Beauty and the beast

There's a current crop of sitcoms that feature a dumpy-looking schlep and his gorgeous wife. I can't think of a single title to save my ass, mostly because I don't watch 'em, but it seems like there's one on every channel.

Though this isn't exactly the point of this post, I think it might serve as an illustration of the point I'm trying to make.

What IS it with the type of man who will ONLY consider a pretty woman as 'relationship material'? And I'm not even talking about remotely attractive men, here.

You know the kind I'm talkin about...the fat, bald, middle-aged doofus who never fails to leave skid-marks in his shorts; the scrawny geek with acne, crooked teeth and an IQ of 158 who thinks he doesn't need deodorant; the totally non-descript, personality-less drone who's idea of great sex is a five-minute session of what's essentially masturbating...with a partner.

In other words, men who are about as far from being an Adonis as I am from being a math whiz. Believe me....that's pretty damn far.

I mean, these guys wouldn't think of trying to date a woman who's NOT beauty-pageant material. The truly believe that they deserve...no...are entitled to have a beautiful woman on their arm. Or in their bed. They WANT a Drew Barrymore or a Pamela Anderson or a Nicole Kidman and they refuse to consider anything else.

To date a fat woman or a flat-chested woman or a woman that's not exactly "perfect" would be somehow...beneath them.

Oh, I know men like to look at pretty women. That's a given. Hell, I like to look at pretty men, too. I'm not talkin about just an appreciation for a beautiful person. I'm talkin about feeling that they're somehow entitled to have a beautiful, perfect mate and to accept anything less wouldn't even be considered, despite the fact that they're trolls, themselves.

Of course, in the end, they rarely wind up with one. Unless they're filthy rich, of course. They wind up as either single, lonely old men with six cats or they 'settle' for something less. I dunno about the rest of you women, but I sure as shit would hate to think of myself as being the one 'settled' upon.

They spend most of their lives searching for something that they can't have because they have this misplaced sense of...what?....machismo, maybe. How utterly sad is that?

I asked Ziggy about this. I figured that, as a man, he'd have a little better insight on this than me, though he's never been one of those kinda guys. He says it's because of the way we're all treated when we're little kids. The little girls get Barbie dolls and think that that's what they're supposed to look like when they grow up. The little boys are taught from the get-go, that everything they do is great because they're boys. That, despite all our screeching and wailing about "equality", there's this underlying idea that boys/men are still "superior" to girls/women.

I think that's part of it. But I think there's something else goin on, too. Otherwise, why don't ALL men have the same outlook?

I think maybe part of it is immaturity. Add to that an overblown ego and a false sense of superiority, and you've got one of these overbearing "non-Adonis'" on your hands.

But that's just my theory. What's yours?