Hey, I'm married so I'm just going by what my single / online dating friends tell me. It has nothing to do with demographics. In today's app-based environment, something like 80% of women are interested in / going for the top 10-20% of men, and it's getting even more extreme. Is this not true?
It just feels oddly gender specific to assume that in an environment where there are approximately equal numbers of single men and women (no?), one gender has sights set too high and the other doesn't.
This was a long time ago as well and I think the situation has gotten worse in the age of tinder and friends.
This is a summary of the article: https://techcrunch.com/2009/11/18/okcupid-inbox-attractive/
"Some of the conclusions aren’t surprising. The “most attractive” women receive five times as many messages as the average female does, with 2/3 of all male messages going to the top 1/3 of women. And women tend to favor the most attractive men, though the ratio is less extreme."
No wonder why women are so incredibly selective. Gender ratio population wise is roughly equal, with slightly more women than men in the US, AFAIK. Men are chasing women in the wrong place.
1. https://www.reddit.com/r/Tinder/comments/165lsmp/tinder_gend...
Basically you'll need as many single men than single women.
Now if you're talking about apps, a minority of men can date most of the women, but that doesn't work for long term relationships.
Nobody's going around advertising their fancy cars, their hobbies and the church they goes to, etc. We're heavily focused on the perfect match rather than doing vibe check.