Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know I don’t like the alpha-beta (or even the alpha-beta-omega) classification. By definition having just two or even three categories is not enough for describing where men are especially since with just the alpha-beta there’s no room to describe what is happening to most men. Vox Day has come up with a much better classification system:
Alphas – the male elite, the leaders of men for whom women naturally lust. Their mere presence sets women a-tingle regardless of whether she is taken or not. Once you’ve seen beautiful married women ignoring tall, handsome, wealthy, and even famous men because that ugly old troll Henry Kissinger walked in the room, you simply can’t deny the reality of Alphadom. Example: Captain Kirk, Big from Sex in the City. Suggestion: Do you see a scoreboard? Right, so relax already!
Betas – the lieutenants, the petty aristocracy. They’re popular, they do well with women, they’re pretty successful in life, and they may even be exceptionally good-looking. But they lack the Alpha’s natural self-confidence and strength of character. They’re not leaders and they’re not the men to whom women are helplessly drawn. Most men who like to think they’re Alphas because of their success are actually Betas. Most Betas won’t change their game because they don’t really have any need or reason to do so. This is probably the easiest social slot in which to find yourself, since the Beta enjoys many of the benefits of Alphadom without being trapped in the Alpha’s endless cycle of competition. Example: Brad Pitt Suggestion: Have some compassion for the less naturally fortunate. Try to include them once in awhile.
Deltas – the great majority of men. These are Roissy’s Betas. Almost all of you reading this are Deltas despite the natural desire to believe that you are a brave and bold Alpha snowflake notwithstanding. Deal with it. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a Delta, it’s just a simple statistical and observable reality. The sooner you accept the truth about yourself, the sooner you will be able to control your unconscious inclinations and modify your behavior in a manner that will help you achieve your goals. I’ve gone out of alphabetical order here because delta symbolizes change, which most Deltas are capable to some extent. Hence the synthetic alpha instruction set known as Game. Example: Probably you. Suggestion: Never forget that there are plenty of girls on the girl tree.
Gammas – the obsequious ones, the posterior puckerers, the nice guys who attempt to score through white-knighting, faux-chivalry, flattery, and omnipresence. All men except true Alphas will occasionally fall into Gamma behavior from time to time, this is the behavior and attitude that Roissy is attempting to teach men to recognize and avoid. The dividing line between a Gamma and a Delta is that the Gamma genuinely believes in the Gamma reality to the very core of his soul whereas the Delta is never truly comfortable with himself when he behaves in this manner despite being thoroughly indoctrinated in it by his culture. Example: Probably you if you’ve found yourself complaining about your lack of female companionship over the last two years. Suggestion: Remember that the statement “all are fallen” applies to women too. She isn’t any more naturally pure or holy or ethereal than you are.
Lambdas – the gays. They have their own social hierarchy. They can fill any role from Alpha to Omega, but they tend to play the part rather than actually be it because the heterosexual social construct only encompasses the public part of their lives. Example: Neil Patrick Harris. Suggestion: Straights will be more tolerant if you keep the bathhouse behavior behind closed doors.
Sigmas – the lone wolves. Occasionally mistaken for Alphas, particularly by women and Alphas, they are not leaders and will actively resist the attempt of others to draft them. Alphas instinctively view them as challenges and either dislike or warily respect them. Some Deltas and most Omegas fancy themselves Sigmas, but the true Sigma’s withdrawal from the pack is not a reaction to the way he is treated, it is pure instinct. Example: Clint Eastwood’s movie persona. Suggestion: Entertain the possibility that other people are not always Hell. The banal idiocy is incidental, it’s not intentional torture.
Omegas – the losers. Even the Gamma males despise them. That which doesn’t kill them can make them stronger, but most never surmount the desperate need to belong caused by their social rejection. Omegas can be the most dangerous of men because the pain of their constant rejection renders the suffering of others completely meaningless in their eyes. Omegas tend to cluster in defensive groups; the dividing line between the Omega and the Sigma is twofold and can be easily recognized by a) the behavior of male Betas and Deltas and b) the behavior of women. Women tend to find outliers attractive in general, but while they respond to Sigmas almost as strongly as they do to Alphas, they correctly find Omega males creepier and much scarier than Gamma males. Example: Eric Harris Suggestion: Your rejection isn’t entirely personal. Observe the difference in your own behavior and the way the Betas act. And try not to start off conversations with women by sharing “interesting facts” with them.
