Love and the Single Wallet January 5, 2009
Posted by Onely in As If!, Dating.Tags: christian dior poison, dna dating, gene partner, pricing discrimination, scientific match, single dating, singlism
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Copious Readership, how much do you judge your date by their smell? I’m not talking about those awkward moments involving halitosis, or “But I didn’t play raquetball hard enough today to need a shower,” or Christian Dior’s Poison. I mean the actual body odor underneath the bacteria.
Do you think that scientists can analyze daters’ DNA to match them with genetically compatible significant others? The theory goes that we are attracted to partners whose immune systems have key differences from ours, because the children resulting from such a pairing would have immunities against a broader range of pathogens.
At least two dating services find your match by looking at the part of your genome that codes for your Major Histocompatibility Complex . The MHC proteins not only play a huge role in the immune system, but some scientists say they correspond to certain aromatic body chemicals (pheromones) that we smell on other people, without being consciously aware of the odors.
I wonder if my inexplicable attraction to redheads might be explained by some special MHC protein they have that my body doesn’t: “Hey baby, I couldn’t help but notice your MHC is smelling hot tonight.” No? Not so much?
As a person with very strong reactions to smells (“Who the *f* brought mayonnaise into the office?”), I totally buy into the genetic compatibility/pherome thing. Reading about these DNA dating companies, I was almost drooling with curiousity and actually looking forward to maybe even trying them out!
So imagine my disappointment when I saw that GenePartner, a leader in the DNA dating game, practices singlist pricing: 399 for couples, but 299 for singles–who must certainly be their primary customers!
We already know that singles very often are forced to pay more for everything from highfalutin’ cruises and country clubs to life necessities such as insurance and all-you-can-eat buffets. But to make us pay more for dating services?
Isn’t that just adding insult to injury? Not only are we punished for being Onely, but we’re forced to pay more to “fix” ourselves so that we are no longer Onely so that we no longer have to be punished! WHOA, stop the spinning. . .
So I thought, “Well, screw you, GenePartner, I’ll take my business to Scientific Match“. They charge the same for everyone! And they’re having a sale! Meet your genetic soul mate for only US$1000! If that’s not egalitarian, I don’t know what is.
Do you believe in genetic compatibility? Think the high prices would be worth it?
–CC
PS. I do NOT know why the spacing gets so funky on WordPress like this. Makes me nutso.
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Per the above “comment”: I’m discovering the risks of linking to dating services in this blog– because the dating services sometimes link BACK to us. So Onely’s post “Love and the Single Wallet” is advertised on this creepy Irina dating site, along with: “Date a Millionaire!” and “Hottest Girls in DC!” and “Older Men Dating Younger Women!” (right next to “Nice Guys”).
Classy! Perhaps we will help some older men or nice guys find their inner Oneliness. Uh, yeah.
–CC
“Do you believe in genetic compatibility? Think the high prices would be worth it?”
No and No.
Pheromones are indeed used in the animal kingdom in mating, and possibly the insect world, I don’t think that humans are that advanced yet. I don’t think we know that much yet about GC, and even if we did, I’m not sure it would work better than regular dating sites which are hit or miss anyway.
I think the high price would not be for the dating matches, but the science involved. I don’t think scientists in GC are the ones running the sites, therefore, it isn’t worth a penny.
The day may come when we can match people this way, I just don’t think we are anywhere near it.