INTRODUCTION
Necessity， as well as instinct， sends the ladies pell-
mell to the altar; it is only the secondary things，
social pressure or conscience， that send the men.
--Emily Hahn， 1956
The fact that men marry in precisely the same numbers as
women do conceals， a basic inequality of motivation: namely，
that in the sort of marriage we have rather suddenly come to
see as \"traditional，\" women need men much more than men
need women. When I was growing up in the fifties， everyone
acknowledged the \"battle of the sexes\" in which women \"held
out\" for as long as possible， until， by dint of persuasion， sexual
frustration or sudden pregnancy， they \"landed a man.\" From
their side of the battle lines， men viewed the proceedings with
a certain sarcastic detachment. For example， a 1958 article in
Esquire described courtship with humorous references to the
military theories of Field Marshal Rommel and offered the
following account of a typical girl s attempt to win an \"MRS\"
degree:
College is four years， okay? . . . A freshman dates every-
body. She doesn t care. A sophomore dates in flurries.
. . Now a junior is looking for real love. She ll go out
three times with a boy who is a Possible who is possible.
She may worry:there aren t enough Possibles in her immediate circle of
friends. So she gets interested in extra-curricular activities，
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