We often hear in the media about how there is a gender gap in terms of pay and careers. The majority of top jobs are still held by men, although that is very slowly changing. Men are often paid more than women for the same job, this is wrong and needs to be fixed, but it will take time.
However, in the world of dating it is hugely different. The women hold all the cards and wield all the power.
Until two weeks ago I had never been on a dating site or a dating app. Last time I was dating, the Internet was in its infancy and dating apps probably didn't exist. Internet dating is now the way many people find a partner, and what a minefield it is, especially for the men.
The problem seems to be that there are more guys than girls out there looking for dates. I don't fully understand why that is, surely the population of men and women is about the same? But in the physical world of dating, and in online dating, available women seem to outnumber available men many times.
Some of the scammy ones simply deal with this by creating fake female profiles. This results in men getting ripped off (especially on the sites where you pay per message) and becoming emotionally damaged.
Others deal with this by biasing the fees towards women, in some cases women get full membership free while men have to pay a considerable monthly fee.
Some sites make a subtle distinction in how the site works for men and women, giving the women more freedom in messaging etc.
Whichever approach is used, the men are the ones who have to pay. Often they need to go for more expensive premium memberships whereas most of the women don't need it.
This imbalance usually means that a new woman popping up on a dating site will be deluged with messages and chats, whereas a new man will pretty much get ignored. The man needs to do all the running and be at the top of the game to get the girls. He might send dozens of messages to girls he likes and get few or no responses.
Do the dating sites get this right or could they do better? There are thousands of dating sites in the UK, and frankly most of them are rubbish. They range from ineffective to out and out scams, with just a few offering an honest service. Obviously I class this site as being pretty honest or I wouldn't be still here.
What do you think guys? Do you feel like you're swimming through treacle? How could it be better? Girls how do you feel?
It's a cruel world out there for a vulnerable bloke.
