tl;dr: alpha fucks beta bux is only the nickname for a scientifically proven phenomenon, women's dualistic mating strategy. This thread highlights the conclusion of a UCLA meta review on the topic.

Body:

If you've hung around TRP for a while, you've probably already seen this study. For those who don't have, here it is in all its glory:

Women's Sexual Strategies: The Evolution of Long-Term Bonds and Extrapair Sex

Notice the URL: this is from UCLA's own site. If you, God forbid, end up debating this shit with feminists, ask them if UCLA is a misogynist organization and then dump this on their heads.

Who are the authors?

Elizabeth Pillsworth is an Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at UCLA.

Martie G. Haselton is a Professor at the UCLA Department of Psychology.

They are both white female academics working in a liberal university of a liberal American state. Fewer people could be less suspect of being biased against women or holding misogynistic views. Let's see what they conclude.

I'll break down their conclusions and attach the relevant TRP lingo where appropriate:

  • Across all cultures, women deploy a dualistic sexual strategy: Coupling (beta bux) and Dual Mating (alpha fucks)

  • Coupling (beta bux), meaning the formation of a long-term 'monogamous' relationship with a provider, is necessitated by human infants requiring long years of high resource expenditure before they are independent.

  • Evidence indicates that for the purpose of Coupling (beta bux), women seek out men that display characteristics like ability to provide (bux), kindness and reliability. When selection is constrained, women will prioritize the ability to provide (bux).

  • Women will display Commitment Skepticism (shit testing and comfort testing) with their Coupling partner (beta bux), requesting a variety of displays on his part (failed shit tests) to gaurantee he'll be willing to commit once they have coupled (and she's likely pregnant). This is because a wrong investment on the woman's part would prove disastrous for her, leaving her without her Coupling mate's resources (beta bux).

  • Dual Mating (alpha fucks) is a strategy in which women seek to reproduce with men offering better genes (alpha) than their Coupling partner (beta), while retaining the commitment (bux) of the Coupling partner

  • Women are specifically drawn to Dual Matin during the fertile phase of the ovulatory cycle, and women in long-term relationships display a larger attraction to Dual Mating than otherwise

  • For dual mating, women prefer men with the following (alpha) characteristics: body and facil symmetry, facial masculinity (large jaw, prominent brow), dominance, deeper voice, physical size (in relation to their partner)

  • Evidence of Dual Mating is the adaptation to sperm competition (the relatively large-sized testes in men follow the pattern in other primates of larger testes = more sperm competition), the commonality of extrapair mating (cheating, with around 20% of women admitting to at least one lifetime instance), and the development of jealousy (which is not ubiquitous among primates) in males, including to the point of violence

Conclusions:

  • alpha fucks, beta bucks is evolutionarily ingrained in human females and guarantees their best reproductive success

  • the scientific evidence for it is multi-dimensional and overwhelming

  • alpha and beta characteristics are hardwired, not cultural; cultural and social context can add something on top but can never replace or overcome instinctual behaviour

  • LIFT, become assertive and learn to speak with a proper voice