Natural Selection Speed Date - Hype or True Love?

Just 2 days after the "Natural Selection Speed Date" event was held by wealthyromance.com, a site dedicated to wealthy men and beautiful women, on Aug 19 in New York, commentary and polls sprang up everywhere to discuss the "fairness" of an event wherein wealthy men and beautiful women need only apply.

As for the men, the criteria for wealth ranged from a salary of $200,000.00 for men aged 25 and below to $500,000.00 for men aged 30 and above. A man who was not gainfully employed or did not have a salary within those limits could still qualify with invested assets of at least $1

million or a trust fund of at least $4 million. The only requirement for the women was that they had to be beautiful, based on the judgment of celebrity matchmaker Janis Spindel. To determine beauty, she required five pictures, nothing more nothing less. No additional information would even be accepted. According to wealthyromance.com, the sponsors of the event, "Pocket Change is honoring the age old union of wealthy men and hot girls. Society has taught us to not publicly acknowledge the obvious - no longer dear friends. Women want money in a man, men want beauty in a woman - this is a factual force of nature.

Women don't ask 'So, what does he do for a living?' because they're interested in his personality and guys don't ask 'is she hot?' because they're concerned with character. Guys know that money buys them the car, the house and the trophy wife. This genetic cleansing is how the wealthy stay beautiful." Wow! What a statement about where we are as a society. While it is true that men are more visual and are thus attracted to women based first on their appearance, what happens when the woman gains weight, becomes ill, or freckles start to show where once there was just creamy, smooth skin? Is she still beautiful or will she be thrown over for a woman who has not gained weight, been stricken by a disease, and has stayed out of the sun to retain her creamy complexion?

In any relationship, attraction is based on a variety of qualities. What is attractive to me isn't the same as what's attractive to someone else, but attraction that leads to marriage must be based on more than good looks and money to survive. It must be based on trust, mutual respect, shared interests, love that is actively working toward staying in love, a desire to grow and learn about each other as life changes, and so much more. In all honesty, if men and women want to date based solely on money and looks, that is going to happen whether there is a planned event or not. I do, however, wonder about the final statement made on the Pocket Change website, "This genetic cleansing is how the wealthy stay beautiful."