A lot of people would argue that the reason for the human race's success is that greed. The need for more, better, faster drives innovation... but we've also turned our attention away from spriritual fulfillment to toy collections. Fast cars, fat bank accounts, fab houses and trophy wives are men's scorecards.
And I agree with you, the list of requirements for wives is too long, but I want to suggest that men do have some pressures other than shaving... all men are brought up wtih the "bread-winner" concept and that does exert significant stress on the male psyche.