> This means the modern dating environment is so bad that a man taking initiative to ask a woman out, if she is interested in relationships, will by itself set him apart as a 99th percentile man, because there seem to be just a ton of women wanting to get asked out or even approached and instead they’re relegated to dating apps.
The core of the problem is that this isn't true. The average case is that the woman compares this man to her best Tindr date (who decidedly didn't see her as a relationship prospect, but she doesn't know that) and politely tells him that he's not in her league. The worst case, which guys are wary of even if it's not really all that common, is that she labels him as an aggressor for approaching her, or makes fun of him in front of her friends for approaching, or otherwise flags him as a "creep" of some stripe, which definitely has social consequences and might have legal consequences.
The bad news is that there's no shortcut to being a "99th percentile man", and we know this because word would spread quickly among men if there was one. The good news is that it's still never been easier to be in the top decile than it is today - much of the competition is fat, drugged-out, or shut-in, and a man who doesn't fall apart under these conditions - difficult as that might be in practice - has plenty of opportunities for success.
"comparing men to her best tindr date" is, I think, something men do, and not so much women. As for making public scorn of him for trying, I did note this later in the article:
"Men are surrounded by tik-tok vloggers making fun of men for asking them out, publicly shaming men for checking them out at the gym, AITAH threads on reddit, etc"
In any case I stand by what I said, because I have (when I was single) had girls say to me, and fairly often in fact, that the first thing that impressed them enough to take me up on my date offers was just that I asked in the first place. Possibly you are conflating two distinct categories of women- single women that want relationships do not behave the same as single women that want one night stands.
> This means the modern dating environment is so bad that a man taking initiative to ask a woman out, if she is interested in relationships, will by itself set him apart as a 99th percentile man, because there seem to be just a ton of women wanting to get asked out or even approached and instead they’re relegated to dating apps.
The core of the problem is that this isn't true. The average case is that the woman compares this man to her best Tindr date (who decidedly didn't see her as a relationship prospect, but she doesn't know that) and politely tells him that he's not in her league. The worst case, which guys are wary of even if it's not really all that common, is that she labels him as an aggressor for approaching her, or makes fun of him in front of her friends for approaching, or otherwise flags him as a "creep" of some stripe, which definitely has social consequences and might have legal consequences.
The bad news is that there's no shortcut to being a "99th percentile man", and we know this because word would spread quickly among men if there was one. The good news is that it's still never been easier to be in the top decile than it is today - much of the competition is fat, drugged-out, or shut-in, and a man who doesn't fall apart under these conditions - difficult as that might be in practice - has plenty of opportunities for success.
"comparing men to her best tindr date" is, I think, something men do, and not so much women. As for making public scorn of him for trying, I did note this later in the article:
"Men are surrounded by tik-tok vloggers making fun of men for asking them out, publicly shaming men for checking them out at the gym, AITAH threads on reddit, etc"
In any case I stand by what I said, because I have (when I was single) had girls say to me, and fairly often in fact, that the first thing that impressed them enough to take me up on my date offers was just that I asked in the first place. Possibly you are conflating two distinct categories of women- single women that want relationships do not behave the same as single women that want one night stands.