[libraryofbabel]

Whatever your position on this, reducing things back to 21st century individualistic dating preferences and gender norms is ahistorical and shallow. The parent comment was spot on in the analogy — this isn’t about what individuals choose, it’s dynastic. A family is “the firm” and marriage in one of the primary strategic tools to advance its interests. At the very top of the pile, the Austrian Habsburg family built a 500 year imperial dynasty in Central Europe primarily from marriages. But it’s similar further down: land, property, family reputation, strategic alliances, and sometimes (but not always) individual preferences as well.