago
    I've got a couple of methodological qualms with this article, but I do agree that in this case we should follow the spirit not the letter, so I'll keep them to myself.

    Unfortunately the effort is likely lost on the people who most need to understand it. It's very hard to reason someone out of a position they didn't get into via reason.

  • ClikeX4 hours ago
    • 4 hours ago
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  • donohoe4 hours ago
    I understand that at the every end he acknowledges this is dumb, but I think the biggest issues faced by guys who follow that 6-6-6 rule is that they are immature.
    • m4ck_4 hours ago
      The only three 6 mafia rule i follow is "What is her favorite three 6 album"? Anything after "Da Unbreakables" is a red flag IMO. If "Chapter 2" or "Live By Yo Rep" come up, I might be in love.
    • Lio4 hours ago
      "Guys" that follow 6-6-6?

      This is a dating rule by women for women, not guys.

      • JKCalhoun4 hours ago
        Smells more like a dating rule by guys who think this is a dating rule by women.
        • Lio4 hours ago
          I believe it came from a womens' dating forum. Now do most women seriously follow it? Almost certainly not but I don't know any blokes that care about this rule. Why would they?

          Are you the type of person that believes only men can say foolish things?

          • rsynnott4 hours ago
            Okay, so someone said something silly on a dating forum once. But the question is who, if anyone, actually _believes_ in it.
            • Lio3 hours ago
              Probably no one actually follows this rule.

              That doesn't mean that teenage boys are either the origin or the ones perpetuating it. They're just an easy target to throw crap at.

      • rsynnott4 hours ago
        ... I mean, realistically it sounds like the sort of thing that only teenage and young adult men would believe in. What makes you think that women subscribe to it?
        • 3 hours ago
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    • brazzy4 hours ago
      Guys don't follow that rule (unless they are gay), they worry about women following it. It appears to be originating from a post on the (rather toxic and apparently now defunct) reddit sub /r/FemaleDatingStrategy many years ago, but apparently is still being brought up.
      • JKCalhoun4 hours ago
        Worrying about women following…

        Still a guy issue/hang-up then.

  • isoprophlex5 hours ago
    So... if you have a 7 inch dick, you can probably just retire.
    • antisthenes4 hours ago
      If you can find a sugar mommy, sure.
      • isoprophlexan hour ago
        don't worry it will just happen, the market will figure it out. a 7 inch dong will automatically find a sugary person to make up for a $357 yearly income. efficient market hypothesis gooooo
  • ChoGGi4 hours ago
    I worked with a short, partially bald guy, but he could charm the socks off any girl. Pretty sure; he didn't care a wit for 6/6/6.
    • anal_reactor3 hours ago
      I know a North Korean guy who is rich. This proves that all other North Koreans who consider themselves poor are just whiny bitches.
    • numbers_guy4 hours ago
      I worked with a many short men, some of them bald. I mean, STEM, tech, hello, tends to be a big chunk of the demographic. They consistently underperformed when it came to charming women. Tall nerds tended to swoop up the few women on campus.
      • janderson2154 hours ago
        Great comment coming from this username!
  • drcongo5 hours ago
    When I read articles like this, they're so far removed from how me and my male friends interact that I find it hard to believe.
    • BigTTYGothGFan hour ago
      Just look at some of the other comments here and that'll change pretty quick.
    • 11235813214 hours ago
      You’re not alone. Most people know a funny person, and someone good with numbers, but it’s less often the same person. You could analyze that with the techniques from the article. :)
  • bradlysan hour ago
    I always wondered why 6" dick was put into this. The other variant of 6pack abs made more sense. Most women want to verify things before having sex and income, height, and abs are pretty trivial to verify. The size of a guys dick though really only shows up when you're already getting physical.
  • panny6 hours ago
    These numbers seem based on global distributions rather than local ones. After all, six feet is just average height in the Netherlands.

    https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/average-h...

    Maybe that's what the rule tells you. Ladies love the north Europeans.

    • thrownawaysz5 hours ago
      I'd never call someone from the Netherlands north European, it's western Europe
      • bonoboTP5 hours ago
        It's North when contrasted with the South, like the Mediterranean countries, and West when contrasted with the East, like the old Easter Bloc.
        • anygivnthursday5 hours ago
          And South when contrasted with the "real" North?

