Portland Dating/Women - scene, numbers, attractive? (Burns, Durham: theater, income)

[TDNY]

Originally Posted by UrbanAdventurer

It's not a real hotbed of conventionally attractive single gals working their way up to awsomeness (whatever that entails). Obviously it depends on where your tastes lie though. But you're right, the hipster/slumster/hobo chic style seems to be very prevalent here, so these type of girls may not stand out to you in a crowd as "attractive". It's especially visible over on the east side of the river. Not to say there aren't diamonds in the rough just like wherever you go, but in the relatively long time I've lived here as a single dude, I've always thought of Portland as a much better place to settle down and live after you already have a great lady, which has already been mentioned.

And I'm sure you've seen this...the whole area is heavy on men to start with:

That's an interesting chart. I'm from the NYC area, my wife is from Portland. We met in NYC and still live in the area. A big reason I find it strange is that here on the East coast, and especially around NY, we have a surplus of women, and the West coast has a surplus of men. Given the rules of competition, you'd think that women here in NY would have to work harder to get men, and the West Coast women be more hard to get. However, I've always noticed that East coast women are a lot more "conservative" sexually and in regards to men than the women on the West Coast. This is anecdotal completely but I'm not the only one to notice this, I know many guys who feel the same way.

My wife (who's a very beautiful, terrific woman, thanks oregon!) gave me a run down on what the average guy in Portland would do when he was trying to get some, and honestly I was amazed. Guess what guys, women liked to be treated like a woman, not just another friend of yours with a vagina. Be a man, take charge a bit(not in a douchebag way). For god's sake, take her out somewhere, and PAY FOR HER! Have confidence, hold your head up, and they'll love it.

Maybe there's a reason all these woman come to NY.

[Yankeemama]

Good observations, TDNY!

[skythemusic]

I have to agree with the general sentiment. I moved here with an Oregonian girl, lived together for 6 months only to find out from a friend she was cheating on me. Every time we went anywhere 20 different men would be all over her. Women here act like this because they can, there's too many dudes. I have lived all over the country and never had problems meeting tons of women. Here, it has been a struggle and the women I have dated have been far below my standard in terms of looks, intellect, experience, etc. This town seems very provincial. There are some beautiful women now that the sun is out, but most are incredibly unapproachable and mostly taken. If you are into trashy small town women with lots of tats who smoke and sleep around you will be stoked. I may move back to CA. If you're going to be around shallow, trendy people you might as well have them be attractive and enjoy the sun.

[Fiddlehead]

I think I would weigh in with the person who recommended Missoula or Boulder or Fort Collins. We moved from Colorado to Oregon as newlyweds about 12 years ago, and we were shocked at the difference in appearance of the people. Oregonians were much paler and heavier. Rural Oregonians often seem like southerners to me, very heavy, militantly conservative, and a bit angry. Then, when you get to the urban hip areas people look like they are wearing a tacklebox, and sheesh the tattoos! Jeez, what happened to just doing something crazy (but reversible) with your hair?! I love Oregon, but it does seem like the generally healthy, outdoorsy, fresh, and unpretentious look is sadly rare. We have a lot of those uber fit Colorado types in Ashland, but most are wealthy ex Californians of 40 and up. Ashland is NOT a good place to meet 20 somethings. So, Portland is a great place, but I think you could do better elsewhere given your tastes. Then again, it only takes one. I gather there are plenty like us who just love the Pacific Northwest without all the hipster, poseur crap.

Bend is full of outdoorsy types, but alas it does not have a graduate school yet, to my knowledge. Have you looked into Bellingham, WA or Flagstaff, AZ? Both might be closer to your ideals. But I would put Missoula at the top of the list based on what you are looking for. They get a lot of natural, unpretentious beauties from the upper midwest. But perhaps it is a dudefest too. Not sure.

As a final mark for Portland, I do think people there are pretty bookish and brainy, a major plus, so although someone might seem a bit different in the surface, you might meet a stellar woman who you are crazy about regardless. But the other towns mentioned also abound in intelligent women, so I guess I am no longer helping.....Best of luck!

[Azalea City Man]

Originally Posted by skythemusic

If you are into women with lots of tats who sleep around you will be stoked.

