[mercer]

I suppose it's possible for both sides to feel like or think that they're 'fucking up', or 'down', for that matter.

[insickness]

When it comes to social status, women tend to date up or sideways. When it comes to physical attractiveness, men tend to date up or sideways.

[mercer]

I don't disagree with that, but my point was more that 'dating up/down' is murky/subjective, so both sides could feel like they're dating up or down regardless of what other people might think. So even if two people were to be dating based on physical attractiveness, they could both think they got the better deal.