New Studies Confirm People Care Less About Looks Than They Used To
The dating landscape is shifting, says science. Physical attractiveness has become less important to the new generation of singles looking for partners.
It’s time to throw out everything you thought you knew about dating.
It’s a brave new world, one where up is down and black is white. For all the media hoopla, all the stoked fears of unbridled casual sex run rampant, all the worry that people aren’t having sex anymore — surely what some have considered a sign of the great sex apocalypse — something much more innocent is happening…
The dating scene is evolving over time.
We’re maturing. We’re growing up.
We’re tired of being told what we should want — and we’re using both our brains and hearts to ask what’s best for us.
The Singles in America Study
Over the course of the pandemic, two radical shifts have taken place. The first is people wanting deeper romantic relationships instead of short-term sexual flings.
The Singles in America study asks participants what they’re looking for in a partner and in a relationship. The study is put on by Match, the dating company, and the latest data sets show that people are astonishingly less interested in a casual fling than relationships with substance.
1. Connections, Not Casual Sex
Only 11% of people say they want a casual hookup. That’s an incredible imbalance. 89% of people said they were looking for something consistent and long-term.
Scanning the last decade of media articles, you’ll find an onslaught of media lamenting the looming threat of “hookup culture” that’s allegedly destroying the self-esteem of singles and young people. An article from 2018 is titled Hookup Culture: The Dangerous New Relational Landscape.
Talk about melodramatic.
For all of our fears drummed up by media hype, the reality was playing out much differently from the world in our imaginations. People have started looking for a real partner instead of the same old disposable experiences.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
People are holding out for what makes them happy instead of settling for something unhealthy.
2. Looks Matter Less
The second shift is people placing much less emphasis on physical attractiveness.
When asked what’s the most important thing in a partner, historically, good looks had always landed in the top five — until now.
For the first time ever, looks no longer rank in the top five most important things people want in relationships.