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By Dave Singleton “Things were going great until she…”: That’s the refrain I heard when I asked guys what happens when they date a woman and then dump her. I’m not saying that women should bear the brunt of all breakups or feel as if they are to blame. My goal here is to illuminate the kind of behavior that most often turns a guy from happily dating toward thinking, “This isn’t going well….” Hear what they have to say, and see if you can gain a little insight into the male mind that can help you in future relationships. Miss Overly Dependent. “The first six months we dated, she took care of herself and did everything that she needed to do on her own,” says Tim, 33, of St. Louis. “Then she started asking me what I thought about everything. I understand some questions, but it was the daily stuff that I never got asked about before that bugged me. She wanted to know what she should pack for trips that we took, even though she’d already researched the weather and knew the itinerary. She ...

By Dave Singleton When it comes to sizing up our dates, don’t we all feel a little Seinfeld-ian from time to time? When I interviewed women for this article, I heard many, many complaints—from the universal, easily understood to the mystifyingly personal. Let me give you some samples: “He smoked.” “He wasn’t nice to the waiter.” “He put ketchup on his eggs—gross!” “His shoes were too pointy.” “His nose hair needed grooming.” “He looked like he’d be a slobbery kisser.” During those early dates, many of us turn into Jerry, Elaine and George, and nitpick our dates into obscurity. But after you’ve made it through the first few obstacles and dated him for a few months, what are the next series of “should we continue or not” hurdles you face? I discovered there are some common themes when it comes to why women give a guy a chance… and then give him the old heave-ho. Listen in as women share what turns Mr. Maybe into Mr. Not-If-You-Were-the-Last-Man-on-Earth: Mr. Bad Manners. “While eating ...

By Matthew Fitzgerald Men love their freedom. For many guys, the very thought of making a commitment to one woman for the rest of their lives is enough to send them sprinting for the hills. The dreaded "C-word" implies compromise, loss of independence, the sacrifice of sexual variety, and the looming specter of financial devastation. And the statistics bear this out -- the U.S. Census reports that, over the past four decades, the rate of marriage has definitely been on the decrease. According to the National Marriage Project, a study undertaken at Rutgers University, men today are overwhelmingly apprehensive about getting married. Cohabitation -- commitment with an escape hatch -- is on the rise. So what is the explanation for this phenomenon? Just why are men so afraid of commitment these days? Here are a few of the reasons: No more freedom We men are extremely independent by nature. We like to make our own decisions and run our lives by our own rules. We want to do what w...

By Matthew Fitzgerald You're the man -- you've finally worked up the nerve to ask out your potential Miss Right. And there she is, right over there. It's now or never. You take a step in her direction... ... and suddenly your pits are dripping like springtime in a rain forest, your heart is flip-flopping like a dying fish and your stomach is churning out enough acid to melt steel. Chill, dude. You know you can't back down now. You drag your feet to her side. From somewhere, you hear yourself asking those fateful words: "Would you like to go out sometime?" "No." What? She said, "No." You trudge away, eyes on the floor, praying that no one has witnessed your public humiliation. Rejection sucks . Unfortunately, despite all the shrill female demands in our society for "equal rights," the burden of asking for the date still sits squarely on the shoulders of the male. It still remains the guy's responsibility to risk getting his ...

By Matthew Fitzgerald Women can get sex anywhere, any time and any way they want it. The problem for us guys is that women don’t want sex anywhere, any time and any way we want it. For women, sex comes bundled up with an onslaught of dizzying and complicated emotions, most of which they don’t seem to deal with very well. The result? It’s infinitely easier for women to place men into the category of “friends” rather than admit them as lovers. In fact, for a woman, a male friend is the best of both worlds: She can reap all the benefits of having a man around (strength, decision-making, solid advice, logic, common sense, and so on) without the hormone-based entanglements that sex brings to the table. But men are different. Since we aren’t saddled with psychologically crippling emotions, we aren’t burdened with the senselessness of separating friendship from sex. In fact, for us, it’s just the opposite: When a man likes a woman, he naturally wants to express his feelings by drilling he...

The relationship between men and women has always been a love hate relationship . From the time of creation, men and women have been attracted to each other for several reasons, the inborn creative urge being the chief one. This attraction is likely to continue for a long, longtime to come, despite the 'recent' public declaration of sexual relationships among men and among women. However, women find a lot of annoying as well as attractive things in the actions and behavior of men. It would be interesting to find out what women think of as annoying or hate about men. Psychoanalysts have the view that women basically contradict themselves while expressing what they desire and do not desire in men. It is normally held that women like so called strong, silent men. They openly admit that they do not like weak men. This dislike is in the top of the list of women in what they find annoying in men. However, it is also true that women secretly like to have power over the ...

BY MYATT MURPHY Nothing is more upsetting than when a dude you damn well know is into you pulls the plug. One man gets to the bottom of out-of-the-blue breakups. Chances are, you've had at least one breakup that left you wondering, "What the hell just happened?" The guy dug you, you dug him, and the whole thing felt destined for a fabulous future -- at least the foreseeable one. Then, out of nowhere, he bailed on the relationship. So what went wrong? The sad truth is, maybe nothing. Here are five completely ridiculous reasons guys kick you to the curb. Warning: For the most part, it ain't pretty. The Timing Is Off Women get serious when they meet the right man. Men get serious with whomever we happen to be dating when we're finally ready to settle down. That means after every other aspect of our life is in order -- whether it's finishing grad school, finally pulling down a good-size paycheck, owning a car outright -- or when our friends start dropping like...

In our society, it has become increasingly difficult to turn down a girl who's interested in you without people thinking you're gay or weird. Fortunately, there are two ways to do it without anybody getting the wrong idea. The only problem is that one method is great and the other is terrible. One night, I was at a bar with a buddy of mine and one of his friends from work when two girls started closing in on my boys. So I sat back and observed two very different styles of turning down women. One guy subtly conveyed to one of the girls that he wasn't interested in her, and before long, she got the hint and left with her dignity intact. On the other hand, his coworker went out of his way to be a jerk for no reason, and the girl left humiliated. In case you didn't have this figured out by your first semester in community college, nobody wants to hang with the guy who makes other people feel bad on purpose. The funny, slightly cocky guy? Sure, everybody likes that guy (es...