In "Sans Rendez-vous", the sexologist and psychoanalyst Catherine Blanc takes stock of hypergamy.

A practice which consists in marrying, or forming a couple, with a person of a higher social class in order to obtain a better status. 

>> Marriage as a social elevator.

At one time, union before God was not just a way to proclaim love, but also a way to gain better social status.

This practice has a name: hypergamy.

In "Sans Rendez-vous", the sexologist and psychoanalyst Catherine Blanc takes stock of these marriages or these relationships which allow a person to rise up, but also to reassure himself about his own worth. 

Catherine Blanc's response

"Hypergamy is the fact of associating with someone from a social class above one's own. It is a notion that is used especially when talking about certain tribes, or certain countries like India, where women can only progress socially through marriage, so the goal is to marry instead a person who belongs to a social group seen as superior in order to be able to progress in life. 

>> Find sex questions every day at 3:50 p.m. on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here

It's a strange view of marriage, isn't it?

It's not that strange if you put it in context.

Insofar as women did not have access to studies, it was the only means of social evolution.

And if today women are in a position to "offer" this move upmarket in society to men, this has not always been the case.

Also, we can understand what was playing out psychologically for these women.

One of the sources of excitement for them was also the fact of having a virilized image "upgraded" by the social position of man.

It should be understood that in our collective unconscious, virility passes of course through sexuality, but also muscles, strength, and power, especially social.

And so, all this of course participates in an organ of seduction for women in men.

Is there a sexual will behind all of this? 

It must be understood that sexuality is always carried by an expression of power.

That is to say that making love is going through a sexual episode with someone who has power, generally that of making them come.

And social position also participates in the latter.

And even if it is not necessarily related to what will happen in a bed, it is the idea that we have of the other. 

Does hypergamy have to do with sapiosexuality, attraction to intelligent people? 

It's another thing, but the principle is the same: if an intelligent person is interested in me, that means that I myself am intelligent.

It is a way of reassuring oneself about one's power and one's social place.

Does this apply to all ages? 

No, they are more mature people.

Because the first of the impulses is generally directed towards a bodily story.

But very quickly, we come to that side because we are planning our future.