You said:

Oh, but they are. I generally swat them away just to prove I can. Occasionally one catches my eye, but that is rare and she is usually younger. I am working on improving my game to bag these women.

What a horrible thing to say. I don't know who I feel more sorry for. You or the women you hope to "bag" with your "game". That is so very cold and so very superficial. I don't deny that for men and women physical attractiveness and success can be powerful attractors but that's not the end of the story.

I'm one of the ones who married young, at 22, my husband and I are both kind and supporting to each other. I never thought I would marry that young and I don't think its the "only way to go". You sound so very angry and hurt and yet you claim that women are hurt more than men by their past relationships. I don't think you are being honest with yourself. You sound very very hurt and are contantly lashing out. I know a number of single women my age. Very few are anything like what your describe as bitter and only attracted to players. In fact the kind of woman that I would think of as desirable or a catch would run fast and run far from the kind of guys you claim are so popular. When I describe someone as a "catch" is has less to do with appearance though that an interesting, motivated, pleasant and intellingent personality. Also, by your reasoning which I find hard to follow as its often contradictory, if I am a "desirable" woman my husband must be some slickster, which he isn't at all. I guess I must really be a wreck who had to settle for my loser husband? I guess that's a possibility I'll have to consider but I offer this in our defence. We're happy. Neither of us has tried to "trade up". I could find a better looking husband, maybe, but not a better person. I don't care to try. In the immortal words of Judge Judy, "Beauty fades, dumb is forever". Substitute "dumb" for the personality trait of your choice and you will get the idea.

Stop putting people into these generalized groups and then pasting a stereotype on the whole lot. Its ridiculous.There are two kinds of people in the world, people who put everything into categories and people who don't.

Whenever I read your letters I cannot help but feel that you are only interested in women who are 10s physically, but you are not a 10 yourself. Trite as it may sound, perhaps you should consider whether a woman is a 10 on the inside and strive to be one yourself. If I had a girlfriend who was dating someone as angry as you, I would fear for her safety. I mean this in a kind way, take a good look at yourself and consider some counselling. Where ever you run to you will still have to deal with people. Leaving the States won't solve your problem because you are bringing that with you in your baggage.

Good luck and bon voyage.

I don't deny that there are women out there like the ones you describe any more than I deny that there are players who attract them but I contend that that group is smaller than you claim. I am not in a position to give dating advice as I have been out of that loop for some years now but if the women you are meeting really are like you have described then try looking somewhere else because I have been in the committed relationship thing long enough to know that those kind of people are not "keepers". Then again, neither are you in your current mindset. Maybe women are picking up on your hostility on eHarmony. Afterall, you fairly drip with it. It would scare me off. You may have something when you talk generally about a woman who has her own apartment vs. renting a room in a house. I don't know how that would affect the demographic. Perhaps suggestions posted here by others like looking outside your usual social circle are good ones. I too am in the artistic community. I went to art college after I married and despite the stereotype, there were few hostile, unshaven man-haters in the community. Its a pretty inclusive, supportive gang although we have our own "issues" and again, I too am generalizing but at least from real personal experience. Consider graphic artists for instance, they have a creative mindset and a highly evolved sense of aesthetics. I can only think of a few who I know, male and female, who don't always look incredibly well put together and have interesting careers and a good head for business.

Other than that, all I can return to is this, most women, married or unmarried who I know are pretty turned off by the whole slickster thing. We can smell it a mile off. Again, maybe its the differences between our social circles and another reason why you might want to consider looking outside your own or take some kind of new tack. What you are doing now doesn't sound like its working but your plan to work on your "game" sounds even worse. You're right, women mostly know when they are being played and either laugh behind the guy's back or fall for it willingly. You claim that you are mostly meeting the latter but being a player cannot lead to anything lasting or profound. If you decide that is the road you are going to take then plan to be alone in the long run and just as bitter as that slice of the female population who keeps falling for guys like you are trying to be. You'll never really connect if you take this predator/prey approach.

How's that for hijacking a goose anus thread?

Ditto.