Ladder Theory

Has anyone ever heard of this? I was conversing with some friends about this hypothesis premised on the notion that men and women differentiate in a very simple way- men have one “ladder” while women have two “ladders.” It states that men have a ladder which ranks every woman they would have a sexual relationship with, while women have two ladders for ranking men that have “potential” (whether it be romantically or sexually or both) and men they consider just friends. This essentially just means that heterosexual males cannot be friends with females, while heterosexual females automatically place a man in one of two ladders once they meet them. This intrigued me because I have numerous friends who are of the opposite sex that I haven’t and will probably will never have any sexual desires for. Whether this makes me less of man is probably debatable.

When you meet someone for the first time of the opposite sex (within your age bracket), you probably give them a mental ranking on how attractive they are subconsciously, correct? I know I do. Does that make me shallow? Oh well. I can embrace it. The equivalent of this ranking is placed on what they call a “ladder”, with the bottom of the ladder being what you consider less attractive and the top of the ladder being what you consider more attractive. According to this theory, a woman’s attraction to men  is based predominantly on money and looks while a man’s attraction to women is generally based on looks and how easy it will be to get them in the sack. How shallow of us, right?! See below as to how the rankings are calculated:

Men’s Ladder

60% Looks: Perceived physical attractiveness.
30% Perceived Sexual Readiness: Lynn refers to this as the “estimated chance she’ll put out quickly.
10% Other: This is not explained, but in women, “other” refers to personality characteristics.

Women’s Ladder

50% Money/Power: Why unattractive men of wealth and influence are with beautiful women.

40% Attractiveness: Sub-divided as follows:
50% Physical Attraction.
20% Competition: The more interested a man is in something/someone other than the woman, the more attractive she finds him.
20% Novelty: How recently the woman has met the man and his distinction from other men she knows.
10% Other.

10% Other: The personality factors most women claim are their primary factors for attraction: sense of humor, intelligence and sensitivity.

Now, this is what makes the theory even more interesting. Since the ladies have two ladders, their willing to spend just as much time on the guy(s) that’s on the friend’s ladder as she does with the guy(s) on her “potential” ladder. This is difficult for any man that’s placed in the friend’s ladder because they can’t tell whether she’s interested or not due to the amount of time and attention she’s giving him. The reason women do this (according to this theory), is because they enjoy the time and attention they’re receiving from the guy on the friend ladder but they might be in denial that he actually likes her so she keeps him around. Women will place a man on the top or bottom of either ladder based on how much attention she gives him, so you can be on top of the friend’s ladder because she gives you the most attention but the end of the day you’re still on the friend’s ladder. On the flip side, men will place a woman he meets on one ladder, ranking her from the most attractive to the least attractive. He will more than likely only pay attention to the women at the top of the ladder while the women at the bottom of that ladder will get no love. None. Nada.

To summarize this theory, heterosexual men cannot be friends with women because we just want to hump them and women place you in two different ladders (friends and potential).

What do you think? Does this ladder theory apply to your life? Can guys be shifted from one ladder to another? Can guys have 2 ladders? Let me know what you think!