Trophy husbands!

George Clooney recently made headlines when he admitted in an interview that he didn’t mind just being wife Amal’s “shiny and pretty” partner and with tabloids labelling him today’s “trophy husband”, Clooney has inadvertantly stumbled upon today’s changing times —when arm candy doesn’t really refer to the fairer sex alone.

Sociologist Prof. Daniel David from the Madras Christian College explains this trend perfectly. “The whole matter of being a spouse being a symbol of social status is (was) essentially a male construct. And now, with women taking that space over because they’re playing in a man’s world, things are changing,” he says.

“Whether it’s business or politics or anything, they’re playing by men’s rules.” It’s worldwide. While musicians Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris are both successful, Taylor’s a much bigger star than Calvin is.

Closer home, tennis star Sania Mirza clearly outplays her husband Shoaib Malik’s career, while further South here, Dipika Pallikal’s squash career has been having stellar days compared to husband Dinesh Karthik’s cricketing career.

But trophy husbands wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for “alpha women” — a surge of ultra-successful, high-flying women who have achieved fantastic highs in their respective fields. 

“Women always wanted sexy men who are accomplished. The cultural transformation is that the men have changed: Some alpha men admire and support successful women. Successful, sexy men can handle equally sexy, successful women,” said Sonya Rhodes, PhD and author of The Alpha Woman Meets Her Match: How Today’s Strong Women Can Find Love and Happiness Without Settling (HarperCollins, 2014), along with Susan Schneider.

The evolution of this role-reversal is happening at incredible speeds too. Dr Rajat Bhosle, a relationship expert agrees, saying, “We’re all evolving so fast due to which the basic roles of a man and woman have not remained what they used to be in previous generations. The housewife term will soon be obsolete, since most women will be working and it’s very good that way.”

But what happens when two alphas meet? Couples such as Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, Jay Z and Beyoncé, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are the perfect examples where both partners are perceived as powerful and glamorous at the same time, and Dr Rajat says this is where certain social situations come into play.

“There are different situations, and depending on these situations the husband can sometimes be dominating and in other situations the wife tends to be dominating,” he says,

“And these undefined roles are creating a lot of confusion, and often the relationship is not given the top priority.”

Which if mixed with materialism and display of social standing and wealth, could throw relationships into chaos. Dr. Rajat says, “Materialism is the order of the day, so when you lead a materialistic life, you want everything the best, in terms of income, lifestyle, social life... and a part of good social life is to show off about your spouse, that you are this privileged one who has this good looking spouse, that you could hook him or her.”