I am doing online dating

[Jim Lane]

112. My experience is also that women can be picky.

I'm a straight male. My two most recent serious relationships were with women I met through Match.com.

There are women who have requirements about age and physical appearance. Even though, in most opposite-sex couples in the U.S., the man is a few years older, there are women aged X whose acceptable age range is X-10 to X-1 -- IOW, they insist on a younger man.

The stereotype is that men are more likely to be superficial about physical appearance while women are more likely to be superficial about socioeconomic status. I've certainly seen plenty of profiles of women whose acceptable income range is $150,000+.

My guess is that people, even online dating people, recognize that they might be able to have a good relationship with someone not meeting their objective criteria. Nevertheless, it's useful to narrow the field. If, through some meatspace activity, a single meets and gets to know a woman over a size 10, or a man under 5'10", and finds that they click, that's one thing; but if someone has a limited amount of time, money, and emotional energy for going on dates, it's probably not sensible to invest a lot of those resources in meeting and getting to know person after person who starts off in a category (be it physical appearance or anything else) that's less likely to prove attractive.

Of course, people can err in the opposite direction, too. The sheer number of profiles available to be viewed fosters the illusion you mention -- that even the application of strict criteria will still leave many options for dating.