The Real Hypergamy
Nature doesn’t care how the babies are born; it only cares that they are born.
In 2017, if you searched for “Hypergamy” on Google, my blog, The Rational Male, would have been the second result, right after the Wikipedia entry. In short, I used to own the concept of Hypergamy. Today, if you search for Hypergamy, the AI overview will be the first definition you encounter:
Hypergamy is a social science term that describes when someone marries or dates someone of a higher social status or sexual capital than themselves. The opposite of hypergamy is hypogamy, which is when someone marries someone of a lower social class or status.
Hypergamy can also refer to the economic practice of matching couples so that the man has a higher average earnings potential than the woman. For example, a Swedish study found that men are the most likely to be the main earners in every union type, including those with a more educated female partner.
This is the working definition you’ll get if you rely on AI to help you write a term paper on Hypergamy. However, the Wikipedia definition has changed to broaden the scope of Hypergamy:
Hypergamy (colloquially referred to as "dating up" or "marrying up") is a term used in social science for the act or practice of a person dating or marrying a spouse of higher social status or sexual capital than themselves.
The antonym "hypogamy" refers to the inverse: marrying a person of lower social class or status (colloquially "marrying down"). Both terms were invented in the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century while translating classical Hindu law books, which used the Sanskrit terms anuloma and pratiloma, respectively, for the two concepts.
Adding “dating” and “sexual capital” to this definition is critical to understanding the progression of this term’s meaning. Look past the Wikipedia return on Google, and you’ll get linked to dozens of articles that all want to debunk the very idea that Hypergamy might have some merit.
Let’s discuss Hypergamy: The Oldest Dating Technique — Cosmopolitan
Is Hypergamy a Useful Concept for Discussing Women’s Response to Patriarchy? — AskFeminists, Reddit
Whither Hypergamy? — International Family Studies, Kay Hymowitz
The Lie of Hypergamy and How it Hurts Women — Medium
These are just a few of the first returns on Google, but if you read only the titles, you get the impression that Hypergamy has a pretty bad rep today. It’s hard to imagine a time when you could discuss unflattering truths about female nature without worrying about accusations of misogyny (another nebulous term). Odd as it sounds, I was pleasantly surprised to see dating and sexual capital added to the Wiki definition. When I owned the term, it was solely about Marrying Up. Adding the short-term sexual benefits component to Hypergamy was something ‘academics’ were reluctant to acknowledge.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Rational Male to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.