Resolved: Opposites rarely attract and discourage romantic relationships for the most part.

I'll first make it clear that we aren't debating whether actual, literal opposites attract in the context of romance. If you insist that we are, you must deal with the difficult problem that none of us have an opposite to which you're denying the likelihood of attraction. No, we're debating whether the idiom, "Opposites attract," works out in practice or not (in the context of romance). The idea behind "opposites attract" is not "The less you have in common, the better!" The idea is that each member of a relationship compensates for the other's weaknesses with his/her own strengths. First, I'll respond to your points: First, you brought up a BBC news report. However, the criteria were so ill-thought-out that it would be foolishness to assume any other outcome would have taken place. Consider three of the four categories: family commitment physical appearance sexual fidelity Obviously, someone committed to family will expect the same from a potential mate. Obviously, someone committed to maintaining sexual fidelity will expect the same of their potential mate. And physical appearance is, I think, _obviously_ out of the realm of what 'opposites attract' is supposed to mean. Likewise, I'm sure the other link in your first paragraph had similarly ill-thought-out criteria. For this reason, these sources are not useful. Next, you attack logic behind it. However, you make a fatal error: the 'hole' in one's personality is not considered to be "all the traits that the individual in question does not have." People need others to fortify their own weaknesses, and to fortify others weaknesses as well. Opposite in this idiomatic sense does not mean the couple cannot have anything in common, nor does it mean this would be favorable. Common interests are useful for maintaining a relationship, but I would go so far as to say that we are in fact attracted to new activities, new types of people, etc. More on that next paragraph. Lastly, you tell a tale of a freelance web writer who agrees with my side of this debate. You note that these feelings of mystery, anticipation, excitement, curiosity and adventure from experiencing something different only really come into play for dating, while these couples rarely get married. However, you're forgetting a very important thing. People date because of attraction, people get married because of compatibility. One more reason to ignore those other sources you listed, they all had studies about marriage success. Marriage success does not depend mostly on attraction, but compatibility. An excerpt from the article you linked: "Mystery, anticipation and excitement, curiosity and adventure all come from experiencing something different. Sure opposites clash, but that is often where the sparks and the passion is created." And that's it for answering your points. Next, I must bring up another point of my own (my last response paragraph had a point in it already): Gender differences: As we all know, there are many differences between men and women. Not just physical differences, mind you. Men tend to be more aggressive, more direct, less emotional/sentimental, more egotistical and proud, and probably some more comparative adjectives. I am supposing that the reason for such differences is the same as the reason for gender roles (men hunt animals, women take care of land and kids). The reason is as follows: As one trait dominates in one gender, that gender is less likely to want the same thing from the other gender. In these cases, the differences are complimentary. It's like forming specialized roles. Once one trait is favored by most of the other gender, it also begins to dominate (since those without it have a harder time finding a mate). The very differences between the genders are evidence enough of opposites attracting. That is the means by which those differences came about. When it's helpful, opposites attract even in marriage. When it's not, the relationship doesn't work. Either way, the attraction is still there. I'll leave it at that for now.