ABSTRACT
Certain groups of men and women are increasingly marginalized on today’s mating markets. Through juxtaposing a TV series with a novel, this chapter compares the distinct challenges faced by the sexes. Sigurd Can’t Get Laid (2020–2022) stages how hypercompetitive mating markets relegate men with the lowest mate value to involuntary celibacy. Amanda Romare’s partly autobiographical Half of Malmö Consists of Guys Who Dumped Me (2021) dramatizes the adverse consequences some women suffer as a result of having practically unlimited access to serial dating and casual sex with the most attractive men. Being able to select from an abundance of higher-value men on short-term markets leaves some women unable to calibrate their long-term mating strategies, which results in an increasing number of involuntary single women. These fictional works offer insights into why an alarming number of youths are opting out of both long- and short-term mating. The TV series suggests that the solution is that men better themselves. The novel argues that dating technologies like Tinder have trapped the sexes, in particular women, in an inescapable “shit barrel” of addiction and exploitation. This chapter uses these fictional case studies to dissect power differentials on short- and long-term markets.
