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?