Shallowness

I have often heard girls claiming that guys are shallower in choosing a mate. "You all just want the hot girls" they say.

I do agree that physical attractiveness does play a significant role when guys look for a partner. However I think the same applies for girls. I've seen many girls go "oh I care about heart not about looks" in public, then quietly tell me that they want a cute/hot guy when I offer to introduce guys to them. The smart thing girls do is that when they choose based on looks, they say it's based on "feel", while when guys choose based on looks they just say it's based on looks. So girls have better PR skills, which doesn't surprise me somehow.

But for argument's sake lets admit that guys care more about looks than girls.

Is this necessarily more shallow?

Let's analyze the situation. If girls attach less weight to the "looks" factor, they will necessarily attach more weight to other factors, such as personality, career, intelligence, etc. What are the implications of these factors?

Personality - girls want a guy with a strong character so he can protect her/their children better.
- girls want a guy with a caring character so he can care for her/their children better.

Career - more money can provide for her/their children better.

Intelligence - smarter = better career (generally speaking), see above point.

So we can see that these factors all ultimately benefit the girl and her immediate children.

On the other hand, how about looks? Statistics show that good looks benefit one in terms of likability, income, success, political career and even the ability to escape conviction in front of a jury. So if you look at it this way, one who wants an attractive mate is considering the long-term welfare of his or her children. More than that, it serves to bolster the long-term genetic potential of all his or her future descendants.

So if we look at this way, hotness is actually a less shallow criteria than personality or career as it confers the most benefits in the long run, measured over generations.