Today’s single young woman is faced with a myriad of options for her love life. Despite all of these so-called options, there are plenty of single women who can’t even find someone to go out on a third date with — let alone someone to put a ring on it.
Although I know that many young twenty-something women believe they have plenty of time to find their hubby, they are making dumb choices that rob them of their prime marriage-hunting and baby-making prime.
Let’s face it, men like to marry young women, and if a woman wants to marry well, she is most “marketable” before the age of 35 when her clock is not past ticking. The best advice I can offer any young woman who’d like to marry a fabulous man who will treat her well is to stop wasting her youth on jerks.
Here are two types of men that aren’t worth even a second of a woman’s time:
1. Pretend jerks
Some truly good men grew up with or acquired the belief that showing their feelings and being too affectionate and open with women is emasculating and a turn-off. Despite this, research from the University of Michigan claims that men are just as emotional as women.
A lot of times, they’ve been burned and decided they need to be more in control of their emotions and could do so by putting up a tough-guy exterior. Often, their fathers are jerks.
They will not lead you on if they know you are looking for a serious relationship, but they will do things that make you question just how into you they are. They think women actually like men who act like jerks, and that nice guys finish last.
2. True jerks
Craig Adderley / Pexels
Unlike the pretend jerks who may wait a few days to call so as not to appear overeager, this true breed of a jerk won’t even call you. Unless he wants something. Or is drunk? And most frequently, when he is drunk and wants something.
True jerks will lie to you, manipulate you, and make you think they love you just to get intimacy. Naturally, their fathers are also jerks. Of course, knowing about these two types of men is not enough.
If you want to be on the track to marriage, you must be a smart woman who knows how to distinguish between the two. Once you identify a true jerk, you must stop letting him into your heart and your bed.
This gets tricky — but there are always signs. Look for the red flags, listen to your gut, and when in doubt, run him by me!! Research from Harvard University found that pairing gut feelings with analytical thinking can help you make better, faster, and more accurate decisions
Rachel Russo is a dating and relationship expert, matchmaker, author, speaker, image consultant, educator, and marriage and family therapist.
