Do men have relationships/marry women much less attractive than them ?

[Fifi0]

I saw a male celebrity is dating a woman much more attractive than them. I was wondering have any Mners had LTRs , married men who are much more attractive than them? I don't see many women punching in real life or even many celebrity women.

Appearance and attractiveness are of course subjective. There are two men I have known (one I was at school with) who have married women that most people would consider not to be particularly attractive. The one I was at school with had confided in a blabbermouth friend that he chose women who were not particularly attractive in most people's eyes because they would be faithful and not the target of other men.

It definitely doesn’t seem the norm in certain parts of Cheshire! But it sort of evens out because they have really attractive kids!

I do have friends who have been together since teens, she is much more attractive and never ages. He’s short and good fun and they get on brilliantly and are always laughing.
I don’t really know any women less attractive than their partners now I think about it.

My husband is definitely more attractive than me but I'm the funniest in the house.

Lewis is hilarious. Great personality. Good luck to them.

And then he spoke, and he was like a humourless block of wood, and I revised my opinion of who was punching in the relationship.

That baffles me far more - when one completely humourless person marries a person who is the opposite - than when one of them happens to be a lot more conventionally physically attractive than the other. I don't just mean people who don't really 'do' jokes - I mean those who just never seem to like or enjoy anything at all in life.

One of my nephews is very attractive and has in the past had very attractive girlfriends however his current girlfriend of over 2 years is not physically attractive but she is very artistic and creative and he just loves that about her. She has made their cheap flat look amazing on such a small budget.

I am. Jimmy Carr’s wife is very horsey. She’s all schnozz.
Amelia’s attractive but Jamie is more so. I wouldn’t say she’s punching but well, she is Colin Farrell’s cast off.

I think harry kane is really good looking!

They’re both homely. A good match.

I disagree. Harry Kane is a 6 out of 10 (IMO,) and his wife is a 7.5. Fairly matched, but he is punching. Also Jimmy Carr is punching. He is a 4.5 out of 10. His wife is a 7. (IMO.)

Most of the couples I know the women are more attractive.

I think there are conventional trends on attractiveness which are largely determined by physical signs of reproductive fitness (e.g. facial symmetry, waist/hip ratio even when both are quite large) and culture (e.g. there's a reason certain people become models and pin-ups and why others aspire to achieve those same looks through hair dye/make-up/cosmetic procedures/diet and exercise). We're a species that reproduces through sex so this will always be how we assess attractiveness on a first-encounter basis. Not great if you're on tinder!

However, the process of getting to know someone really changes your visual perception. There are studies to show how someone's attractiveness decreases when you're pissed off with them and vice versa. Add in personal behavioural/personality preferences and the overall effect can be quite profound. I've met several drop dead gorgeous men I'd have quite happily jumped into bed with. After 30 minutes conversation a lot of them had about the same sexual attractiveness as a snail. The opposite can be true too. Someone's humour, intelligence etc can massively increase how attractive you perceive their physical features. This is a really powerful thing for me. I couldn't even have a ONS with someone I didn't lie, no matter how objectively good looking, because I would just find the other factors so damn unsexy. Other people are clearly affected far less so. This is why I don't like online dating (plus I'm married now).

We can all be cynical about big differences between the attractiveness of certain couples and that's because in many cases it IS about the money/power/whatever (cliches are cliches for a reason) but it's definitely not the case for all and less striking differences can be easily explained away IMO.

A man I know is so good looking but his ex wife and girl friend are plain looking. Surprised really because he is generally critical about women's looks.

I think statistically we tend to 'mate' with people at a similar 'rating' with some obvious trade offs eg wealth/power for beauty/youth.
I'm sure there's average looking men with pretty partners and average looking women with attractive partners.....it must even out because I've not notice a glut of ugly single women (or men)....though possibly I don't give it much attention.

I have heard this before from men too funnily enough lol

My DH is very conventionally attractive. I don’t frighten small children and I clean up well but the main compliment (“compliment”?) I get is that I have unusual or “different” features. He has absolutely no awareness of his looks though and is baffled when women flirt with him.

I feel generally women are more attractive, that's why it's rare to see one punching

All the time. Having said that, there are more attractive women than there are attractive men.

Only case I know in person is a couple who got together in their 80s. No idea what they looked like in youth.

This ^

I have known a few men whose (female) partners were less conventionally good-looking than them. But the men seemed besotted with their partners and clearly thought they were beautiful.

I think the Scottish celebrity actually could be conventionally attractive if he wanted but he takes the piss a lot. I think he is also pretty clever and really funny. Aren't women supposed to look for different breeding indicators like wealth/ strength etc to ensure survival of offspring whereas
men seek attractiveness for the gene pool for some reason.

I feel generally women are more attractive, that's why it's rare to see one punching

Is that an innate perception, or a result of inherent misogyny that declares that women naturally are not attractive enough, thus the bar is raised to expect makeup and other 'beauty' treatments as an acceptable minimum?

Surely there's something seriously off when women are routinely told that not wearing makeup is completely unprofessional, when the other half of the workforce is not even offered this as a free option, but is automatically considered 'professional' without ever having to remotely consider it.

Whatever the reasons or justifications, when one sex is socially forced to have a much higher 'standard' than the other by default, it can't come as any surprise to anybody to discover that that sex then ends up widely demonstrating that higher 'standard'.

I’ve only come across this situation once, the guy is a 9.5 out of 10 and the woman about a 6. They’ve been happily married for 30 years.

So are we saying that some men marry less attractive women for money? I have seen this too. I have also seen it where the less attractive woman has some considerable influence in the area that the man works in.

I know one couple. She is however an amazing host and also gives off such a positive vibe. It is hard to explain just how good she makes people feel just by her presence. Never met anyone else quite like her. I would imagine she could call animals Snow White style to her if she wanted to.