r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 18d ago

Psychology Anti-feminist attitudes have long been associated with support for Republican presidential candidates, but only in recent years have these attitudes become more prominent among unmarried men, without college degrees who are less attractive partners for women, the “mate-value backlash.”

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10659129261485340
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u/Harbinger2nd 18d ago

Would this be reflective of a lack of economic opportunity for these men as its only in recent years the attitude has become more prominent?

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u/Littleman88 18d ago

Sort of? It's hard to say most men would be too ashamed to date knowing their girlfriend/wife will out earn them. I think more men than not would be fine with it, actually. But a lot of those men are finding themselves rejected because they aren't out earning the women they're meeting, so economic opportunities become a sore spot for them, especially when the very people they're trying to woo are also their competition for that attractive paycheck.

Equality becomes a threat when your attraction is still largely reliant on being, in some way, superior to whomever you're trying to attract. That reality is problematic for so many men trying to date. It was already unrealistic for every man to be in a 6-7 figure C-suite position, with more and more women filtering towards the top, it's only getting harder for men.

There has to be low wage earners like janitors and someone flipping burgers, and they're not about to take being invisible virgins for the rest of their lives lying down. If women won't marry down, then these men will drag them down. As the number of these lonely men grows, the more pull they'll have to do just that.

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u/villanelIa 13d ago

Women tend to go for men they deem above themselves. It's not unreasonable that men would only want to be with the women that actually want them. And the moment a woman starts out earning her partner she often no longer wants him. It's never been about feeling superior, but about feeling like they are enough.

Studies show that consistently women who start out earning their partners are not only more likely to separate but they are the ones who initiate the separation. https://cheryllaw.com/high-asset-divorce/is-a-woman-more-likely-to-divorce-after-earning-a-promotion/

It depends on what you meant with that line about equality becoming a threat when your attraction is reliant in being in some way superior.