We have already reviewed the basics of sexual market value.

In this article, we will review the external factors that impact your sexual market value.
And we also introduce strategies to hack into and boost your sexual market value.

1. Gender Ratios’ Impact On SMV

Gender ratio has a huge effect on the balance of power between genders (Birger, 2015).

So, what happens when we change the gender ratio?

Women outnumber men:

• Women have less power to demand resources and commitment in exchange for sex
• Men tend to pursue short-term dating strategies rather than ones based on monogamous continued investment
• Cheating in monogamous relationships increases

Men outnumber women:

• Women become choosier: both short-term and long-term. Short-term sex generally gets harder
• Men appreciate women more: when men land a woman, they appreciate her more, are more jealous and more protective.

The gender ratio is one of the most underappreciated variables in dating and one of the most powerful determinants of intersexual power dynamics.

Hack 1: Move Where Your Gender Is Scarce

If you are serious about maximizing your returns,

1. Choose places or countries with more women
2. Choose professions and fields with more women

Crazy, I know, but:

Women and men who want to enjoy the quickest boost in their sexual market value are better advised to move to a place with a better gender ratio (quick solution) than work on themselves (the long-term, harder solution).

We call the former “lateral mobility”, and while everyone focuses on self-development, such as “upward mobility”, moving is far quicker.
Or, better yet, do both.

2. Race Impact on SMV

A chart speaks more than 1.000 words:

The chart paints a clear picture:  white skin is (still) the favorite for men. For women, it’s best to be Asian.
Overall, people tend to like people who have the same ethnical background.

This is taken from OKCupid data, and OKCupid is mostly popular in the West, so also keep that in mind.
The “exotic bias” might be at play here too. A black man wouldn’t get as many points as a black woman in Africa because there are many black men there.
And an Asian man wouldn’t get as many points as Asian women in Asia, for the simple fact that there are many of them and different races might get “exotic” points.

From a more general point of view: the impact of race can be huge. But it works mostly as a “business card”.
As such, race is a superficial layer and matters less once you get to know the person. Then, all the other qualities we talked about took center stage.
Exceptions of course apply, with some people being potentially super-prejudiced or having strong personal preferences.
That being said, first impressions do matter.

On average, race matters more for women than for men.
Both from a judger point of view and from a judged point of view.
That’s because men are judged by women on more traits, and race gets “diluted” more. Furthermore, women are more attuned to what others think, so if a skin color is considered “safe” or “high-status” in their culture, women pay more attention to it than men.

Two final notes:

1. Black skin is a polarizer in the West: and being polarizing is generally good as you get stronger reactions and waste less time on “maybes”
2. The Asian men’s situation has improved a little recently: in part, this might be due to the popularity of Korean pop. Whether that stays or not is hard to say

Hack 2: Move Where You’re Most Prized (or less disadvantaged)

Move where your ethnic background performs best.

Asian men might want to consider moving out of predominantly white and black countries, while black women might want to reconsider living in Asian countries.
White men get a huge boost in African and Asian countries, and men from richer countries always get a boost in poorer countries.

3. Cultural Impacts on SMV

Culture is a hotly debated topic.

Of course, the debate is wholly ideological, because what’s natural and what’s cultural is actually quite easy to discern.
And a good part of it is also well-documented.

When it comes to dating, nature is more important than culture.
But the influence of culture is still deep and powerful.

Here is how culture influences sexual market value:

1. The value of chastity decreases as sexual freedom increases with liberalism

Cultures where sexual mores shifted to open and libertine do not value chastity (the Netherlands, Scandinavia.
But in more restrictive cultures female chastity is still a valued prize (rural China).

In short, it works like this: when men can expect chastity and when it’s relatively common for women to marry virgins, men value and seek chastity.
When chastity and virginity are rare, men don’t require them or value them nearly as much.

Liberal cultures also tend to award more power to women, since women tend to have better education, better access to jobs, and hence, are less materially dependent on men.
Liberal cultures also tend to afford and grant a litany of social and legal protections to women, empowering their dating sexual choices.

2. Male preference for slim or plumb figures depends heavily on culture

Another culturally sensitive trait is the “slim VS plumb” body built.

Men don’t seem to have an ultra-rigid, inbuilt preference for a specific amount of fat.
Some have speculated that the amount of food and resources available influence what’s considered “higher status”, with poorer tribes preferring plumber women.

