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Elsewhere on Slate, Mark Gimein offers an intriguing theory to explain the seeming shortage of attractive, socially adept, well-employed, single, thirtysomething men—the class eligible-bachelor problem. The gist is that decisive women in their 20s snap up many of the best male prospects—even if the women aren't as hot as those men. These decisive women may be "weak bidders," in auction-theory lingo, in terms of their attributes. But because they know their relative weaknesses, they don't hold out, the men they want fall into line, and the apparent stronger women bidders end up with slim pickings. Interesting. But I'm not convinced, because I can't think of more than a few couples I know that feature a drab (if decisive) woman and a far suaver man. As a colleague puts it, 5s tend to marry 5s, and 8s tend to marry 8s. Whereas if Mark is right, wouldn't there be a lot of 5 women married to 7 and 8 men, and vice versa, eventually? Does anyone have a pet alternative explanation?
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