Why do WOMEN have the rep of being "golddiggers"?

Question

I went to a dating site and made two dummy profiles, each with the same traits; twist here is I put that one of them was a divorced woman living in an apartment and the other was a widow with her house paid off. Both had no pictures and guess what? I waited two weeks for the results and the divorced woman had only 1 "interest" (someone who adds them to a fave list, I think) while the widow had -you guessed it- 4. Truly disgusting. I did it on matchmaker.com and the two profiles are Gabrielle69love and Estella95.

UPDATE: I think one of them figured it out and pulled out.

So, I guess I'm asking; why are WOMEN stereotyped as golddiggers when it's the men that are, too? When we say "golddiggers", shouldn't we think of everyone that marries or dates for money, not just the stereotypical rich man's "fluffy"? In this time, this stereotype might not exist anymore, but I wonder how it was even born...

I didn't start this; it was actually to prove some woman's claim that she did this. I tried it out, and it proves true, I guess.

The "woman" is a rant from a website called menarejerks.com . I typed that link as a joke one day and it came up to a funny caption of a guy fixing his car...and it said, "Why women live longer than men" It was sort of sexist, but hey, it was just a man-joke. Like how guys make jokes about woman, same tit-for-tat.

EDIT: Can the men answering this question please, PLEASE stop being so damn sexist by saying that women need providers? Cause that's not true with the most of us, so get used to it! Oh, and the media portrayal thing, hmm...well, I guess it's right, because media is always messed up...but men, PLEASE-STOP BEING SO SEXIST!!! Goes to any woman who's gonna be like that, too.

And for the love of God, can't anybody read the details?!? Yes, that was for emosjoflap or whaever.

Answer 1

Because some women are gold diggers. Some men are, also...you know, they've got their little sugar mamas. Some 30 year old men will "date" a 70 year old woman for her money. Now that is pathetic. Same with like...Ana Nicole Smith when she was married to that old tycoon, Howard Marshall. Huge age difference. Now she was the epitome of gold digger, if you ask me. God rest her soul...(sorry !)

Answer 2

I think it is associated with women who marry much older men. I am quite horrified sometimes to hear that a ugly male celebrity is marrying or dating a much younger attractive woman. I don't know if you have seen the programme "Black Adda", staring Rowan Atkinson, well there is a character in it played by Tony Robinson, Tony Robinson also presents other programes, well this man is very small, not attractive and most probably in his fifties and he has a girl friend in her twenties who is tall, now would this girl friend be interested in him if he wasn't a famous tv host? the answer is no. You only have to think about the dirty old man Hugh Hefner to realize that he has a lot of sponges living off him, who would most certainly would not be interested in him if he wasn't so rich.
The examples you gave were not so big, it could of been that there was more men looking at the time, or the name catch their eye, like some men might perfer the profile Gabrielle69love and others might not like having the word love there because it seems a bit sick.
You also hear of Millionaire dating sites where rich men want to meet attractive women, so these women are gold diggers, I have heard that they are starting a dating agency for rich women who want to meet young attractive men.
I personally think that per-se there are more dirty old men about and more women who will marry a man for his wealth, mainly because men don't like the stigma of being a kept man. Also to do with economics, women got their wealth through the man they married in the past and still today as women on avearge earn 70% of men's earnings, also it has only been recently in the 1970s that there was equal pay act and sex discrimination act.

I have a friend and her father who is in his 70s and looks every bit of it, is going out with a woman of about 40 years old. I told my friend that I felt as her father was worth two million that is why this woman is interested in him, but she kept on saying to me no its because he is a nice person, but there are nice men in their forties, my friend is in denial that her father is a dirty old man. Infact in the 70s age group there is more women per-se and in the forties age group there is more men per-se, so they are both with the wrong age group.
Another reason why women are called golddiggers and not men is that when men do marry older women like in the case of Madonna, Guy Richie is rich in his own rights. Joan Colins may have a much younger partner but she looks amazing, better than her younger man, but with women they could be nothing and date an ugly man like Mike Jagger because of who he is, rather than for the way he looks. I read somewhere that 26% of women are now married to younger men, and for celabraties its not unusal for a woman to date a much younger man, but these women look good. If women do marry younger men they tend to be already famous or the woman in question is amazing looking. Also a few days ago a woman died who married a billioinaire who was about 60 years older than she was. She certanily was after his money as she was fighting for it years afterwards his death. So basically that is why women get called golddiggers and not men.

Answer 3

Because they're programmed by the media to be that way. Its to sell an image and also benefit the men who create it and are the achievers in life. Also, women like to feel accepted, cool and in effect go for status. So they may fall into the image of becomming golddiggers to fit in but really still be searching for who they really are. If girls didn't, the image wouldn't be perpetuated.

Answer 4

Women are taught from a young age to marry someone with a good career and one whom could help take care of them. Women seem to want to marry successful men such as: doctors and lawyers. They look down upon the average joe.

Answer 5

Men are supposed to be providers. Even if a man is a lazy bum, there is a certain stigma or shame in having his wife (or girlfriend) support him.

Women have historically looked to men for support. As such, a lady would be stupid to want a man who couldn't provide for her.

Answer 6

Because for many of decades women have not been in the workforce, and have "survived" of there males wage. Now like most rends it takes time to see old labels" changed.

But dosent it make you just as shallow to do this?