I just happened today to remember an article from The Atlantic in 2018 when a client asked me if he was “shooting out of his league.” The article was called “Dude, She’s (Exactly 25 Percent) Out of Your League.” The study discussed both men and women’s desirability, in addition to the desirability of those they want to date, defined in terms of “leagues.”
I personally hate the expression, but a “league” when it comes to dating is, put simply, a quantification of someone’s attractiveness. So, for example, if I deem myself a “7” on the scale of 1 to 10, one being the most unattractive (think Ursula from "The Little Mermaid"… though she has a certain appeal) and 10 being Zendaya (my girl crush), then anyone who is an 8 or above is “out of my league.” It’s not scientific, obviously, and it’s superficial as heck. But we all rate people, including ourselves. How accurate, though, are we at determining our own desirability?
As a note, luckily, the study describes a league as “not different tiers of hotness, but a single ascending hierarchy of desirability.” If this is the case, then at least “desirability” might include some less superficial (and more earned) attributes, like level of education and wit, which you’d never know from just looking at someone’s exterior.
