The gap’s impact on dating for straight, single women is exacerbated, Birger explains, because men with college degrees are consciously or subconsciously aware that they are in scarce supply. They take advantage of their rarefied status by holding off settling down and enjoying the market of riches – and Birger’s book includes some colorful anecdotes. One woman recalls a boyfriend who felt entitled to grope her friend right in front of her because he thought he deserved a threesome. Then there’s Jason Hendriks, the pseudonym given to a 34-year-old on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, who is a “little pudgy and not the world’s sharpest dresser,” by Birger’s account.

Hendrik not only engages in the delights of not texting one-night-stands and ditching women who don’t immediately agree to have sex with him, but also loves playing women off each other by insulting others to manipulate them into feeling special. In short, he is a total asshole who plays off the insecurity of the numbers games to solely satiate his sexual desires.

When I speak with Birger, he assures me they weren’t all as bad as Hendriks.

“I didn’t get the sense they were all being Machiallevian about it,” he says. “I think some thought that they were so special that they had just become really good catches, and that’s why they had so many options.” Yeah, right.