3. Skin color preferences vary with time & location, with a current widespread preference for white

Skin color preferences seem to change depending on time and culture.

In Europe, white skin was most prized in middle age, while today a tan is cool.

The West seems to be mixed today, but at the world level, white skin seems to be the preferred color.

4. Openness to casual sex and short-term dating

The culture influences how open or not open the local men and, especially, women are to pursuing casual sex.

Looking at the average sexual partner count by country, for example, provides a rough overview of how open a country is to short-term sex.

5. The shape of the eyes and nose

The attractiveness of the size of eyes and noses is not culturally determined, but the shape is.

See as an example the thriving industry of plastic surgery in South Korea, enlarging eyes adding eyelids, and adding height and depth to the base of the nose.

6. What counts as status symbols, & resource signaling

Men spend to acquire consumerist indicators of their resources.

But what counts as an indicator of status and wealth is culturally determined.
Geoffrey Miller proposed that in a different society, individuals might come to compete in “conspicuous charity” instead of “conspicuous spending on random artifacts”.
But businesses have more spending power and better marketing than charity organizations, so probably we’re stuck with what we have for a while.

Signs of commitment are also largely, but not wholly, cultural.
A diamond wasn’t a woman’s best friend until an advertisement first said it.

7. What counts as proof of kindness and “good heart” (ie.: virtue-signaling)

Yes, virtue signaling is a weak form of sexual signaling.

We typically interpret certain ideological positions as “good” or “bad” and assign “good” or “bad” etiquettes to people depending on which ideological positions they espouse.
People who espouse good ideological positions are seen as being magnanimous, kind, and “having a good heart”. Even if those positions might not really be rational or helpful.

Those ideologies are, in good part, culturally-produced.
Read more in this forum entry.

8. Dominant and subordinate cultures change with time -and it impacts sexual market value-

What’s culturally prized is what’s culturally dominant -we go back to power dynamics-.

Western culture, predominantly and historically white, has been the most dominant society in the last centuries.
So typically white physical features have also been regarded as valuable in many cultures.
See an example here from a Korean plastic surgeon website:

Within the global trend, there are also plenty of smaller cultural influences.
Black men, for example, received a boost in some countries and subcultures thanks to the success of rap music and culture.

Usually, it works like this: subordinate cultures tend to value and prize dominant cultures. Individuals from the dominant culture receive a sexual boost (a positive bias of “high status”).

When there is a lack of clearly defined “superior/inferior” cultural branding, the “foreigner” status is polarizing.
See how standing out made me a pre-selected high-value mate, and this was in a city of millions:

If you’re serious about maximizing your potential, think about whether you can move into places, workplaces, or cultural niches where your background and culture are dominant.

Hack 4: Think of A Mating Goal, Then Pick A Place

Humans have a vast array of sexual behaviors they can select from.

And what they select tends to be in good part determined by the culture.
And in part, their culture and behavior also shape their identity.
So it makes sense to seek mates in cultures that best fit what you are looking for.

If you seek monogamy, it makes sense to pick mates from cultures where monogamy is successful. If you seek supportive men, it makes sense to choose men from cultures that value supportive men (China). And if you seek docile and kind women, it makes sense to seek them from cultures that value those qualities (Japan, Taiwan).

On the other hand, if you seek easy sex and equal partnerships, move to more libertine cultures.

4. Wealth Redistribution Policy’s Impact on SMV

How does the government influence intersexual dynamics and sexual market value?

Simple: by whether or not the state provides -or not provides- financial and child-rearing support.

In more socialist countries women get unemployment benefits, time off, free kindergartens, etc.
As Godhsee also theorized, Socialist states give more power to women and decrease the need for a male provider. Socialist states, in a way, boost female choice and casual sex because they lower the risks connected to casual sex, including the risks to reputation.
Rumors of being a cheating slut are less dangerous to a woman in Scandinavia than to a woman in a poor rural village in Africa.

As we have seen, women who compete for loyalty and chastity signs tend to reside in societies where they are more dependent on men and where the culture is more conservative.

Hack 5: …

See Seduction University.

6. Children’s (& Age) Impact on SMV

Some authors believe that a child makes a woman much less attractive.

And, in many cases, they are right.

But “many cases” is not all, as Miller pointed out.
A woman with already one child might be less attractive to men who have no children themselves and want to nest up.

