The downside of status

In their rush to declare themselves alphas, before whom men cower and women tremble with anticipation, what is often forgotten by perfectly normal deltas and gammas is that socio-sexual status very often comes at a price. It is the rare alpha - usually the religious type who dutifully passes up his multitude of opportunities presented - who has not contracted at least one sexually transmitted disease at some point in his life.

While the macro data is inconclusive on the statistical applicability of the general 80/20 rule, or 90/10 rule as some believe it to be, this data on herpes infection in New York City offers strong support for the idea that a small group of men are having sex with a larger group of women. Consider this report from the New York City health department in 2008.

The Health Department reported today that more than a fourth of adult New Yorkers are infected with Herpes Simplex Virus-2, the virus that causes genital herpes.... The new study suggests that genital herpes is more common in New York City than nationally (26% of adults versus 19%). Among New Yorkers, the rate is higher among women than men (36% versus 19%)....

Now, it is certainly possible that a greater susceptibility to the herpes virus could explain the higher infected female rate. Against this, however, is the fact that the infected male figure includes the estimated six percent of New Yorkers who are gay and are between two and five times more likely to contract STDs. But the logical conclusion is in line with the theory of Game, as is the observation that women gravitate to urban centers in order to "have fun", which in Game terms translates to "alpha-chasing". Unfortunately, in health terms, it translates to "disease-catching".

The most important thing to take away from this is to avoid having sex with a woman who has lived in New York City unless you consider 16/9 odds that a woman is not diseased to be a risk worth taking. Of course, if your instinctive reaction to reading this is that the statistical probabilities can't possibly apply to you, there is a very good chance that you are actually an alpha and the point of this post is therefore lost on you. Alphas are sexually successful, but no one ever said that they were necessarily bright. As per the movie Idiocracy, the preponderance of the available evidence tends to suggest that they are not.