Theory of a female hierarchy

Art by Lacey Fairchild

 A very useful tool for understanding human behavior is the sociosexual hierarchy (SSH for short) formulated by Vox Day. It categorizes patterns of male behavior and ranks them according to how attractive they are to women, but it's useful for far more than just courtship purposes. If one can correctly identify to which rank a man belongs, one knows more or less what to expect from him and what effect he will have on others. 

If you are already familiar with this hierarchy, you can skip the following set of indented paragraphs. The SSH expands on the Alpha-Beta dichotomy developed among pickup artists--referring respectively to: dominant and attractive male behavior, or submissive and unattractive male behavior--rather than just a binary, this hierarchy has six categories.

Alpha: the most attractive and dominant, alphas are ambitious, successful leaders. They are boastful, charismatic, aggressive, and tend to be promiscuous.

 

Bravo: the right-hand man type who supports an alpha or one in an alpha position. They are loyal and fun.

 

Delta: a normal, decent sort of man, hard-working and competent. They often are not given the credit they deserve and when it comes to women, they might aim too high and/or be too easily cowed.

 

Gamma: a man who can't stand to be seen as inferior to anyone despite not having achieved superior status. Deathly afraid of failure or being shown up, he lies to himself and constantly tries to undermine others. Nowadays, often nerdy. Repulsive to women. 

 

Omega: a social reject, reviled and reviling. Withdraws from society as much as possible because it disdains him. Often unkempt and filled with resentment and misery.

 

Sigma: a man who doesn't care about leading or following, pursues his own ends regardless of what others think of him. Despite not seeking status, is attractive to women.

Many have sought for an equivalent female hierarchy. In response to requests for one, Day has said it should be developed by a woman. The following is an attempt to do so. The difficulty is that the attractiveness of a woman to men is not nearly so dependent on her behavior as is a man's attractiveness to women; being primarily based on her looks.

(A necessary aside: people often protest that the attractiveness described in such analysis is no determiner of how good a spouse a person is. It was never claimed to be. It should be common knowledge that the most attractive people are not always the best mates. Unfortunately there is a mistaken notion that because men's attraction is based more on appearance, women's attraction must be somehow wiser or more based on virtue. It is not. While attraction is important, it should but sadly cannot go without saying that neither sex should select a spouse based on attraction alone without consideration of virtue and other factors.)

Since female attractiveness is so determined by looks, simply ranking women by their beauty is an insufficient tool for categorizing and predicting behavior and mindset. But it is a factor. The interplay of beauty and chastity, or beauty and bitchiness, has been discussed.

This theory is humbly submitted as a possible system for categorization and analysis of female behavior. The author finds it thus useful. Since it is about matters which many are likely to take personally, she anticipates that many readers will not find it harmonious with their own observations or feelings, but such readers should ignore it and formulate their own theories rather than attempt to persuade the author to alter hers. She will not be doing so.

The basis is a dual axis of beauty and niceness, yielding four ranks.

The titles of the four ranks derive from the following cartoon, Teen Girl Squad:

 

The rest of the series may be found here. It does not explicate this theory, being mainly merely the source of the names, but does accord with it at significant moments.

In this system, Cheerleaders and So-and-Sos are pretty, What's-her-Faces and Ugly Ones are not. So-and-sos and What's-her-Faces are nice, Cheerleaders and Ugly Ones are not. Note that 'nice' means exactly that, compatible with but not the same thing as kind, friendly, charming, or good.

Cheerleader

 Pretty and not-nice.

The highest ranking of women, the Cheerleader possesses beauty and knows how to use it. She is good at manipulating people and can be very captivating and very cruel. This is needful for her own sake, since almost everyone she interacts with, male or female, treats her either with special favor or with enmity. She is good at guiding the female herd by encouraging imitation and shaming nonconformity. Many Cheerleaders are vain, selfish, and vindictive, getting whatever they want through flattery, calumny, and detraction, and engaging in flirtation with men pledged to other women. However; they are capable of using their abilities for good ends and many have, especially in past eras when society was more ordered toward the Good. They are highly desirable for high-status men, and a man needs a strong frame to keep them in line. With a low-status man of weak frame, they become discontented and make his and their own lives miserable. They cannot understand the mindset of not-pretty women and often speak as though the attention they receive is something to which all women are accustomed.

