The Dilbert comic strip has been running a series on dating (December 31, 2014 to January 3, 2015) in what may be an example of art imitating life in this brave new world in which post graduation on-line dating sites have replaced undergraduate dorm mixers. The nerdy protagonist is some sort of engineer with a master’s degree from MIT. His age hasn’t been revealed but the fact that he’s always been able to get an occasional date implies that he’s at least in his late thirties (younger nerds have too much competition for younger woman to get many dates).

Dilbert is deluged with matches after filling out only three data points: six feet tall, still has hair, and has a job. With only that information available, he received 9,752 responses. In another panel denoted as happening everywhere, a woman shouts to her friend, “Hair…height…job! Triple threat!” A couple of strips later, Dilbert informs shorter and nerdier co-worker Wally that men like him “have set the bar so low that all I need to do is have a job and be taller than most women in heels.” Both Dilbert and Wally are possibly high functioning Asperger’s as they are both intelligent (in the book learning way) and lack social graces. Neither has been in high demand by women previously but poor marriage prospects for college-educated women give the taller one some chance.

This does not bode well for Aspie women. There’s an old joke: Q. What’s the difference between Aspie men and Aspie women? A. Aspie women are married. The point of the joke is that Aspie women have the advantage of being able to observe and mimic, to some extent, ordinary social interactions well enough to attract a mate. Not said is that the mate is often as Aspie male. Now that even males having not one social grace are considered marriage material by NT women, Aspie women have competition for these men for whom NT women didn’t previously consider date worthy. It looks like things are getting even tougher for Aspie women.