Men see women as partners/companions; women see men as disposable accessories.

Preface: this post is about serious relationships only, not hookups or flings.

Everyone knows why the dating market for casual sex is severely skewed in women's favor. However, lately I've also been wondering about why the market for serious relationships is almost just as imbalanced (e.g. women's extreme hypergamy, men having to put in all the effort, etc). As it turns out, I think there's actually a pretty simple explanation for this, which is due to both genetic and social/cultural factors: in the context of dating/relationships, men see women as partners/companions, while women see men as disposable accessories.

In turn, the reason for this is because men date women for love, intimacy, and companionship, while women only date men for social status and resources.

Now let me elaborate further. The core foundation of a relationship is that both partners provide each other with companionship, physical and emotional intimacy, support, attention, validation, and sex. And what men dream of is a relationship in which both partners enthusiastically provide these things for each other.

On the other hand, let's consider a modern woman. She has her female friends for companionship, support, and emotional intimacy; and unlike male friendships, these female friendships are very close, very strong, and very intimate, often to the point of mimicking an asexual lesbian relationship. Moreover, the woman has a rotation of hot guys from Tinder for when she wants sex, and a roster of FWBs for when she wants touch and physical intimacy. She gets endless validation from her female friends and from social media, and unlimited attention from the hordes of simps in her DMs and hundreds of men that approach her in real life.

So what on earth does she need a man for, that she couldn't find when single? The answer is: social status and resources. Now, of course, she'll have to be attracted to the man, since usually relationships involve sex and intimacy; but that's not what she's really getting out of it.

As a man in a relationship, you're primarily a disposable accessory your girlfriend wears on her arm to impress her friends. Beyond that, your only purpose is provide her with resources and fund her lifestyle.

Now of course, some men who fulfill the "status boost" role very well don't need to fulfill the "resource provider" role. But the aforementioned generalization is the reason why in relationships, usually the woman is the prize and the man is disposable. It's also why women have such insane hypergamous standards- because without meeting the bar to impress her friends and boost her social status, she has absolutely no reason to date you.

"But you have no evidence for this!" I do- my evidence is that women themselves say this, over and over again. The only difference is that they phrase it to say "you go girl, you don't need no man!", while I'm explaining why it causes the imbalance in the dating market.

As women themselves say: men aren't competing with top-tier men, they're competing with a woman's peace and "solitude". They're telling the truth, and this is what they mean.