https://www.mystateline.com/news/national/almost-half-of-young-men-have-never-approached-a-woman-romantically-study/

“In the entire dataset, 29% of men said they never approached a woman in person before. 27% said it had been more than one year. This was larger for men in the age 18-25 group: 45% had never approached a woman in person,” according to the study.

A majority of single males surveyed reported fear as the main reason they do not approach women for dates in person. Fear of rejection and fear of social consequences were the two most common responses.

The data highlights a growing concern in the United States and abroad — loneliness. A 2023 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that almost half of U.S. adults report “measurable levels of loneliness.”

It’s interesting to say the least. It seems as though the social repercussions and rejection are the most profound reason. While the fear of rejection is easy enough to digest. But I think the fear or social consequences is a relatively new construct.

From what I understand it’s the fear of being viewed as a creep to approach a woman out of the blue. Which to me, is reasonable enough. But I don’t think I have ever heard my old man or anyone of his generation bringing this to the table.

Yet I do remember asking my friends about picking up hints and whether or not men are really that bad at it. And most them saying the just don’t want to risk misinterpreting it.

Perhaps there is an argument to be made that approaching women like this, has fallen out of social fashion. What do you guys think?

p.s. I hope this is casual enough of a conversation. I kinda screwed up my last one, I admit.

Edit: Here is a more detailed paper on the survey for those that are interested

  • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.eeM
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    3 months ago

    I would tend to disagree quite a bit. Most of the couples I know say they chose each other because they felt most at home with each other.

    • Empty@leminal.space
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      3 months ago

      Do you think they would have got together if they weren’t physically attracted to each other? Cmon.

      • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.eeM
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        3 months ago

        Some of them, yes. There’s more than one kind of attraction in the world, it’s not just physical attraction or wealth attraction. There’s mental attraction, vocal attraction, attraction based on having been one’s deep friend in the past, attraction based on shared interests, etc. Physical attraction actually didn’t used to be all the rage as much as it is now.

        • Empty@leminal.space
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          3 months ago

          Do you think you could have sex with a ugly dude face on top of yours, breathing heavily? I could not do that with a ugly girl. If people get together usually they can at the very least see some attractive physical traits in their partner. No wonder once almost everyone gets uglier with age they divorce.

          But I don’t even have that.

          • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.eeM
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            3 months ago

            If you can’t think outside the box, you’re not going to succeed, because outside the box is where the goal is. There is more to a partnership than that, otherwise such a thing would be relatively pointless.

            (Also we should steer clear from NSFW discussions here.)