The Sexes and the Importance of Appearance

Before I start my blog let me state my position on dating. I think anybody should be able to date anybody for whatever reason. I don't think that dating someone because they are good looking is any shallower than dating someone because they are smart, funny, nice, etc. I tend to think that appearance is part of the whole package and who am I to say what criteria someone should look for in someone he or she dates. I know I have to be attracted to the person I am dating. But this isn't to say that I could date a girl if she was dumb, boring, or mean.

With that being said, I read an article today about how scientist have created a robot that can judge how attractive a woman would be to a man. The article goes to to say that it doesn't work in reverse. Why not? Because women tend to take other, non-physical, characteristics into account more than men. At first I agreed with this statement but when I thought about it I am not convinced.

I know LOTS of nice, smart, successful men who do not have girlfriends or have never had girlfriends. I know plenty of guys who are very attractive, but not nearly as nice, smart, etc. and they can't fight off all the women who come their way. If anything, I think my good looking guy friends do much better than my good looking girl friends. Now granted, most of my good looking guy friends are for the most part nice guys and successful in life. The same can be said for my female friends. Being a successful female can in many instances limit the guys you can go out with so this may be a factor. However, I'm not about to buy the fact that women take into consideration a man's physical appearance any less then men take a woman's appearance.

Admittedly I will say guys can be less discriminatory depending on the situation. For instance, a guy is more likely to want a one-night fling than a girl in which case he doesn't really care about her intelligence, job, etc. But the same can be said for girls looking for a one-time fling. I think in the end, when people are looking to settle down, both sexes take into consideration their potential mates appearance equally.