• @[email protected]
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    3906 days ago

    For anyone legitimately confused, there’s potentially two different things going on here:

    There is a very small chance that she is now more attracted to him, since he’s been “screened” by someone else as an acceptable boyfriend.

    What’s infinitely more likely is that now she’s more comfortable interacting with him because she feels he’s not as likely to take friendly interaction as anything more, now that he has a girlfriend.

    • @[email protected]
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      6 days ago

      I went to the gym with my sister a couple of times. She’s really serious about weight lifting. Each time we went, several random men would tell her how impressed they were. Later she said that men very rarely approached her like that when she was at the gym alone. I figure that they didn’t want to seem like creeps so they were more comfortable talking to her when she was with another guy (me).

      • @[email protected]
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        196 days ago

        I went on a mushroom picking course with my sister once. It was very strange how people (in general, but yes mostly women) were talking to me compared to when she left early. It’s uh, yeah, it is what it is

    • @[email protected]
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      866 days ago

      I was on a dating site many years ago. Never got messaged, rarely got responses.

      Met someone in real life, set my profile to “in a relationship”. Got like 5 messages within a week.

      Definitely a bit of vetting going on

      • shastaxc
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        1316 days ago

        You set your status on a dating app to In a Relationship instead of deactivating it. You got likes after that because you’re now passing search filters for a different demographic: nonmonogamous people

      • @[email protected]
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        96 days ago

        Mate choice copying has been found in a wide variety of different species, including (but not limited to): […] and humans.[10]

    • @EisFrei
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      266 days ago

      “teasing me every chance she gets” sounds like there is more. On whose side is open for discussion.

      • @[email protected]
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        506 days ago

        Or, like so many, he’s interpreting it as teasing when its not.

        My wife still browses reddit. A recent BORU was a young guy who was convinced his brother’s gf wanted to bang him. Everyone told him it was in his head, he went for it anyway…

        Now his brother and gf left the family home to get a hotel, and this dumb ass - who only now saw how wrong he was - is left explaining why to the family.

        Could be made up, of course. But its incredibly plausible. Lots of guys are dumb AF and either can’t pick up on any signals, or interpret everything as a signal.

        So I’d personally lean towards the incredibly more likely scenario of her being friendly, and him misinterpreting it.

        • @[email protected]
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          346 days ago

          Lots of guys are dumb AF and either can’t pick up on any signals, or interpret everything as a signal.

          Don’t forget that not every woman is the same. Actions that are signals for one woman aren’t signals for another

          • @[email protected]
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            45 days ago

            Exactly this, my former roommate used to flirt with me all of the time, but I knew she wasn’t actually into me. It’s just how she acts with her friends.

            Meanwhile, a coworker that apparently was into me never acted as if she liked me as more than friends, so I treated her as a friend. I had to find out much later from a mutual friend after she assumed I must not have been interested.

            For some people, the “obvious signs” aren’t signs at all. Other people think they’re telegraphing strongly enough to be seen, but aren’t.

    • @Zexks
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      86 days ago

      Lmfao. “Very small chance” my fucking ass. This is incredibly common.

      • @shalafi
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        -16 days ago

        Whole-heartedly agree. Sometimes this site makes me feel like I’m dealing with a bunch of fat, young virgins. Yes, you’ve been screened.

        My wife is mad jealous, of every woman. (Her only fault, I can deal.) Wants me to wear my ring more often.

        “You know that’ll only get me more attraction?”

        • @Machinist
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          46 days ago

          It’s funny getting middle aged and how the calculus has really changed for me. I get compliments from random women all the time due to facial hair, being bald, and dropping weight. My wife laughs her ass off but does get a tiny bit jealous. That grey in the beard does things.

          Feels good, man.

        • @[email protected]
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          25 days ago

          Yup. It’s hard for me to tell at work whether the attention I’m getting is because I’m in a leadership position (people sucking up for promotions and whatnot) or because I’m one of the few married people and thus “safe.” Regardless, I set appropriate boundaries and it works out.

    • KillingTimeItself
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      56 days ago

      since he’s been “screened” by someone else as an acceptable boyfriend.

      literal parasite behavior, never do this.

      Or if you do don’t do it as directly as this lmao.