But it might not be a big handicap for men who are not interested in long-term dating, for men who also have children, or for men who don’t want children themselves (her children are his raincheck pass on having to provide her with some).

Plus, a woman with children advertises some good traits about her.
What are those traits?

1. Stayed alive long enough to (successfully) raise children

Women who reach their mid-thirties raising children and staying attractive might make a better genetic bet for a choosy male than an untested teenager of unproven fertility.

2. Proved -and honed- her mothering skills

The proof of her mothering abilities is right there with her living children. Plus, she had the chance to gain mothering experience.

3. Proved her fertility

What better proof of fertility than existing offspring?

This ties back to the case of mothers past their 20s still being highly attractive potential mates (the “MILF” phenomenon).
This older MILF, FB connection of mine, was far hotter than many younger women:

Hack 6: Settle Down At Your Peak

It’s best to seek a mate when you are at the peak of your sexual market value.

Yes, age and children are not the death knell some make it to be, but they do matter. And for women, age matters the most. It’s best for women to settle down with a high-quality man while they are at their peak, in their mid-twenties.

Plenty of exceptions but, on average, it’s simply common sense: you would rather negotiate when you have your strongest hand, right? Same for negotiating a mate.

7. Personal Preferences’ Impacts On SMV

Character and personal preferences have a huge impact.

Personal preferences probably matter more than culture, and it’s usually underestimated because few studies focus on variance, and even fewer focus on outliers.

7.2. Low VS High Sex Drive & Asexuals

People differ in their sexual drive.

Individuals with low sex drive are less interested and prone to casual sex, and short-term dating strategies focused on sexual arousal work less well with them.
Comparatively, other traits like resources, emotional bonding, and intellectual stimulation work better with low sex drive and asexual individuals.

Statistics are unreliable for asexuals, but a popular statistic computed them at around 1% of the population, the incidence being higher among women than men.

7.3. Individual Variance in Short-Term VS Long-Term Dating

A definition:

Sociosexual orientation refers to the propensity to engage in short-term dating.

Sociosexual orientation presents large individual variations.

Said in simpler terms: men and women differ in their likelihood of seeking and enjoying no-strings-attached sex with casual partners.
And both men and women differ in their levels of fidelity.

7.3. There Is Always an Exception: Why Dating is a Number’s Game

Any rule presents its exception.

But not all rules have the same amount of exceptions, with some rules being almost universal (“hard rules”) and others being little more than a coin toss.

So, for example, the general rule that women like taller men than they are has very few exceptions (albeit I’ve personally seen exceptions there, too).
But the general rule that women like a mannish man instead has a lot of exceptions and the “boyish” and more feminine looks appeal to a relatively large swath of the female population.

Some exceptions to common rules include:

• The general rule is young female is better, but older MILFs can be exceptions (plus a few gerontophiles do exist)
• The general rule is that the powerful alpha male is attractive, but some women are (also) attracted to more feminine-looking men
• The general rule is that men prefer large breasts, but a few men prefer smaller breasts

For more on exceptions see:

ExceptionAL Dating: How to Succeed Despite Shortcomings

Hack 7: Stay At It, Keep On Trying, It’s A Number’s Game

Never stop trying my friend.
No matter where you stand, it’s still all a number game.

8. Social Influences’ Impact on SMV

Attraction is not simply what she likes but, in large part, also what other women seem to like.

Why?

From a genetic point of view, she wants offspring that can easily find a mate to further procreate.
And if other women like it, well… What many women like is statistically (and genetically) more important than what one single woman likes or doesn’t like. Even if that woman is herself.

This means that attraction is not highly objective but, in part, it’s also a social construct. And that’s why female attraction is social and influenced by what other people (especially women) like.

And since humans are not computers, there is also a good amount of “guesstimating” what other females find attractive.

That’s why one night a man with two women flirting with him is a sought-after man at the bar and the following night when he’s sitting alone he might be a wallflower.

Hack 8: Boost Your Preselection Score

There are countless ways to boost your preselection score, including:

• Learn power dynamics: you automatically look and act more in demand when you become power-aware
• Curate your online presence: leave cues of you being scarce, not having much time, and being in demand
• For lovers, leave some women’s items in your room: an old PUA trick. But never been a favorite of mine, to be honest, it always felt tacky

9. The Temporal-Mode Impact on SMV

Men’s and women’s preferences and behaviors differ depending on whether they’re in short-term or long-term mode.

