Imagine that there is a salesman, standing
outside his place of business, encouraging potential customers to enter. “Come in, come in! We have special deals for men and women!”
His place of business is not a shop. Rather, it is a romantic meeting point; a
kind of special dating zone for those looking to find a partner.
The salesman confidently continues, “Women
can enter for free! Meet handsome men,
rich men, passionate men! We have all
shapes and sizes. There’s no need to
rush, ladies. Please form an orderly
queue.”
So far the deal sounds good enough for the
women. What is he offering the men?
“Roll up, men! And make sure to bring your credit cards,
since there is a small fee to enter.
Meet the woman of your dreams!
And when you have met her, there is a modest charge to hear what
she has to say. Experience the excitement
of chatting to beautiful women! And if
you pay a little extra, we will tell you whether the woman you are chatting to
is real or a fake, computer generated image.
Roll up, roll up!”
So, let us just recap. The women can get in for free, can initiate
contact with men they are interested in for free, and don’t have to deal with
fake men created by computer. The men
have to pay to enter, pay to initiate conversations with women, pay to receive
comments from women, and have to pay even more money or they will be contacted
by women who aren’t even real. Well, if
these are the entry conditions, do you think that there will be more men
choosing to enter or more women? That’s
right. 70 per cent of the customers who
use this service are men, and only 30 per cent are women. Conclusion?
A higher proportion of idiots are men.
If you have been reading the news recently,
you may have heard of the business I have been talking about. It is a dating web-site which has become
popular across much of the world. It was
started in Canada and specializes in matching men and women who are already married
and are looking for an extra-marital relationship. The company’s slogan is, “Life is short. Have an affair.” It has been in the news recently because it
suffered a data breach and a group of hackers claims to have stolen the
details of all of its millions of members worldwide. The hackers are threatening to release the
real names and details of everyone who has registered to join this site unless
it is shut down.
Leaving aside the moral implications
of a company actively encouraging married people to cheat on their spouses,
I found the psychology of the people signing up to this site interesting, and
the difference between the genders.
Despite all of the encouragement for women to join, and all of the extra
payments that men have to make, there are still far more men than women. The fake women seem like bait on the end of a
fishing line. So why are all these men
joining and risking having their data stolen and their marriages breaking down? Why are they paying for the small chance that
the beautiful woman they are talking to is real and will actually have an
affair with them? I guess that many of
them are just buying the fantasy. As
long as there is a tiny chance that it is all real, then they will pay the
money, take the risks and live in hope.
Only here’s what they seem to have
forgotten: Fantasies are free. They
happen inside your own head. You don’t need
to hand over your credit card details.
Go on, have one right now, especially if you are married.
Vocabulary:
Roll up! – This is a phrase traditionally
used outside events such as circuses to encourage people to gather and enter.
modest – small; minor
to recap – To summarise; to briefly go over
things again
to initiate – to begin something like a
conversation, friendship etc.
extra-marital – outside of marriage
an affair – a secret relationship with
someone not recognised as your official partner
a breach – the results of a successful
attack which penetrates defences, such as a security breach
an implication – a possible effect or
result of an action or a decision
a spouse – a husband or wife
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