          Northern Europe is a region and while there can be various definitions the most common ones do not include Benelux countries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Europe

          • bonoboTP44 minutes ago
            Southern Europeans, Italians, Spanish, Greeks also call Germany Northern Europe. It's anything where the weather is generally not as hot (well, this is changing) people are more reserved, more work-focused, or individual, less prominent communal eating, big families etc. It's a real thing that I often hear from Southern Europeans. You could also relate it to Catholic / Protestant split perhaps.
          • x3qt2 hours ago
            It depends. Quite often, Germanic countries are grouped with Northern Europe because many of them are located around the North Sea, Latin countries with Western Europe, Slavic countries with Eastern Europe, and Balkan countries with Southern Europe.
      • numbers_guy4 hours ago
        I'd group the Dutch with the Scandinavians as the "other Germanic branches", possibly also including the UK. As a taxonomy it makes far more sense to me. Western Europe is too broad. You have the French and the Portugese and the Spanish which are all quite different.
    • rob745 hours ago
      Average height for boys that were 19 years old in 2019, not for the entire population.
    • consp6 hours ago
      Then again, based on local income statistics. Don't know locality of the third one. It's the good old, lies, damned lies and statistics (and meant as humor thus not really an issue).
    • epolanski5 hours ago
      It's all relative.

      You're gonna need to be even bigger in the netherlands, both in height and salary to impress a dutch woman if you're dutch already.

      In south east asia you may get away with less height and money.

      • abirch5 hours ago
        Maybe we can get the USA to get the metric system for all those men who are 1.83 meters and below. Or do people internationally say that you need to be 1,8 meters to be dateable?
        • x3qt2 hours ago
          They do, usually 1,8m+ for men and 1,7m+ for girls
      • Sharlin5 hours ago
        Not in salary though, given that the salaries in TFA are local to the US, and West European salaries are lower, as a rule (East European salaries, of course, even lower).
        • pavlov5 hours ago
          OTOH many women may prefer as partner the European man who doesn't work crazy overtime every night, takes 4 weeks of holidays every year with her, uses his months of legally mandated parental leave when they have a baby...

          The 6/6/6 dimensions seem to capture very little about what's actually important for the success of a long-term relationship. I guess that's fine, it's presumably a game for 20-year-olds.

        • epolanski4 hours ago
          What an American makes in absolute terms is irrelevant unless you're planning to move to the US.

          And if you're planning to move to the US, then its still irrelevant, because what matters is how much you make in US compared to the cost of living of the US.

          Nobody would trade making 40k net in Italy for making 80k net in US, you're actually poorer (and not just financially).

          All measures are relative. Absolute wages have stopped being impressive as the world got richer in the last decades and standards of living improved.

    • kilroy1235 hours ago
      Men are pretty tall in Montenegro too.
  • gadders4 hours ago
    Apart from BMI, what is the female equivalent?
    • Lio4 hours ago
      Depends on what the goal is.

      If it's just dating or a one night stand I think men can sometimes have potentially no standards at all.

      If it's about marriage then there's things like hip to waist ratio, facial symmetry but I think in general men are much less picky.

  • seriousmice4 hours ago
    Amazing read!
  • api5 hours ago
    Submit this for an IgNobel.

    It’s also funny cause it’s mocking this BS in such a good natured wonderfully overdone way. Guy in my college house who got laid the most was on the shorter side, poor, and kind of acted effeminate at times to the point that people mistook him for gay. Never saw his wing wong so maybe it was like ten inches but I doubt it. He was also kind and not a jerk and did not act like an “alpha male.”

    What was he? Fun, hilarious, and confident.

    I got zero until I decided to stop pretending not to be a weird nerd and just chat about stuff I was into, which at the time was evolutionary information theory and hacking. Guess what? Leading with who you are is confident.

    It’s attractive in women too, at least for me.

    The incel stuff is just men catching up with women when it comes to dumb anxieties about looking right according to arbitrary external standards.

    • noir_lord5 hours ago
      > Guess what? Leading with who you are is confident.

      That was always my attitude, why hide who you are in the first place, I'm a computer geek who likes playing Chess,Cycling and heavy metal music - I put that on my dating profile and it didn't hurt me in the slightest.

    • RajT884 hours ago
      I am pretty sure this 3 6's rule was a social media clickbaity phenomenon anyways. There are people this shallow and silly, but they are actually rare.
    • sublinear4 hours ago
      To be fair, "confidence" and knowing "who you are" in college is largely an illusion.

      I would argue that "success" at that age is more a matter of being interesting and entertaining in a nonthreatening way.

      It comes across as insincere to the majority of women who are also getting ignored by the majority of men at that age. That's what you get when you optimize for cheap and easy attraction instead of long term relationship appeal. A lot of younger people don't know the difference.

    • rhrhfjfjjr445 hours ago
      [flagged]
      • nixon_why695 hours ago
        Exact opposite of the point they made, brother. Worth a reread and think depending on your headspace.
        • alberto4674 hours ago
          Guys let’s not pretend that him being taller and more stereotypically handsome would’ve hurt his “achievements”.

          It would’ve of course helped.

          The fact that height and stereotypical beauty standards are not the only things that matter does not change that on average they have a significant positive impact.

