This is an area where perspective REALLY matters.
Think of it as an opportunity decision tree:
Hot woman perspective:
Option A: Common
Every man wants sex...decide to have sex with numerous men...perceive reputation as sl ut...self esteem craters...men use her because she is hot...self esteem suffers more...woman ends up with high number, inability to bond, damaged goods. Eventually settled & misses alpha widow men or those whom she loved early etc. (HST).
Option B: Rare (less rare in younger women)
Every man wants sex...woman knows this and understands her value...woman is selective about man whom she chooses from...man sees her value because of her selectivity...woman pair bonds to man and retains low or exclusive partner count.
Option C: Rare
Every man wants sex...woman starts down path A and reverses course OR starts down path B and gets really hurt...she evaluates what has happened and WHY/HOW it happened. But as
@fastlife alludes to in his post, she seeks her own self awareness and builds an unassailable self esteem & value independent of a man's assessment. She then may retain her ability to bond at an older age than 23 or with a higher partner count. But this has everything to do with her seeking her own self awareness and young women with self awareness are extremely unusual.
Typically women just branch swing & don't examine why.
I was an Option B girl who waited into my 20s for sex and thought I was going to marry the first real boyfriend I had more than 2 years as college graduation neared. He cheated & branch swung & left. I was devastated. I had waited, been selective and done the "right" thing. So I thought ok, screw it, I'm going to enjoy myself and my looks/body...only I couldn't bring myself to do that. I was petrified of pregnancy, of STDs, of getting hurt. More than that I was SUPER petrified about getting a "bad rep". The values and virtues from my upbringing and the fears and risks were drilled deep into who I was, but like the guys who come here, my Disney fantasy got dashed too.
Even so I cringed at things my guy friends bragged about on Sunday afternoons watching football while telling stories about adventures with women earlier in the weekend. My buddies were players. I saw how they ran through women & although I could have dated them I had zero interest in that.
No way in hell was I going to be known as a sl ut or be *that who re* I heard my buddies comparing notes on while watching the game. The idea of that was gross. It taught me a lot. So I got over my college LTR and dated carefully, always looking for the right combination of excitement and sexuality and real interest in me as a person as well as self sufficiency.
Was I an alpha widow? For a little while. The experience ended up badly with him such that I didn't want that ever again but I didn't feel attraction nor the desire to settle for beta men either. That first BF never crosses my mind and I get a disgusted taste in my mouth if I think about him. But I healed myself and moved on. I developed patience to find the right sort of man.
Women can REMOVE men from the HST if we want to consider that paradigm. Few women gain the self awareness to do it, but it can be done.
I would argue that widows who pair bond to a man after losing their husband have to if not remove, then make room for someone else, and some women who are widowed never do.
My mother in law is an example of this. She was suddenly widowed in her late 30s, never even dated anyone else, and her late husband was the only man she was ever intimate with. She would actually turn down offers for dates by saying no one will ever compare to my ex husband.
So she was loyal to him and him only in life and after his death. She still adores him and the anniversary of his death is a date akin to a birthday every year. It's a personal Memorial Day in our family.
As per normal I've run long. I think HST is useful, and widely applicable but like
@deesade and fast life I do not find it universally true.
Things seem to have run their course with my recent Hollywood man, who I saw for nearly 2 years. I got over the infatuation phase, came to love him but I knew eventually things would fizzle since we each kept our lives separate and he has got to pick up his life post divorce. I chose to love him anyway and I am not hurt but rather happy to know him & happy to have provided him love and support during a dark period in his life.
I have unassailable self esteem that fastlife talks about. If I love it is from a full and giving place and I do it freely, even though it may hurt in the end. It is a choice and while I remain selective and slow to attach, I taught myself years ago I must not FEAR to attach. So I can bond and frankly prefer to see potential for bonding before I'll get sexual.
I did have a great date (dinner date) two days ago with a man who seems very cool. And yes I offered & no he didn't let me pay. We went for drinks after dinner...had club sodas at a swank place. They didn't even charge us.
And yes he kiss closed & seems to be a good kisser. Still have to get a thread going about good versus not good kissing...
Welcome back deesade