Would/Do you indulge in Hypergamy?

[Weird Harold]

OK. So 'Hypergamy' is getting involved with someone because of their status? Do I have that correct?

Actually it's marrying someone because of their status -- especially if it's higher than yours.

Which raises the question of what do you call the person they marry who is marrying below their station?

 

[Boxlicker101]

Actually it's marrying someone because of their status -- especially if it's higher than yours.

Which raises the question of what do you call the person they marry who is marrying below their station?

Slumming?

 

[elsol]

Well... I'm a station 16.

I'd love to marry a 188 or a really hot 187.

I'm in the age group of 186 and 52 so I'm cool with one of those too.

I've never been attractive to a 54 and I don't mix well with 16'er 16'ers, 190's (i'm not a stereotypical 16'er having been raised more under 55 ideals).

Never EVER a station 26'er... they can be a tad to religious.

More than likely I'll end up with a 29 though.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Liar]

Well... I'm a station 16.

I'd love to marry a 188 or a really hot 187.

I'm in the age group of 186 and 52 so I'm cool with one of those too.

I've never been attractive to a 54 and I don't mix well with 16'er 16'ers, 190's (i'm not a stereotypical 16'er having been raised more under 55 ideals).

Never EVER a station 26'er... they can be a tad to religious.

More than likely I'll end up with a 29 though.

Sincerely,
ElSol

Huh?

Sincerely,
Liar

 

[Aurora Black]

I still think that, since "gamy" is a word describing somebody who is unwashed and smells bad, and "hyper" means exaggerated or extreme, "hypergamy" should be used to describe a person who smells extremely bad because he is unwashed.

Box, "gamy" comes from the Greek word "gamos" which means marriage.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

The idea of marrying for money strikes me as absurd. It puts you at the other person's mercy. NO THANKS!

 

[Pure]

regardless of the talk, i don't think a majority of North American women marry or long-term settle with someone making less money (or having a less prestigious job) than they. it would be imprudent, given women's generally lower rates of pay rec'd.

i have heard that Rita Hayworth was for a long time married to a chicken farmer--haven't verified it.

 

[rgraham666]

regardless of the talk, i don't think a majority of North American women marry or long-term settle with someone making less money (or having a less prestigious job) than they. it would be imprudent, given women's generally lower rates of pay rec'd.

i have heard that Rita Hayworth was for a long time married to a chicken farmer--haven't verified it.

Which is one of the reasons I'm likely to be single for a long time.

I'm just a step up from homeless.

 

[matriarch]

The idea of marrying for money strikes me as absurd. It puts you at the other person's mercy. NO THANKS!

There is no mention of money or finances, merely social status.

But it was a common practice in Georgian and Regency times, for lower status families (middle class) with plenty of money (from business or industry or farming), to marry off daughters to impoverished but heavily titled aristocracy where the family name has a long and distinguished history. Wierd, the ultimate social climbing. The daughter's family gained social status and acceptance, and the aristocracy gained the cash to hopefully 'put the family estates to rights', pay off debts, etc., and enough to fritter away in the gaming rooms.

Oh, and apparently, I did. I'm the daughter of a factory worker and cleaner, married to the son of a Senior Customs Officer/ex-RAF Officer (his wife, my mother in law, was the daughter of a Head Teacher). Shame on me!! Working class to middle class in one easy jump.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

There is no mention of money or finances, merely social status.

But it was a common practice in Georgian and Regency times, for lower status families (middle class) with plenty of money (from business or industry or farming), to marry off daughters to impoverished but heavily titled aristocracy where the family name has a long and distinguished history. Wierd, the ultimate social climbing. The daughter's family gained social status and acceptance, and the aristocracy gained the cash to hopefully 'put the family estates to rights', pay off debts, etc., and enough to fritter away in the gaming rooms.

Oh, and apparently, I did. I'm the daughter of a factory worker and cleaner, married to the son of a Senior Customs Officer/ex-RAF Officer (his wife, my mother in law, was the daughter of a Head Teacher). Shame on me!! Working class to middle class in one easy jump.

Ah, the old Roman practice of "marrying up". Well, of course, that still puts you at a social disadvantage. I don't like being at either.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Box, "gamy" comes from the Greek word "gamos" which means marriage.