          • nixon_why694 hours ago
            The point is that stereotypical beauty standards, while they matter, they matter less than one would think when it comes to a hetero man approaching a hetero woman.

            Give women some credit. Confidence and fun are way better heuristics than a strong jawline on a neurotic wreck. They are smarter than men socially, on average, so any theory should account for that.

          • 4 hours ago
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        • rhrhfjfjjr445 hours ago
          Might be you who needs to reread...
          • nixon_why695 hours ago
            Since I'm feeling generous, the words you missed are "fun and confident". One could expand to "comfortable and happy in one's skin", very much not a synonym for cockiness which is prickly and challenging. You can't fake it, it comes and goes for all of us.

            OPs friend got laid a lot despite "traditional" defects because of wholesome, fun confidence.

            • rhrhfjfjjr444 hours ago
              And you don't think the tall, rich, well-endowed man is more likely to be a little more confident than the short, poor micro-penised man?

              Put "I'm fun and confident" in your dating profile and I'll put "6'4"" and we'll see how that pans out. You won't be having much fun and your confidence will be shot.

              • nixon_why694 hours ago
                BEING fun and confident matters. Saying you are is, well, not fun or confident.

                A friend of mine, well below 6 feet, once had a dating profile where he went into a weird tangent about loving mac and cheese. A weird, sexual and hilarious tangent, where he started arguing with you, the reader, about why are we still talking about this? I said I never had sex with a bowl of mac and cheese! It was classic and he got a ton of dates from it.

                Admittedly online dating sucks and my friend there could have been a comedy writer in another life. It's hard to stand out. But in person? It doesn't matter how many dates your profile did or didn't get, you must be fun and comfortable in your own skin, why spend time with someone who isn't both of those things?

                • rhrhfjfjjr444 hours ago
                  Rich and handsome 6'4" men have no problem standing out. This is the point. Online dating does not suck for them.

                  Your goofy friend might get lots of updoots on reddit but if he's short and broke it would be <1% of women who don't immediately reject him. They will never even see his mac and cheese bio. Online dating would be a waste of time for him at best; at worst, kiss goodbye to this delusional confidence once the crushing reality manifests.

                  • nixon_why694 hours ago
                    That's what I'm trying to help you understand. My goofy friend was plowing a trail of pussy through NYC at that time with his fun and confident antics. Below 6 feet and definitely not rich back then.

                    There's a point past this where racking up a number is hollow and meaningless but that's beside the point right now. The thing I'm trying to tell you is that you can have a better and more positive personality even if you can't grow 6 inches. And that better personality is not some incel shit or "negging" or whatever.

                    If none of this makes sense to you, look up Stavros Halkias on youtube and compare his looks to his general confidence and attitude.

    • 5 hours ago
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    • pavlov5 hours ago
      > "men catching up with women when it comes to dumb anxieties"

      It's weird to watch all those fans of patriarchy step right into their own trap. Didn't they get the memo that this stuff was set up to control women? Or is it just a reflection of how these self-proclaimed "alphas" secretly see their own proper place as subjugated by men higher up in the hierarchy?

      • api5 hours ago
        It’s all very obvious hysteria that parodies itself loudly.

        It’s also a big con. Andrew Tate might be an abuser of women but his big marks are men. Look at how much money he makes selling that BS to insecure guys. That was his whole schtick as he rose to fame.

        I suspect the manosphere stuff is designed to make men repellent to women to keep them hooked on it. If you find a girlfriend you might not pay $25K to attend an alpha male boot camp to have an idiot yell at you.

        • nixon_why695 hours ago
          It doesn't have to be designed, can be an emergent survival property. Wholesome and helpful dating advice just never builds a cult of loners.
  • economistbob5 hours ago
    [dead]
  • PUA_throwaway692 hours ago
    [dead]
  • SirFatty5 hours ago
    What a waste of time.
    • exhumet5 hours ago
      oh dont be lameeee, some people are freaks who find fun in doing math. power to em
  • hmontazeri5 hours ago
    I’m 36 and
    • tclancy5 hours ago
      Would be a bit more interesting if you were in the dating pool, but it sounds like you’ve already wived.
  • bawana5 hours ago
    How does a >2 year old article get necroed to the top on HN?
    • lackoftactics5 hours ago
      I guess it's dating app fatigue makes us promote old articles :)

      Fun fact, I learned yesterday that Bumble will delete swipes in their upcoming app reset and go ai assistant way. Not that that I am fan of dating apps, it's one of the worse inventions ever, but seems pretty interesting seeing their stock price plummeted 93% since IPO

    • 5 hours ago
      undefined
    • askl5 hours ago
      Maybe by being something different than the regular slop on the HN front page. And just being a high quality article in general.
      • red-iron-pine4 hours ago
        it's nice to take a break from the AI slop to talk about tech bro insecurity