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Survey asks Japanese women if they could marry a man who’s rich but ugly

Casey Baseel Aug 19, 2016
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Poll finds a huge gap in attitudes of women in different age groups.

Previously, we looked at a survey in which Japanese women overwhelmingly said they’d prefer a boyfriend who’s ugly but rich to one who’s handsome yet poor. But what about when you up the emotional ante and pose that sort of question not about a just a boyfriend, but a husband?

Japanese Internet portal Shirabee recently polled 683 women between the ages of 20 and 69, asking them if they could marry a guy they think is ugly but who’s also wealthy. When tallied, the results showed some large discrepancies between women of different age groups.

Could you marry an ugly man if he’s also rich?
(percentage of respondents who said yes)
● Women in their 20s: 32.8 percent
● Women in their 30s: 29.9 percent
● Women in their 40s: 22.6 percent
● Women in their 50s: 23.9 percent
● Women in their 60s: 16.4 percent

It’s often said that people become less fixated on looks as they become older, but aside from a small bump in the 50-59 group, the portion of women willing to overlook a man’s visual shortcomings in light of his economic success got progressively smaller as their ages went up. Particularly striking is how women in their 60s were less than half as likely as women in their 20s to see a wealthy, ugly man as a potential husband. Of course, by the time you reach your 60s, odds are you’ve gotten used to taking care of yourself financially, making you less likely to indulge in fantasies of a rich romantic benefactor providing you with a lavish lifestyle.

The researchers also broke down the collected data by income levels (sorted from the 589 respondents who also reported their earnings), which again resulted in some surprising results.

Could you marry an ugly man if he’s also rich?
(percentage of respondents who said yes)
● Women earning less than three million yen (US$28,600) annually: 24.5 percent
● Women earning three-five million yen: 16.4 percent
● Women earning five-seven million yen: 55.9 percent

Ostensibly, it’s women in lower income brackets who’d stand to benefit the most by marrying a man of massive monetary means. But while the number of women willing to say “I do” dipped in the middle income group, it skyrocketed in the highest-earning portion of respondents, in which the majority said they’d be fine with such a union.

Perhaps these higher-earning women have become acutely aware of the importance of financial security, or material luxury, to their desired lifestyle. Or maybe they’re just especially averse to the possibility of having to support someone who isn’t pulling his weight, by their economic standards, in a relationship.

Source: Shirabee via Jin
Top image: Gatag

Casey tries to make up for not being rich by smelling nice, and if you’re okay with that combination of traits, you can follow him on Twitter.