Rebuilding Rob

According To A Study, Women Are Actually Happier With Less Attractive Men

So apparently this story is been kicking around the inter-webs for almost 4 years! How I only saw in the last few days is beyond me.

This article, and the many similar articles that report on the same study, seem to focus on the fact that women are happier when they are with less attractive men. Conversely, women seem to feel more pressure when they’re in a relationship with a man who is deemed war tractive.

The TV show how I Met your mother describes this dynamic as “the Reacher-settler theory“. According to this theory, one person in the relationship is the “Reacher“, a person who is dating “out of their league“. The other person, the settler, settling for someone who is seen as beneath them.

My question is: what about the men? How do they feel? Do men feel happier when they’re in a relationship with a lesser attractive woman? And on the flipside of that, do men feel greater pressure, or even insecurity, when they are deemed the less attractive person in a relationship? Are men happier as the Reacher, or the settler?

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related (and perhaps, not-so-related) posts:

• The Beacon in the Digital Dark: Why I Write to Breathe
• Graduation 2026: Pomp, Circumstance, and the Cape I Need to Earn
• The Lie of “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”
• The Death of Destiny (And Why I’m Choosing Myself)
• Between Pride Rock and the Plains

The article “The Reacher and the Settler” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.