I think equally abhorrent if that is how we are interpreting romantic attraction these days...

Women get so many options. All kinds of clothes, treatments, make-up and social networks for their confidence. They get the socials, the friends and the romance, as much as many pretty women complain about receiving it.

But for a Male, we have to chase status, be ambitious, be successful to some degree; have some kind of skill or uniqueness about them. Those things take YEARS to build and there is no guarantee you will build them. They reflect deep factors of ones own core.

So if you think someone being attracted to you initially because of the way you look is shallow, maybe take a look at yourself and the rest of society, because the other side pushes some pretty horrible standards to meet.