Photographed by Pheobe Chauson.Hey, ladies! Are you ambitious, bossy, confident, and/or fiercely independent? Don't worry — you, too, can find a match that will love you just the way you are!
That's basically the gist of a new book by Dr. Sonya Rhodes, PhD, and Susan Schneider, entitled The Alpha Woman Meets Her Match: How Today's Strong Women Can Find Love and Happiness Without Settling. Packaged as a relationship-advice guide for the Lean-In set, the book aims to help the so-called "alpha" find a mate equipped to handle who she really is: today's aggressively confident go-getter gal.
What, exactly is an "Alpha," in Dr. Rhodes' opinion? "In dress and style, the Alpha is the familiar, highly-visible prototype: unabashedly sexy as well as career-oriented," the website notes. "She’s the chic, assertive saleswoman who convinces you to buy an outfit you aren’t sure you actually need…There’s never been a better time to be an Alpha woman."
Of course, Alphas being the special ladies they are, they need a bit of guidance in the romance department — at least, according to Dr. Rhodes. Luckily, she and Schneider created a handy quiz to help Alphas figure out the kind of mate with whom they're most compatible. The quiz is based on the idea that Alpha women need laid-back, accommodating, Beta partners in order to balance out their type-A traits.
Needless to say, some skepticism is called for here. There's something slightly tone-deaf about the suggestion that "today's strong women" need to find a partner who can "handle" them. Still, the quiz itself may be worth taking — if only to find out where your personality falls on the Alpha/Beta spectrum.