Sweet!

[UrbanAdventurer]

Originally Posted by TDNY

That's an interesting chart. I'm from the NYC area, my wife is from Portland. We met in NYC and still live in the area. A big reason I find it strange is that here on the East coast, and especially around NY, we have a surplus of women, and the West coast has a surplus of men. Given the rules of competition, you'd think that women here in NY would have to work harder to get men, and the West Coast women be more hard to get. However, I've always noticed that East coast women are a lot more "conservative" sexually and in regards to men than the women on the West Coast. This is anecdotal completely but I'm not the only one to notice this, I know many guys who feel the same way.

My wife (who's a very beautiful, terrific woman, thanks oregon!) gave me a run down on what the average guy in Portland would do when he was trying to get some, and honestly I was amazed. Guess what guys, women liked to be treated like a woman, not just another friend of yours with a vagina. Be a man, take charge a bit(not in a douchebag way). For god's sake, take her out somewhere, and PAY FOR HER! Have confidence, hold your head up, and they'll love it.

Maybe there's a reason all these woman come to NY.

They all come to NY (or want to but don't have the guts...) because it's the chic and fashionable thing to do, not because they can't find guys to give them attention where they already live. Many women move to New York knowing full well the dating scene is not at all in their favor...that there's already tons of women here hotter than they are, and that probably 25% of the male population in Manhattan are gay dudes, but they do it anyway.

Given that, I'm not surprised at all you met your Portland girl here. There's a chance though she'd have brushed you off and never given you a shot if you'd met her in Portland, you just being one more dude in a sea of them vying for a pretty girl's attention.

The relevant point though is that she grew up and left Portland for someplace else, which I believe is very common for younger women, but less so for younger men, and I saw plenty of that with the people I hung out with during the 10 years I lived there starting at age 18. After HS the women all went off to college and half of them never came back. They'd go to California, Florida, Arizona, NYC, or maybe just to Seattle. But the point is Oregon is not the kind of place that attracts single women your average guy finds desirable, hence the dead zone of eligible single ladies in Portland. It's the strip club capital of the country for good reason.

[iamcims]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

I never understood why NYC and Northern NJ were so dominated by single Women.

too many males that try to hard and come off like meat head douche bags? Guido Of The Week | Guido Fist Pump

[TDNY]

TV is not reality.

[TDNY]

Originally Posted by UrbanAdventurer

They all come to NY (or want to but don't have the guts...) because it's the chic and fashionable thing to do, not because they can't find guys to give them attention where they already live. Many women move to New York knowing full well the dating scene is not at all in their favor...that there's already tons of women here hotter than they are, and that probably 25% of the male population in Manhattan are gay dudes, but they do it anyway.

Given that, I'm not surprised at all you met your Portland girl here. There's a chance though she'd have brushed you off and never given you a shot if you'd met her in Portland, you just being one more dude in a sea of them vying for a pretty girl's attention.

The relevant point though is that she grew up and left Portland for someplace else, which I believe is very common for younger women, but less so for younger men, and I saw plenty of that with the people I hung out with during the 10 years I lived there starting at age 18. After HS the women all went off to college and half of them never came back. They'd go to California, Florida, Arizona, NYC, or maybe just to Seattle. But the point is Oregon is not the kind of place that attracts single women your average guy finds desirable, hence the dead zone of eligible single ladies in Portland. It's the strip club capital of the country for good reason.

The entire West Coast has a surplus of men, according to that map, so I'm not sure if you can pin a supposed lack of women in Portland to anything Portland specific. I stand by my original opinion.

[jread]

My observation from my time in Portland, and this is just my observation (not meaning to offend anyone), is that for all the beauty Portland has, it is severely lacking in attractive women. The men seemed attractive enough, but the women... holy crap. I would say 1 out of every 30 were "ok", and maybe 2 that I'd consider "hot" during my time there. My wife and I talked about this a lot after the trip... I am from TX and she is from FL, and both states have a large number of beautiful people, especially in their urban areas. Maybe it's a Sunbelt thing, I don't know, but there was a major difference between here and there. My wife jokingly said, "Well, if we do move to Portland then I won't ever have to worry about you cheating on me."