A recent article in Psychology Today claims an increasing number of single men are afraid to approach women out of concern they might be “perceived as creepy.”
Online dating coach Blaire Anderson conducted two surveys to get a better understanding of what it means to be “creepy” in the world of online dating.
In one, Anderson surveyed 2,000 American women ages 18 to 40 to find out if they’ve ever experienced creepiness from men.
In the second, she surveyed 1,000 American men from the same age group to gauge what makes them fearful of approaching women.
Among women, Anderson found 82 percent experienced creepy behavior from men “sometimes,” “often,” or “constantly.” Meanwhile, 44 percent of the men said they are less likely to interact with women for fear of being perceived as “creepy.” Among the single men surveyed, that increases to 53 percent.
Anderson claims that “creepy” is such an undefined term, men fear being unintentionally creepy which can lead to “deep social anxiety.” And this is bad for women, Anderson adds, since “terrific single men won’t approach them” for fear of being “perceived as creepy.”
Anderson found nine creepy behaviors men should avoid, namely, unwanted social media contact, staring, inappropriate comments, refusal to accept “no” for an answer, unwanted physical contact, undue pressure to go all the way, controlling behaviors, clinginess, and physical stalking.
She suggests that women may find online dating discouraging since it’s hard to learn much about a guy from just a photo and a short profile. As a result, many women go on dates with men who are completely wrong for them.
Men, on the other hand, have a hard time coming up with a unique dating profile. Anderson claims that men are unreliable when it comes to choosing the right photo and many of them rush the set-up instead of taking the time to come up with the right profile.
