Mating Reality Check

At ERIM there are countless occasions when I am asked what my research interests are. When I say that it is “mating related behavior” or “the psychology of mating” I get the feeling that the audience has a hesitant reaction… something like “yeah, but is that important… is that actually an area of research, especially in business administration?”.
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Of course, mating, at least apparently, is not at the core of business activities and thus it might not be worthy of the attention of business researchers. During one class discussion I was even told that my research project does not have too many practical implications… Now here are some arguments why research in mating psychology and its implications in day to day life are important.
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First, every living human is the result of (successful) mating, even the ones that laugh at my interests. Is this important enough?
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Second, many research areas are important because of the fact that they investigate something that is related to a big market. One such example is research in finance and incentive schemes etc. Taking into account that the mating market is about 6 billion people (assuming that 1 billion are below mating age), I’d say it is a very large market. Moreover, mating exists (and has existed) even where financial markets and other forms of “modern” business don’t exist.
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Third, a huge number of behaviors are mating driven. Of course some prefer to say that there is no (direct) link between, let’s say, dancing or getting a Master degree and mating. I don’t think so… one would be amazed what the mating INSTINCT can make people do… Regarding the size of the market influenced by mating, just think about all the products and services that are bought to show the love for the significant other. Then add all the cosmetics markets, part of the car market, most of the fashion market and many more… is that big enough?
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Fourth, no other topic has received this much coverage in culture and no other topic accounts for a bigger chunk of well-being as mating does. Of course poems and songs don’t talk explicitly about mating, rather the pseudonyms of “love” and “romance” are used. Yes, in case anyone missed the point, romantic love is the more polite, more conventional way of saying “mating related behavior”.
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Fifth, mating is extremely practical. If anyone sees first the theoretical part of mating, then that person has lived in total isolation.