Maybe so but it also is an English word that means smelling bad, especially like decaying meat.

 

[Boxlicker101]

There is no mention of money or finances, merely social status.

But it was a common practice in Georgian and Regency times, for lower status families (middle class) with plenty of money (from business or industry or farming), to marry off daughters to impoverished but heavily titled aristocracy where the family name has a long and distinguished history. Wierd, the ultimate social climbing. The daughter's family gained social status and acceptance, and the aristocracy gained the cash to hopefully 'put the family estates to rights', pay off debts, etc., and enough to fritter away in the gaming rooms.

Oh, and apparently, I did. I'm the daughter of a factory worker and cleaner, married to the son of a Senior Customs Officer/ex-RAF Officer (his wife, my mother in law, was the daughter of a Head Teacher). Shame on me!! Working class to middle class in one easy jump.

Apparently, I did too. My wife is the daughter of the owner of a big coffee plantation and she was a lawyer, later a municipal court judge. My father worked on an automobile assembly line and my mother held similar jobs.

In the US, of course, except for a few enclaves such as Boston or Charleston, SC, social status is determined mainly by the accomplishments of the individual, rather than a person's ancestors.

 

[Pure]

taking George W as an example....

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I'd say I'm into reversed hypergamy - I won't date a guy who makes too much money, because then I know we wouldn't agree on a lot of matters.

 

[Guest]

 

[SummerMorning]

Ah, the old Roman practice of "marrying up". Well, of course, that still puts you at a social disadvantage. I don't like being at either.

Don't worry ... in our patriarchal society it's only the women who're marrying up. Women are always worth more than all the money in the world, as there's no other way of getting heirs.

And btw I see you have an AV

 

[Boxlicker101]

Don't worry ... in our patriarchal society it's only the women who're marrying up. Women are always worth more than all the money in the world, as there's no other way of getting heirs.

And btw I see you have an AV

In the US, for the most part, "society" as it is being defined here, is more matriarchal. Usually, social climbers are women since men are not much concerned with such things. If you read the society pages, "social leaders" are almost always women, even though it may be the accomplishments of their husbands or parents who got them to that position.

 

[Liar]

It all deopends on what a certain society and time defines as "high status", doesn't it? At one time it was the blood of the right family, at other times political power, and yet at other times, wealth.

What is high status now? Physical beauty, ability, education and cultural status is up there with power and wealth these days. Attraction is (at least in part) a culturally colored measure of who will gave you the most sucessful offspring. What determine this is dependant on the situation you live in.

 

[1337_G1RL]

This may sound like totally naive, but what the hell is hypergamy?

1337

 

[matriarch]

This may sound like totally naive, but what the hell is hypergamy?

1337

This was covered at the beginning, but for the sake of clarity, this is the definition from dictionary.com:

"The practice of marrying into an equal or more prestigious social group or caste."

 

[Equinoxe]

I couldn't find the word of the day thread -- and Hypergamy needed a thread of it's own.

Personally, no I'm hpergamous, I'm not that class/money conscious.

That's really all I had to offer at the moment, perhaps I shall have to form a real response. All apostrophes in spoiler tags must be preceded by a backslash, or they will render the tag unworking.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Being blue-blooded myself, I don't see a need to marry for social status. Any other definition of it, I can take care of without needing to marry into it, anyway.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Don't worry ... in our patriarchal society it's only the women who're marrying up. Women are always worth more than all the money in the world, as there's no other way of getting heirs.

And btw I see you have an AV

Yes, I have an av.

Oh, and I think that both sexes do it to an extent. Rome was a patriarchal society, but that didn't stop plebeian men from marrying patrician girls to have nobler sons and daughters.

As for the women's behavior, well, face it, no offense, but women are thinner-skinned about social status and "respectability", anyway. I think it's silly, but then I don't respect conformity. I respect defiance and rebellion of traditional mores. Something tells me that I would have been a "liberal" aristocrat in the Roman Republic, like the Gracchi. Mind you, there are plenty of women that DON'T care about shit like that, and I find that more appealing. Being a Master, I prefer that a woman submit to me, rather than some arbitrary custom.