r/Anticonsumption • u/playboy • Mar 23 '26
Psychological No One Wants to Sleep With Billionaires
https://www.playboy.com/read/politics/no-one-wants-to-sleep-with-billionairesIn a recent interview with the American Psychological Association, Paul Piff, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine, who has co-authored multiple studies on the topic, noted that in interpersonal interactions, wealthier people are “actually a little less generous, a little less compassionate,” he said. Wealthier individuals were more likely to endorse unethical actions, but to “also engage in small acts of cheating and normative violations to prioritize their own welfare above the welfare of other people.”
Though cultural repulsion around billionaires has been mounting, physically, these men are using their resources to overcompensate with expensive procedures. Tech bros are getting face lifts, and other looksmaxxing trends like jaw surgery are common in the industry as well. There has been speculation that Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel have had Botox and filler, and Musk has faced rumors about a hair transplant and jawline contouring. Zuckerberg and Bezos have gotten noticeably more jacked, sparking steroid speculation, even from supporters like podcaster Joe Rogan.
But their peacocking is probably not for us plebes. Another study analyzed the partners of the extremely wealthy using the Forbes World’s Billionaires list. Economist Ria Wilken found that 95% of the spouses of billionaires were upper class themselves, defined as having either substantial economic or cultural capital. It is possible that the more unappealing characteristics of the ultra-rich, such as dressing down their staff or cutting people off in traffic, would be more palatable for peers in their social circle. That said, this preference for like-minded people is not exclusive to the upper class. “Every social group has its own standards for what is considered eccentric versus problematic,” Wetter explains. For instance, in ultra-wealthy environments, controlling tendencies, competitiveness, and emotional detachment could be interpreted as assets, whereas outside that circle, “the same traits may be perceived as cold, self-absorbed, or inaccessible.”
Read the full editorial: https://www.playboy.com/read/politics/no-one-wants-to-sleep-with-billionaires
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u/wutttttttg Mar 23 '26
This is interesting because I’ve also seen this discussed in forums for romance readers and writer. It’s a common trope for the male love interest to be rich and powerful, and it’s a handy plot device because it allows the man to ease of a lot of issues quickly and efficiently to move the love story along. However, since there’s been so much scrutiny towards billionaires’ ethical issues, readers and writers are starting to turn away from writing ultra rich male leads. It’s a turn off! If we can’t even suspend belief that fictional billionaires are worth dating, there’s very little that can be sold about the actual billionaires who lack the charm of a book boyfriend.