Attractive and sexy men have even more leverage with women who are willing and ready for casual sex since women become more like men in short-term mode.

Conversely, women who are more the “complete package”, with intelligence, good jobs, and an appearance of seriousness and loyalty have even higher value when men are looking for long-term partners.

This tells us that the environment and the culture, also afford different values and power to different individuals.
A sexy but poor man in a conservative culture has lower SMV than if he were living in a libertine country. While a wealthier man has more power to attract a high-quality long-term mate in environments and cultures where women have more of a “long-term mindset”.

Hack 9: Provider Guys Move To Long-Term Dating Cultures

Sexy men maximize their value in short-term dating cultures and environments.

That includes clubs, party towns, younger crowds, and for lack of a better word, shallow environments.

Men without looks instead:

• Men with money but no looks date better in conservative places where more women are more focused on long-term dating.
• Men with game, but no looks can do OK in looks-first, high-energy, and loud environments such as pool parties, beach, loud venues, etc. But they do even better in places quieter places where conversation and socialization allow them to display their game and social skills

Men who have neither looks, nor money, nor game, nor status… Well, do get something, bro :).

SMV Is Highly Relative

Individuals’ sexual market values vary enormously.

Those who say that “those who get laid, get laid anywhere” are truly missing the point and men who are unsuccessful under certain conditions can become very successful under others.

Just as an example from personal experience: white men in Africa.
When I visited a few African countries, some women stalked me to find me on FB and complained when I didn’t find time to meet them:

This was a pretty lady, too, and it was also a big city. Trust me, women don’t stalk me in Europe.
Plenty more women in Africa kept texting and asking me when I would go back, far more often than in any other world region.

Of course, the passport probably played a (major) role, but that’s also part of your SMV. And it’s one of the reasons why your sexual market value varies enormously.

This is just one example of how much the sexual marketplace can impact your dating and sexual options.
With the sexual marketplace conditions of this example, even highly unsuccessful men in Europe could get laid a ton -or just find a high-quality woman for long-term dating-.

Summary: SMV Tips

Now it’s time to plot and strategize:

1. Know your market.

Are there more women, or more men?
What’s the culture in there, more short-term or more long-term? Is it sexually open or conservative?
Is it a rich country, does the state provide all the resources and women need less?

2. Know your competition

What’s the competition like, how do you stack up to it?
Are they more lovers, more providers, boring and dull?
You can either choose to do better than your competition if you have the means to differentiate yourself.
That decision depends on your tastes and your potential.

3. Know your market positioning

How can you position yourself?
What niche could you carve for yourself?

If you’re in Hollywood and everyone is a narcissist, then dressing to the nine and buying “more expensive clothes” is not the answer for you because you’ll only join the masses. Maybe best to go the artist’s way, or show that you don’t care about that “superficial stuff”. That could be a powerful niche if it fits your personality.

But if everyone dresses terribly, then nice clothes will make you stand out like nobody’s business.

Finally, finding a niche is all about advertising that niche. How can you advertise and market them most effectively, in a high-quality fashion (and without looking tacky?)?

Also see: types of male seducers.

10 Types of Male Seducers: Pick Your Niche!

4. What do you want?

What do you really want?

More success, sure, but do you have specific measures for that success?

Get laid a lot, get laid a bit then settle down, or settle down with a high-quality partner?
Knowing what you want will help you lay out a strategy.

5. Be real: tough love for success

Don’t buy into the “feel good” BS.
If you’re a woman and want a mate, then femininity helps.
If you’re a man, there is no point in denying that resources can help you secure a more high-quality mate.

6. Next steps, low-hanging fruits… Drastic measures, maybe?

Prioritize your next steps.

Don’t stop at what you can do easily, “drastic” measures are not really that drastic.

Are you really in a bad dating market?
Is there little you can do? How about different markets?
Maybe a career change or a geographical move could be in the cards.

The result of this analysis will give you tremendous insights, together with the tools to powerfully boost your sexual market value.
Chances are that there are a few low-hanging fruits you can pluck very easily.

7. How are you going to meet your mates?

Finally, remember that it’s a number game.

You can’t just pump your value and wait around. You need to meet people. How are you going to meet them?
Where?
Where do the people you like to hang out? How often are you going to go there?

Because dating is a number’s game, the great news is that the results, are largely up to you.