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Relationships

Are there any decent men out there ?!

281 replies

lemonbabe · 15/03/2014 15:13

I'm in my early 40's and separated. At first I was quite excited by the thought of meeting a normal, loving man and building a future together. Fastforward a couple of years down the line and a trail of failed relationships/dates and I'm becoming more and more disillusioned with men. It seems virtually impossible to meet someone who's not already taken, gay or mentally unstable. Is it the age ? Is is modern life ? Is it men being @rses ? Or all of the above ? It's hard being a single parent, doing everything alone. Friends are great of course but I'd love to meet someone special. I just feel too young to throw in the towel and begin imagining the rest of my life alone. Anyone feeling the same ?

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Mutella · 27/03/2017 12:06

the lying about the age thing is a tightrope. I put in my real age but when I set up the profile I had no idea that so many men would lie about their age! I had it in my head that I'd date anybody from 4 years younger to 6 years older, so a decade wide range, not to restrictive. However I once nearly went on a date with a man who had subtracted a decade from his age! I found out luckily. Don't ask me how Wink but I'm glad I did. When I politely cancelled the date and told him why he told me sarcastically that he was devastated not to learn all about my ''life''. He put life in inverted commas which I thought was funny. My life is my life. No lies. But the messy man I dated had subtracted 5 years from his age. The reason men do this is not because they're ashamed of their own age I don't think, but it is because they are frustrated that the women a decade younger consider them, well, a decade older. So women are sort of forced in to lying about their age so that they can date a man ''only'' five years older than they are! I'm not saying that men create ALL the problems on line, as I've had a laugh with a few guys and the stories they've told have been very funny. Mr Commitment phobe with the minimalist Danish style décor told me a date popped out to get fags and didn't return. We had a laugh at that, didn't John Lennon say that to cynthia. He should have known! I was laughing that there were bigger commitmentphobes out there than him and as bad as he was he kept meeting them. Another woman he was to date changed her mind at the last second but felt bad so she sent a friend!
If it doesn't work out with the guy I'm with now (who lied about his height but not his age {eye roll} ) then I guess I'll start a new profile and subtract 3 years from my age, ONLY so that men genuinely within a decade of my own age might respond to me or write to me. I don't want to pay a babysitter to leave the house to meet a man me Da could introduce me to at the Irish club! lol

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ShatnersWig · 27/03/2017 12:46

I actually had women thinking I was using someone else's photos because my profile said I was 37 and I looked considerably younger (not a stealth boast, it's genes - everyone thinks my dad is 10 years younger than he is and my mum at least 5 years younger). I still wouldn't lie about it, or my height. I don't understand the mentality of why you would do that, because you will get caught out once you start meeting someone.

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Mutella · 27/03/2017 15:00

Well yes with height, you can tell as they're walking towards the table that they've lied! I think men and women are fussier when they're sitting at home in bed with their lap top on their knee and only three or four empty coffee cups around them for company. I will admit that if I'd met the guy I'm happily dating now at the beginning of this process I might have thought, no, I'll keep fishing. But it's not just that I've become less shallow, i also see now how hard it is to fit somebody in to your life and if you find somebody who is at home in your house and who invites you in to their life quite freely too, then that's actually priceless and a really good sign. I mightn't have been ready, to begin with, for something to just click, and work well. It would have startled me and I think I would have reversed.

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Mutella · 27/03/2017 15:04

I had a man ask me how recent my photos were and if I was still slim. I googled his name (a little unusual) and the profession he'd given me and the town he said he lived in! So I could see his real name. Then I put it in to facebook so i could see he was quite overweight! Such projection! he should really lock down his privacy settings on facebook, lot of weirdos out there

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Huskylover1 · 27/03/2017 18:42

Whilst I absolutely agree with this 100% in theory, in practice I'll be 45 in 6 years time. If my experience of OD and men in general (inc RL male friends) I'll be long past it by then! I'm still the 'right' side of 40 and I'm aware I'm becoming increasingly invisible

Fucking hell, way to kick every woman on here in the teeth, should she happen to be over 40.

Fwiw, I am 47 and still fabulous, thanks very much.

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strugglingstepdad · 27/03/2017 18:44

Plenty of good men out there.

Just not always "good looking".

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