Let’s do the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the horrible… lets assign numerical values to encompass a person’s entire worth… all in under a second!
While many object to the callous and inhumane practice of rating the opposite sex a number between one and ten most of us do it anyway, and for good reason.
People often date people that have a similar ranking to themselves. You don’t often see a troll with the hottest guy in town, nor do you see the bombshell model dating the overweight guy in accounting. (I got nothing personal against accountants!)
A rating scale is just a tool and is not intended as a means to put people down. The important thing to remember about them is that they are flash judgments based on the most basic of information. When making a flash judgment the most readily available information about a person is what drives billion dollar industries… take no prisoner conclusions about style, beauty, hygiene, wealth, fitness and education.
In my personal opinion, further information about personality, vices, friends, pet peeves, family (the list is endless) could raise or lower a score. This information isn’t readily available at first glance and is thus not the focus of this article (perhaps a future one?)
What’s important about a ratings scale for guys is that in many ways it affects how you should act towards someone and more importantly how they will react back. As painful as it might be for some women (read all women) to hear, superficial “flash ratings” are critical to dating.
Approaching say a 10, who has literally heard it all before requires a fundamentally different approach than someone who is a 4. While a 4 might be delighted that someone is even talking to her a 10 will be tapping her foot expecting something extraordinary. Saving the debate about society forcing us to act this way for another day, let’s just say this is a fair assumption.
In order for a ten scale to work there are a few universal truths people need to recognize about these ratings.
Five is considered average, as in between a 10 and a 0. This does not mean that the average girl is a 5, not for 1 second. I once got into a debate with someone who believes that in Toronto the average rating for a girl is 3. This would mean that about ¾ of the girls would be trolls and thus updatable. Five is generally a cutoff line of who you believe is physically dateable, someone that you find at least somewhat attractive. Anyone above a five in my method has at least some element of “it” that indefinable quality that allows you to picture yourself going to dinner with this person, having sex with them and maybe even sharing a Sunday afternoon with them.
As far as I’m concerned a 5 is someone I would consider on the bottom end of what I consider attractive. Beer goggles may bag you a 4 and a foolish bet may get you a 3, but generally most choose not to give anyone below 5 a second glance.
I’m reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry says that 95% of the population is “updatable.” This is perhaps a generous amount considering a restriction on sex, age, language barriers, cultural barriers, pre-existing relationships, family, location and availability.
Now I also consider myself an easy marker, I believe the average in Toronto to be 7. When discussing with the same friend who believes Toronto to be a 3, he brought up an interesting point. The numbers below 5 are virtually unused in my system. This may be true, but with good reason. My scale is a grade scale so a 5 is a barely pass which translates in a barely dateable, not so attractive prospect.
I’ve heard of others saying they would “do” any girl that got on the rating scale but not a zero. There are a lot of ways to go about it, but from now on when I refer to ratings I will be referring to my way. 5 is a push 1 is a goblin and 10 is the flavor of the week gracing those highly photoshoped magazine covers.
Keep in mind flash ratings that are superficial in nature are useful, but there is no reason to rely on them once you become privy to more information. Getting to know someone is one of the most wonderful experiences anyone could have; don’t let a flash rating prevent your participation in genuine human interaction.