Hypergamous

This is, in fact, an issue on which modern anthropologists have been divided, particularly among those north Indians who are held to practise hypergamous 'upward' marriage.

Readers can't help siding with Jane's heroines, so sympathetically portrayed in their efforts to get the right man, whereas Becky Sharp may well represent male distrust of scheming hypergamous females.

Some Chinese citizens even praised male Chinese citizens they knew for having enough status, wealth, charm, and good looks to attract non-Chinese women, who were presumed to desire the same hypergamous relationships that Chinese women were presumed to desire.