Aging & Dying

Tall dark and handsome

peopleIf you are a (straight) man, would you mate with someone who is older, taller, or wealthier than you? If not, why not?

If you are a (straight) woman, would you mate with someone who is younger, shorter, or less wealthy than you? If not, why not?

 

9 Comments on “Tall dark and handsome

  1. ☼ Well, I’ve done 2 of the 3, but my attempt to woo a taller woman didn’t work out. I assume you’re using “mate” in a sense that doesn’t involve offspring, but I wouldn’t rule that out.

  2. these questions involve a litany of social/cultural behaviour. love is the method which defies the litany. there is not a prescription to love.

  3. I “mate” with no one but I’ll hang with anyone – only prerequisite is kindness. Serioulsy I think I’m one of the few, short, tall, thin, fat bald, hairy, I have no physical prerequisites, it’s a whole package kind of thing.

  4. Yes, I have done all three, although I am now with someone who is taller, older and slightly better off financially than I am. Oddly enough, I once dated a millionaire who was shorter than me but I dumped him because he lied about his age. (He was actually older than he said he was.)

  5. LOL.

    Yes I do mate with older, wealthier and taller women frequently – well I’m 6ft 3in so generally they have to be wearing killer heels to be taller.

    In fact it’s how I make a good part of my living.

    I guess I don’t have to answer the rest of your questions.

  6. OK so you would sleep with them, you would take their money…but would you (woman) risk bearing a child who might be the smallest boy in his class? Would you (man) stand proudly in photos with a partner 6″ taller than you? Would you (man) take a woman 15 yrs older and past childbearing age to meet your folks? Would you (woman) boast to co-workers that you were taking your unemployed boyfriend on all-expense-paid vacation?

    I think i chose the word “mate” to see if we could evolve past the Darwinian period.

    So what’s my point here, exactly?

    I’m not sure. I forget.

  7. I love you Carmen. You totally rock. Unfortunately I think that survival of the fittest is skewed towards the mean. The more conscious amongst us are not as inclined to reproduce.

  8. From a Darwinian point of view, if I chose to mate, I would choose the fittest for survival in my present environment and society. So as a female in my class I would see it to my advantage to choose the smartest and most socially agreeable individual, and hormonally hope those traits would make it to my off-spring. However, if I was from a people who made most of their living from manual labor perhaps away from an urban environment, I would hope for strong and robust children to adapt to the demands of survival driven by physical stress. Looking for genes for height and muscle in that case might make most sense, depending on the labor demands and nutrition available. This would mot likely translate into what I perceive as my desires.

    Most people come from a past that puts them somewhere in between, fluctuating between malleable wants and needs driven by the environment and circumstance of their time. I think often there is good reason for other’s choices, and I never know someone wholly enough to really judge how authentic their choice may be for them. On that note, people who concern themselves with others evolutionary fate have themselves, historically at least, met a very dead-end.

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