There's a lot of pressure to show up at social events with a partner. In ethnic communities, relatives immediately ask if you have a girlfriend right after greeting. And if you do AND she's pretty, family and friends will just shower you with compliments the whole night.

Even at social events organized by my job, I know a guy who hires a woman to act as arm candy the whole night. He says it makes it easier to network, and that he gets much more respect from other men especially.

I've noticed this too. When I started my first career job, I noticed that the guys have much more attractive wives and girlfriends compared to the guys who I used to work with in food service. And the guys in my office job are much more open about finding someone skinny and blonde or whatever fits their preferences. There's kind of an unspoken thing where you would be embarrassed if they asked for a picture of your gf and she was not that good looking.

This was a subtle way of enforcing group norms. Being high social status means you get to date hot people. You make the group look bad if you're signaling to people that you can only pull ugly chicks. It was the same in highschool, and it's the same as an adult.

So what do you guys think? Being high social status allows you to get hotter women but does it work the other way too? Do hotter women allow you to climb the social ladder easier?