There's no such thing. When you choose to marry someone, you brand them as your equal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We each came into the marriage with different attributes and different skill sets. The whole is much more than the sum of the parts, so together we = 10.

That's a great answer! I guess you slept well last night. I'm sure the world would disagree, but who cares. I like the way you think!

I love this.

I'm born in American to foreign born (latin american) parents, DH is the same. His family "back home" is military. Mine are intellectual elites (all the women on my side going back several generations were educated, read, write and had careers and all speak/spoke english fluently. His own grandmother is semi-literate). From the perspective of my family back home, I married down.

I'm American enough to not care for the idea of "marrying down", but I see that it has some validity. I have always been treated very poorly by my in-laws; I think primarily b/c they feel intimidated by me/my family. Being of a lower educational class, they believe that a man is more important/smarter/the boss of the home. they expect me to follow their edicts only because I am the wife, the woman. So, while I don't like the concept, I live its ramifications.

Based solely on looks, I definitely married up. Fortunately, DW isn't as shallow as I am!

Anonymous wrote:Clearly you married up, OP. I'm surprised any man would have you.

Well, OP's DH did not marry down...he married low.

Imagine living your life with this woman. Imagine her thought processes and sentiments. Imagine her looking down on the spouses of her siblings, AND THEN - imagine that she was who you chose to contribute 1/2 the DNA for your kids....

Clearly you married up, OP. I'm surprised any man would have you.

I married up financially, but we make a great pair together. He was my first choice from many.

Anonymous wrote:We each came into the marriage with different attributes and different skill sets. The whole is much more than the sum of the parts, so together we = 10.

That's a great answer! I guess you slept well last night. I'm sure the world would disagree, but who cares. I like the way you think!

We each came into the marriage with different attributes and different skill sets. The whole is much more than the sum of the parts, so together we = 10.

We're both 10s.

7=7

Just because you don't want to play, please let others respond seriously. People like to rank everything and compete. We have rankings for every sport, for countries, for wealth, for looks (beauty pageants), for talent (american idol), etc. etc. What's your beef?

OP, you are definitely down, but I'm not sure how much lower you can go when you're already somewhere between under a rock or on the bottom of a shoe.

What an ugly thought experiment.

Do this by rating yourself and by rating your partner.
For example, I am 6 out of 10. My spouse is 9.5/10. I married up! Provide subratings, if you want, in areas such as looks, personality, intelligence, wealth, or anything else that is important to you.
Would others give the same ratings?

I expect people to marry up. You are born a certain way and it's hard to change yourself, but you are free to marry anyone you'd like.
On the other hand, I expect people to marry down because studies show that people rate themselves higher than other people rate them. It is important to rate yourself highly as it shows self-confidence, which is an attractive quality (unless it becomes arrogant or egotistical).

My siblings married down, unfortunately.