I had a "light bulb" moment this morning, thanks to u/lurkerhasarisen. I saw lurker's comment telling another commenter that some OP post wasn't a fake profile or fake OP, because (paraphrasing) thinking a profile is fake is based on the misguided notion that no woman could possibly be unaware of how bad her profile sounds.

We see a lot of profiles with outlandish, extreme statements here. Things like "Yeah I got a kid, if you can't handle that keep it moving" and "I need a guy to pay my bills, no sex" and "I'm pregnant, I need a man to man up and step up", and the like. The knee jerk reaction is huh? Really? Do they think a guy is going to like this? Do these girls really think this is attractive?

Are they serious?

Yes. They are. Serious as a heart attack.

When it comes to men, sex, dating, relationships, mating, and marriage, women take themselves very seriously. To a woman, getting a man for whatever she wants at that time is a gravely serious endeavor. It might not look serious to you, or to me. It might not look purpose driven. It might be silly or ridiculous or extreme. But to women, this is serious business. They're not fucking around. They take themselves seriously in this regard, and they fully expect men to take them seriously.

Two things are going on here, I think. First is that women need men's resources and cooperation. They need men's money, time, labor, attention, and resources. They need those things, so they're serious about their efforts to extract them from men. They need men to treat them seriously so they can get access to those things, however briefly or fleetingly.

They also need men to "cooperate" with them to the extent that they aren't predatory toward women, and won't intentionally injure them or ignore them. They need men to "white knight" for them, to protect them from other men and from judgmental women in the herd. And they need men to protect them from the elements.

The second thing is relatively new. In my opinion women expect to be taken seriously in getting men, because women want and expect men to treat them as equals. Women have been brought on par and "equal footing" with men in every significant way. Because of this, women expect men to "respect" them. Women expect men to seek women's input on everything. Women hate being trifled with, underestimated, or taken for granted. They hate it when you call them or their dating efforts frivolous, unserious, or unimportant. Women expect men to give their opinion, viewpoints, and desires equal or even superior consideration to those of men. The law treats them equally, so, in their estimation, individual men should treat them equally as well. Men should take them seriously.

Posts at WAATGM look as they do because women take this dating and sex thing extremely seriously. FDS exists because women are really serious about this. The NiceGuys subreddit exists because women take their male shaming so seriously. For women, getting what they want or need from men is serious. Everything women do toward men has a purpose: Get men to fuck, marry, pay their bills, change their behavior, do what that woman wants, validate her, affirm her, or whatever else she wants or needs from that man. She wants or needs that man to do something, not do something, or give her something. It's a serious matter for her.

Women take themselves extremely seriously when it comes to men, dating, mating, sex, and marriage.