Examples: Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind, Emma Woodhouse from Emma, Amy March from Little Women, Inara Serra from Firefly (albeit imperfectly written by a noted Gamma). Mean Girls is about a group of Cheerleaders, Regina, Gretchen, and Karen, adopting a So-and-So, Cady, as one of their own, her transformation into a Cheerleader and her learning, through failure, to use Cheerleader abilities for harmony rather than discord.

So-and-So

Pretty and nice.

Women who possess beauty, though often not as much as Cheerleaders, or are not as skilled at appearing to their best advantage, but still enough to strike most men as noticeably pretty. They are also nice, meaning generally patient, tolerant, and agreeable towards others. In an orderly group of women they reinforce the guidance of Cheerleaders, with some risk of being sycophantic. They make good relationship prospects for both high-status and low-status men.*

Examples: Melanie Wilkes from Gone with the Wind, Jane Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, Meg March from Little Women; Jane Fairfax from Emma is less characteristically friendly than many So-and-Sos, but her beauty and attainment of an Alpha confirm her status.

What's-her-Face

Not-pretty and nice. 

Woman who lack beauty but are not actively repellent, their plainness makes them effectively invisible to men. They try to be pleasant, but often don't know how to dress well or use makeup and may have poor hygiene and/or be a little overweight. They regard pretty women with bewilderment and can't understand how they capture male attention. Their attempts consist of actions like greeting a man to whom they are attracted and then spending a subsequent time isolated, wallowing in discouraged embarrassment. Ignorant as to how to attract notice, agitated if it occurs, many give up on romance entirely. Possessed of low self-esteem, those who do land a man tend to be insecure, sure that he could do better. This may lead them, on one hand, to try to be especially pleasing and accommodating, or on the other, to succumb to bouts of self-loathing-based emotional drama.

Note that in Teen Girl Squad, What's-her-Face, not the Ugly One, is the one who does not have a date for the prom.

Examples: Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter; Deb from Napoleon Dynamite; Sarah from Labyrinth is written like one but is far too pretty; Marie Melmotte from The Way we Live Now but with situational Cheerleader status due to her father's money.

The Ugly One

 Not-pretty and not-nice.

Women who lack beauty yet make themselves visible to men though positive ugliness and/or obnoxious attitude. Unable to get the male attention through beauty or charm, they get it however they can. Gross obesity, piercings, tattoos, unnaturally-dyed hair, fringe fashion, and/or loud, crude, and/or aggressive demeanor. Some of them, such as the young woman in the above picture, have a face which could possibly be pretty, but have disfigured themselves. They do in fact attain men more than What's-her-Faces do, but said men are often Gammas and the relationships are often unhappy. They despise pretty women with a burning rage, and will undermine and backbite any Cheerleaders and So-and-Sos who possess any kind of leadership role in a group. They lord it over What's-her-Faces, flaunting the attention they do get or deriding What's-her-Faces for not being as assertive, "real," or feminist as they are. What's-her-Faces may become Ugly Ones out of frustration and bitterness. 

Examples: Ugly stepsisters from various fairy tales, Mary Bennett from Pride and Prejudice, Hermione Granger from Harry Potter; Janis from Mean Girls.

As final notes, group dynamics, or "pecking order" has been touched upon, but the author believes she cannot fully address it, having little experience thereof. As to courtship strategies, the author is unqualified to give advice, but thinks it likely that one should endeavor to be a So-and-So if one can.

Images in this post are copyright to their respective owners.

* Lest this essay be accused of following the Law of Female Journalism, the author states for the record that she is not a So-and-So.