Would you have a relationship with a woman who earned ~3 times more than you?

[Traitorfish]

Hyphenating last names is pretentious...

"Pretentious"? A pretension of what?

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I myself would love to have a relationship with a woman who earned more than me. In fact, it's mandatory for her to earn more than me. Because I love being a freeloading lazy parasite, and I despise working.

I am probably the only person on the entire planet who will openly admit this.

 

[downtown]

I don't care too much about the money bit, although obviously I have my pride, and still like to think I'm contributing. My current girlfriend makes more money than I do, but I still try to keep up my share of paying for things. Ditto with intelligence...I couldn't date a woman who is dumber than me, but I'd happily date one smarter (again, current gf is prob smarter than I am...or can at least completely kick my ass in bananagrams).

I guess a more interesting question would be if I was okay with dating somebody who was way better than me at something that I consider an important part of my identity....like if she was FUNNIER than me. I'm not gonna lie, I might struggle with that a little bit.

 

[Tani Coyote]

I'll assume I can fill in man, being gay myself.

I don't see the problem with it really. Granted, I suck at household chores, but I'd have to do my share...

Now, for heterosexual couples, I can understand; there's the separate spheres idea that, while obsolete, still has some slight hold on many of us - we're so used to seeing the man being the financier of the family that some might find it odd to see the female in that position.

I would absolutely have such a relationship, and am trying to groom my wife to that point right now.

I don't know if you're joking or not...

Aren't conservatives normally of the opinion it's the man's responsibility to be the breadwinner?

 

[LucyDuke]

Hyphenating last names is pretentious, and a man taking the woman's last name as his won takes too long to explain in our culture. I would have no problem with taking my wife's maiden name as my middle name however.

What's to explain?

Ditto with intelligence...I couldn't date a woman who is dumber than me, but I'd happily date one smarter (again, current gf is prob smarter than I am...or can at least completely kick my ass in bananagrams).

Without limit? Would you feel comfortable with a woman who was well beyond your level intellectually?

I don't see the problem with it really. Granted, I suck at household chores, but I'd have to do my share...

I don't see how it's particularly relevant, BUT you can always pay someone to housekeep.

 

[Zelig]

I would not change my name, I already changed my name to make it more awesome, and it was a large hassle.

I couldn't date a woman who is dumber than me, but I'd happily date one smarter (again, current gf is prob smarter than I am...or can at least completely kick my ass in bananagrams).

I expect smarter women than me would object to dating me before I would object to dating them.

Similarly to how I don't date dumb women anymore.

 

[Narz]

Relative income levels doesn't much matter to me either way. The more the merrier, really.

Yes, this.

 

[Kennigit]

I voted for equal as possible, but the actual income level is trivial to me. Instead I'd like to think of their overall "smartness" or what job they could potentially have.

My parents are a pretty good example of what I could be happy with--they both have postgraduate degrees in science (physics and chemistry respectively), but for the most part my mother has not worked since I was born. Income was vastly different on paper but to them that means nothing.

I wouldn't want a relationship with some airhead secretary who barely graduated high school if I have high education. If I worked at WalMart for my entire life I wouldn't want to date some extremely wealthy lawyer who graduated top of class at Yale or something. I want someone who I feel intellectually similar to.

 

[JollyRoger]

If I worked at WalMart for my entire life I wouldn't want to date some extremely wealthy lawyer who graduated top of class at Yale or something. I want someone who I feel intellectually similar to.

I know a Yale law school graduate that has worked on matters for Wal-Mart her entire career.

 

[Askthepizzaguy]

I've dated a woman who made more than me. It's not hard, given how poor I am.

Greatest decision of my life. I paid for myself and as much of the shared expenses as I could, and we usually split the bill. I offered to pay when I could. I did not mooch.

She was a total sweetheart.

Why would men wish that their spouse is powerless and penniless? I wouldn't wish that for myself, let alone my partner.

 

[Perfection]

A woman earning 3x my salary at my age would be a pretty bizarre circumstance, but I suppose I could be cool with it.

 

[Kennigit]

I know a Yale law school graduate that has worked on matters for Wal-Mart her entire career.

well she would make 75% of what I make at walmart so that seems pretty good actually.

 

[azzaman333]

I would prefer if she made 3x's as much as I do, then I would stay home and play video games all day.

But, if you stay home and play video games all day, you'd be earning nothing.

 

[civ_king]

Since my ideal family size is at least three (I consider twelve an upper limit) I'd prefer to make more money, but if my wife could manage the kids and a well paying career that would be awesome

 

[LucyDuke]

Why, you're not going to look after the kids?

 

[JollyRoger]

If a woman can't manage birth control how can see be expected to manage a job and kids?

 

[civ_king]

Why, you're not going to look after the kids?

Of course I am however working full time is not conductive to me being a homemaker

 

[wolfigor]

been there done it, got the tshirt.... a couple of times.

Honestly I never had problems with earning difference, even when the wealth gap was extremely wide.
It's all about personality and the way to deal with each other during the relationship.
As long as the economically strong half of the couple doesn't "rub it in" too much then everything is fine.
The important is to be equal in our behaviour to each other.

However sometime can be upsetting.
I remember one "funny" event with a rather wealthy woman.
We have been known each other for over 10 years and had a very passionate relation even if we didn't meet that frequently (every second month).
Once we went to dinner together at a restaurant.
During the dinner she started telling me about her day and work ... pretty heavy routine of start working at about 7am and finishing at midnight...
However she also said that she made good investment and got 10M US$ out of it over the week-end.
I was happy for her until... she wanted to split the bill!
Damn! she could at least pay for the dinner.

 

[Traitorfish]

Of course I am however working full time is not conductive to me being a homemaker

And working full time as a home-maker particularly conductive to having a "well-paying career", least of all when your brood hits the 2-figure mark.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

I wouldn't mind being the one with the larger or smaller income, really. Though I am a bit lazy