Foundations of Ladder Theory
Sally: We are just going to be
friends, OK?
Harry: Great, friends. It's the best thing...You realize, of
course, that we can never be friends.
Sally: Why not?
Harry: What I'm saying is - and this is not a come-on in any way,
shape, or form - is that men and women can't be friends, because
the sex part always gets in the way.
Sally: That's not true. I have a number of men friends and there
is no sex involved.
Harry: No, you don't.
Sally: Yes, I do.
Harry: No, you don't.
Sally: Yes, I do.
Harry: You only think you do.
Sally: You're saying I'm having sex with these men without my
knowledge?
Harry: No, what I'm saying is they all want to have sex with you.
Sally: They do not.
Harry: Do too.
Sally: They do not.
Harry: Do too.
Sally: How do you know?
Harry: Because no man can be friends with a woman that he finds
attractive. He always wants to have sex with her.
Sally: So you're saying that a man can be friends with a woman he
finds unattractive.
Harry: No, you pretty much want to nail them, too.
Sally: What if they don't want to have sex with you?
Harry: Doesn't matter, because the sex thing is already out there,
so the friendship is ultimately doomed, and that is the end of the
story.
Before we get to the core of the
ladder theory let's introduce a few lemmas. See graphs to the right.
It should be noted that this is not an entirely conscious process.
To make it clear here's an illustrative example of what really
happens:
- Bob Meets Jane
- Then Bob Meets Connie
Now the ladder theory description goes like this:
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Lemma 1 : Every time you meet someone you give them a quick mental
rating. Just how this is done is based on your sex, like so:
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