To me, this all comes down to the question if it's a one-off thing with total strangers or with friends. With strangers I might not really care about social consequences. Lasting friendship however requires similar social standings.
Probably one of the problems with vague polls. One friend imagines you are talking about somebody lower enough in status that a woman would be "tainted" by associating with them, whereas others might imagine you are talking about somebody with a slightly lower chess rating!
Do people exists with lower status than others? What qualifies status in this case? Money? Stamina? What if one person has money and the other has talent, who’s lower in status? I think status is mostly perception rather than reality