It being 2020, you’d hope that sexist stereotypes were dying out of the dating scene. A newsurvey, however, suggests that many heterosexual men are still struggling to come to terms the most fundamental features of dating women.
Mars quizzed 2,000 people about their attitudes towards dating - from the key milestones that signify how serious things are getting to the habits they hate most in their partners.
Nearly 70% of men still don’t feel comfortable talking about periods six months after getting together.
Men said also wanted their partners to wear sexy underwear for over a year into the relationship while keeping their legs shaved for equally as long. So far, so dated.
But it's not just men who are forcing partners into restrictive notions of sexuality and beauty; women said they wanted their partners to groom their pubic hair over the same kind of period, and both sexes said they’d wait seven months before revealing their sexual history to each other.
When it comes to weight gain (which is totally normal and OK at any point but does tend to happen during the course of long-term relationships), both men and women said it was only alright after being together for 15 months...long after being granted access to each other's phones, sharing streaming accounts or being given a key to our partner's home.
Predictably men complained about women 'nagging' as their biggest turn off, while women found 'being ignored' got them down.
So perhaps it's time to conclude that we're not all that progressive when it comes to dating after all.
The study also looked when most people met certain relationship milestones and it found that while guys may be slightly slower off the mark at the beginning (like becoming official), they tended to do things quicker once they got going. Men typically said it was appropriate to move in together at 15 months (women said 17 months), get a joint bank account at just over two years (women said 2.5 years) and get married at 2.4 years (women said 2.7 years).
The universally most annoying habit? Lying (understandable). Predictably men complained about women 'nagging' as their biggest turn off, while women found 'being ignored' got them down.
While this kind of small and rather leading study may show that there are some real problems in the way we view and value each other, perhaps it also shows just how alike we are. No one wants to have their trust betrayed and while men have a reputation for being the commitment-phobes in hetronormative couples, it actually looks like they tend to be keener on settling down that women are.
In other words, don't believe the stereotypes.
Read more: Generation Chaste: Why Are Millennials Are Having Less Sex?