This is a good thread, and thought I'd share my experience.
I'm 46, and got married for the first time at age 44, so I'm still a rookie at marriage.
But I dated a lot of women in my bachelor days. A lot. Some relationships lasted years, and some lasted days, and everything in between. In my 20's and early 30's, I dated to have fun, experience different woman, have companionship, and of course for the physical aspect. I started thinking more seriously about settling down (not settling) in my mid 30's, and have been on the majority of dating sites and met women all across the country because I traveled for work and could live anywhere.
In my experience, there are definitely a lot of good natured, innocent women out there looking for only love and happiness. I've talked to, met, and even dated many that were really great people. There are also women out there that are gold diggers, whores, and down-right rotten human beings. The exact same thing goes for guys.
I was just really discerning before choosing someone I would marry, regarding views on life, love, commitment, family, religion/God, politics, etc. Of course it also included character traits of empathy, sharing, caring, willingness to help others, etc.
Dating is definitely harder now with all the social media, constantly wanting attention, showing off, and trying to be hotter and more desired than the next. I think women are more affected by that social media aspect, but there are absolutely a large amount of guys doing the same. It makes it tough, and I feel bad for the younger generations. I will add that I know a lot of women that do not have social media accounts, and could care less about it. They're too busy working on themselves and looking for love.
But my advice for the guys on here looking for the real thing....there are a lot of good women out there, you just have to keep looking and choose carefully.
My old boss told me a long time ago...."It's really very simple, you have to be very picky, and choose wisely the woman you want to be in a foxhole with when things are good, and also when the shit hits the fan...and when you're out of the foxhole, keep your dick in your pants".
I always laughed at this. It may be simplistic, but it makes sense to me.