Archetype Writing Blog

Some Interesting Current Research

Alpha Female: a woman who is educated, intelligent, successful, attractive.

Problem: Alpha females have trouble finding mates. One research team recently went so far as to say that Alpha females, as a group, have trouble "finding men who want to marry them.”

Survey says:

Research consistently demonstrates that women prefer men of higher status than they, and men prefer women of lower status. At first glance that seems perfect—men look down, women look up—and as long as you're not an outlier, it is.

If you're a dominant Alpha male who makes more money, commands more power, and pursues higher goals than the rest of the pack, you have no end of subordinate women eager to be with you. If you're a female who doesn't have trouble finding men who are much more dominant or powerful than you, you're in great shape.

Meanwhile, if you're a male with little power or money, you fall behind. And if you’re an Alpha female, you’re seeking men who would make excellent equals or are even more Alpha than you; unfortunately, they’re busy being partners to all those other women.

Romance Novels:

Romance novels help women everywhere believe that somewhere out there is the man for them. And the romance-novel Alpha male is usually attracted to a woman who is not only traditional but also strong: she’s gorgeous, she’s sassy, and she fights for truth, justice, and a good marriage.

This may well be my hangup, but the Alpha male is always so...so available to the heroine. The “other woman”

1. has been chosen by his parents
2. is the key to uniting kingdoms or
   
3. is one of Cinderella’s long lost wicked stepsisters.

He's never really dating someone less than the heroine but still good enough that he's not actively looking. I wish it worked that way in the real world.

Because I really disagree with the minority who claim that a pair of Alphas would destroy each other.

I wonder if our relationships would last longer, if we'd have more fairy tale romances, if we really held out for the people who were great matches.

Maybe I'm just a romantic?