While I don’t think that even this is expressive enough to describe what we need when talking about male-female interaction (and I think the lambda category should be left out since this is about heterosexual interaction), its much better than the alpha-beta or alpha-beta-omega systems.
I feel like he didn’t quite flesh out sigma enough. I’m probably projecting here, but I felt it deserves more detail.
The main thing that differentiates sigma from all the rest of the males is his priorities with regard to society and his place in the social order. I feel as though most men and virtually every single woman puts a lot of stake in their social hierarchical status and virtually everything they do, whether they admit it or not, is for the purposes of advancement in this order. Everyone from omegas to alphas and fat ugly chicks to supermodels wants to have the highest social status and bang the most attractive members of the opposite sex possible. They have a deep craving for societal acceptance and acceptance from the opposite sex. This is easily observed for the average American college girl. Virtually all of her interests and activities can be strongly tied back to attracting the best possible mate. For men it’s not quite as obvious but it’s hard to deny that their main motivations revolve around sex.
Sigma is differentiated because unlike everyone else in the hierarchy, he’s entirely weened of any need for societal acceptance or participation. Sigma and Omega are both loners, but Omega keeps throwing himself against the rocks trying to find a place in and raise his social standing in society, and notions of his self-worth are honestly based in these goals, despite the fact he constantly fails them. Sigma just doesn’t give a fuck. Sigma has something more important to worry about than participating in society. If civilization collapsed tomorrow and billions of people died, Sigma is affected the least and average college girl is affected the most. To go back to an African Savannah example, while the rest of the tribe hunts together and does all the stuff tribes do with hierarchies and all, Sigma lives off in a hut by himself miles away from the village. He breaks in the village and raids Alpha’s harem or steals their food from time to time, but for the most part he exists entirely outside of their hierarchy and his validation and conception of self worth is entirely independent of other human beings. Modern examples I think would be some artists, musicians, and maybe even some athletes. People with some type of passion that they take validation from pursuing. They have a personal goal in mind that overrides any need for social validation or even interaction all together. Like virtually every source on game dictates, women can sense a need for validation, and Sigma doesn’t have it. It comes off as very confident and attractive.
Maybe investment bankers who work from 9 to 2 every day and get 3 sundays off every 6 months might be an example; but the pursuit of money often brings social status and it’s hard to gauge what their motivations really are. I’m involved in competitive powerlifting, and I’d say a lot of the guys in this sport are classic sigma males. They entirely forsake their social lives for the sake of overcoming challenges they feel are more important and that society really doesn’t give a fuck about. They train and diet so obsessively it mandates a fairly reclusive and hermetic lifestyle. It’s hard to think of many modern examples because as civilization has progressed sigmas and people who exist outside of society are increasingly rare. A nomadic motorcyclist badboy could perhaps be a sigma and not an alpha. Olympic athletes or people dedicate their lives to climbing mt. everest might be sigmas. They have often dominant personalities and always successfully resist most societal indoctrination, including on how to interact with women, so they’re usually successful with women when they want to be. But unlike alphas, it’s just not really important to them. They still have physical needs, so they might metaphorical raid alpha’s harem occasionally. Going to the bars a couple of times a year when it doesn’t conflict with their goals is a possibility, but unlike Alpha they’re not going there every wednesday and friday to have sex with a variety of fresh young poon.
Omega might live a similar lifestyle, but at his core he’s desperate to belong in society and has no pursuits more important to himself. His happiness is ultimately dependent on other people and he is incapable of weening himself of a need for approval. He also completely lacks the dominant personality and is often naturally submissive and passive. The phrase “you’re going to die alone” is always thrown around, especially by women. Even Roissy alludes to have younger, foreign, female companionship when he reaches old age. To a vast majority of women and to most men, being alone and unaccepted is the ultimate failure and unhappiness. Not to Sigma though, something else has precedence; he isn’t bothered or upset by solitude.
One of the Roissy poon commandments was “make your mission, not your woman, your first priority.” When this is taken to an extreme, we have Sigma.
Very interesting article. Keep us posting dude !