Women: do you have a man? If you do, better beware. Chances are that some lone female has her eye on him.
A new study provides evidence for what many have long suspected: that single women are much keener on pursuing a man who’s already taken than a singleton.
It’s true: all the taken men are best
Well. WELL. Here’s an interesting, revealing new study: remember all of those times you met some guy and thought, ‘meh,’ and then found out that he had a girlfriend and suddenly thought, ‘well, actually, maybe he is rather lovely’. You were not alone! Much as I would like to be a bastion of good behaviour, I must admit that I, too, have spent my fair share of time a) yearning for men in relationships to love ME instead of their partners (albeit not actively trying to extract them from said relationships, I feel I must note) and b) meeting perfectly lovely available men and thinking, ‘well, there’s got to be something inherently wrong with him, because otherwise he is so perfectly lovely that he should have a girlfriend.’
Not the way forward, my dears. Not the way forward.
So, how can we make this news we can use? When you find yourself in paroxysms of longing over men who are unavailable, perhaps you might find it helpful to reflect on the following tale from my youth (I know, but bear with me):
When I was three years old, I went to nursery in a somewhat fancy area where my classmates’ parents would get quite competitive about buying their progeny branded toys, which said progeny then brought in to school to display proudly to the class, which then (of course) sent the rest of us in to fits of jealousy.
So. For Christmas in 1985, my very fondest wish was for a CareBear (tm). And not just any CareBear (tm): I wanted Rainbow Bear (tm), who was pink and had a rainbow sewed on her stomach. But having spied the price tag – something like thirty 1985 dollars – Mumelstein promptly decided that she was having none of that. Being plucky and creative, she bought a knock-off CareBear (totallynottm) and a rainbow patch, sewed them together, and presented it to me in my Christmas pillowcase. My reaction? ‘It doesn’t have a white tummy,’ I pouted, able to spot fake branded products before I was old enough to read. ‘That’s because Mrs Claus made it especially for you,’ Mumelstein countered.
I was sceptical. But I took it to nursery. And by the end of the day, several mothers had approached Mumelstein because their kids were now begging them for a special CareBear (totallynottm) just like mine, because the ones that they had were now crap in comparison to what I had.
Which was pretty preposterous. Much as is fancying a man because he is already in a relationship.
