I Dream of the Gini Coefficient

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The Gini Coefficient is an effective way to gauge economic equality. Lately, it has been seen to take the measure of proposed “other types” of inequality, those which can, so it is believed, be just as damning. Among them is the relatively new concept that sexual attractiveness is viewed as currency and should, thus, be measured in the same ways. However, whether this measure has any rational application in the personal realm depends on whether you believe in the legitimacy of what we can call sexual poverty, much less whether this can and should be measured using the same metrics as the economy of a nation.

As a concept that overlaps with several others, it is worth taking a deeper look at the undercurrents of sexual poverty. Underlying it are several other, deeper frameworks, notably the concept that sex, relationships, love, and ultimately reproductive rights are a kind of social, cultural —and now, perhaps, virtual — commodity, and furthermore whether the commodification of such things is a morally responsible thing to advocate for. Far beyond any ideas of sexism, this concept has a wide reach and it is important to note that dating apps, (which depending on your point of view, fundamentally either offer a practical solution to a common social problem of loneliness, or foster it by contributing to climate of human commodification,) are a multi-billion…