Leagues are irrelevant

Russell Wilson recently stated: “If you’re dating a woman that’s way out of your league, ask her to marry you.” This got me thinking. I’ve always said that there’s no such thing as leagues, but there definitely are barriers to dating. They might just be standards. And there’s a difference.

Now leagues were originally mostly about social status, right? A guy’s gotta have  a degree from a certain university, come from a such-and-such family, drive this brand car, etc. Same with women, plus some Eurocentric beauty standards for good measure. Those were leagues and those are difficult to navigate between. In some circles these leagues are still very much in place, mind you. You might have some experience with them, either directly or indirectly. I know I do.

From where I’m sitting, leagues are a thing of the past. Just because people still try to uphold this archaic system doesn’t make it OK. Now of course you can have standards. Even material ones. The difference is that these things can (usually) be achieved or changed, while leagues are something that you’re either in or not.

Anyway, I asked my usual suspects about their thoughts on the matter. And I got some very interesting, but honest answers.  There were some who really do still hang on to the idea of leagues (although not in the traditional sense of the word). They defined is as follows: for a woman, her “league” is mostly determined by her looks and conformity to traditional beauty standards. For men it’s really mostly about whether or not he can talk a good game and has the confidence to step to somebody.

Then there were the ones who didn’t necessarily believe in leagues, but still have some material standards. The ones who are after someone with ambition and will support them in their ambition. Basically, if a guy is either not interested in making money or supporting her in making money, keep it moving. I gotta say I appreciated the brutal honesty in this answer.

For me, like I said, I don’t really believe in leagues. Most of it has to do with confidence and the good thing about that: it can be faked as long as you need it to convince yourself that do in fact possess this confidence. And honestly, if a guy thinks he’s outta my league, I’m automatically no longer interested.

So what do you think? Are leagues a thing? Does it even matter to you? Sound off in the comments!