• Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Yet I read other thread were women bitched and men acknowledge that we just miss signs when they interested. Its a no win situation. Man glad met my wife on a dating app and we communicated properly.

    But the comic got real point because there was other thread and women dicussed dating and man the crap they deal with makes you wonder they even bother.

    • venusaur@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      The answer is to flip this psychology/narrative that men have to be the ones to initiate and women are to be demure and play hard to get. Women should be approaching men more and men should be approaching women less.

      Also, men need to have more platonic relationships with women and shouldn’t only be interested in, approach and talk to a woman because they want to have sex with them.

      • DancingBear@midwest.social
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        7 months ago

        Probably best not to be so black and white. It’s probably not a healthy friendship if one of the people in the relationship just want to be friends and the other wants a sexual relationship.

        • venusaur@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Right. Men should be able to be friends with women without only wanting to have sex with them.

          • DancingBear@midwest.social
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            7 months ago

            We would have to define “wanting to have sex with them”. I would say 95% of young women are sexually attractive to 95% of straight men. If someone is sexually attractive does that mean “you want to have sex with them”.

            David Sedaris did a great story about this I can’t remember the name of the episode. But as a sexual male whenever you see a woman one of the first things you think in your head is “would I have sex with her”. Not “will I” or even “will I pursue” but “would I”. Most of the time, the answer is yes.

            Being in an actual relationship and learning and navigating friendships is difficult for all humans.

            But to say men should stop wanting to have sex with women is ignorant, and not true to reality. If you don’t like it, I guess too bad? It’s not going to change.

            This doesn’t mean we should work on being more empathetic in our relationships to try and understand where others are coming from. We can still be respectful of each others boundaries while wanting to have sex with each other.

            But my original point is that it is not really a friend relationship if one person has unrequited feelings the other doesn’t share.

              • DancingBear@midwest.social
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                7 months ago

                It can be difficult for young men who have never been in a relationship before who also may not have positive male role models etc.

                As social beings it’s also important to note that being rejected socially brings out some deep psychological responses in our lower animal brains.

                • venusaur@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  Sure. It’s also difficult for women to trust men for all the reasons that I hope go without saying. Life is hard. You don’t have to continue the cycle.

                  Won’t be rejected all the time if you’re just a normal dude and don’t go into every interaction with a woman expecting that you’re entitled to their affection.

                  It’s not hard. Just treat people like people and get to know them beyond appearance. More importantly, prioritize values and validation of yourself that isn’t centered around getting laid and there won’t be so much pressure on whether a woman likes you or not.

                  • DancingBear@midwest.social
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                    7 months ago

                    When men see other men who are successful with women, that’s exactly what it looks like. Confidence is attractive to people. When the attraction is mutual, expecting that you’re entitled to affection is exactly the appropriate response.

                    The conflict happens when one person misses the signs that the attraction is not mutual and keeps pursuing which comes across as creepy etc. and yes women

                    It’s not so black and white. If it were life would probably be pretty boring.

                    It’s probably rude to say it but when guys ask girls out, the primary reason is most likely they want to have sex. You can have other activities and traits you enjoy sharing together as well, and there is absolutely more to life than having sex.

                    Men and women have similar and different complex wants and needs. Life is hard yes. But if we’re going to be offended about male sexuality then I guess we’re going to have to keep pretending that men don’t think about sex as much as they do.

                    Generic advice often sounds to some guys like… ok I should try to be friends with her and pretend I don’t want to have sex. The guy wants sex and will follow any advice and process to reach that goal. To tell the guy to not want sex is useless advice, because he wants it.

                    I see your point about having values and not basing your validation and ego around what other people think of you, it’s very important for healthy self esteem. But there’s no simple answer and we all have to navigate our complex personal relationships on the fly as we go, and some lessons are difficult to learn. I don’t have the answers but it’s interesting discussion.

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      Yet I read other thread were women bitched and men acknowledge that we just miss signs when they interested. Its a no win situation.

      People who can’t communicate probably wouldn’t make good partners in the first place.

      • daltotron@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I’ve seen this before in the thread, and I kind of wonder about it. I don’t think that like, an inability to communicate, or, realistically, in inability for communication to take place (which could be due to either person), is necessarily an indication that a relationship is impossible or undesirable. There’s more to people that just sort of, their surface level ability to communicate with one another, or show outward signals. Personality compatibility, shared interests, sexual attraction, even. Certainly, I’d say it’s pretty important, that people are able to communicate with each other, but I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that, as two people naturally spend time together, they’ll probably get better at communication. Especially if they’re actually capable of recognizing that they’re not effectively communicating. What are two people doing, spending time together constantly, if they’re not in some kind of relationship already, you know?

        So I dunno, it’s one kind of, cause and effect, that’s mixed into the pot of many, but I think it’s maybe a mistake to prioritize it so highly, before any other considerations.