The dating world has left many men utterly disillusioned. Despite the fact that they seem to be doing everything right -- they have a good job, drive a nice car, and look their very best -- they continue to strike out with woman after woman. They perceive landing dates as being much more arduous for them than it is for the women they're after, who seem to reject potential suitors at will.  But is dating really an uphill climb for all men and a breezy walk in the park for all the ladies? I feel this view is a tad simplistic. If approaching this subject in the context of traditional gender roles -- where the man is the pursuer and is thereby forced to risk rejection -- it may seem like women are always in the driver's seat. After all, women get far more hits on dating apps/sites like Tinder, right? But this presupposes that women enjoy all the attention they're getting, and that just isn't the case. For one, women don't find all the men reach...

The right man or woman will love you for your heart and mind, and not just for your body or wallet. Above all else, he or she will value your top character traits, whether that be kindness, faithfulness, loyalty, intelligence, integrity, or a great sense of humor. A good man gives precedence to a woman's feelings, goals, and passions over the size of her breasts and how good she is in the sack. A good woman focuses on ways his qualities complement hers rather than how much money she can wring from him. (And let's not make the dangerous mistake of pigeonholing men and women into traditional gender roles. Some women can be just as superficial as men when it comes to looks, and some men are on a mission to find only sugar mamas.) But we'd be remiss if we didn't concede that physical appearance and financial resources do count to a certain degree. Would most of us want to go on a date with someone who's 300 pounds overweight, broke, and deeply in debt? Pro...

Studies show that far more women are skipping marriage today than was the case two, even three decades ago. Plus, what many women are saying on social media regarding the perils of tying the knot corroborates these findings. This morning, I was sifting through posts on the Facebook page for Psychology Today. One of them posed an intriguing question: Do women these days still find great value in getting married? Judging from the comments to the post, many of them do not. One woman stated plainly that after dating several non-committal men, she's grown tired of pushing marriage on these guys with nothing to show for it. Another said that she refuses to take the plunge again after being cheated on by two of her husbands. Still another admitted that she's never wanted to be tied down, instead valuing the flexibility of singlehood. For many women, the perks of being married -- like additional tax and insurance benefits -- just aren't sufficient to offset the problems tha...

Some men refuse to date women who don't cook, whether it's because they don't know how to cook or have no interest in doing so. I actually have a few female friends and coworkers who have likely never boiled an egg in their life. Thankfully, my wife likes to cook, and she isn't too shabby at it. If it turned out that she didn't cook, I wouldn't hold it against her. That would be akin to her giving me a hard time about my not being a good handyman. She knows I am not a DIY kind of guy and doesn't mind in the slightest. I think men and women alike get hung up on traditional gender roles. Let's face it: We're in the 21st century. Women aren't just taking care of kids at home anymore while dad brings in the bacon. This is a wildly different world than the ones our grandparents came to know. Men who still believe that a woman's place is in the kitchen are displaying the worst kind of chauvinism. Women should neither like nor be expected to d...