Sex.co.nz

Have you experienced this? The minute you get a girlfriend, you start getting a flurry of attention from the opposite sex. Then you break up, confident that you’ve got a slew of prospects on the horizon …. only to find out that all those girls who were once keen on you are now ignoring you.

Why does this happen? Why do you only get swamped with female attention when you’re in a relationship and can’t do anything about it?

Luckily, researchers are on top of it. Researchers at Oklahoma State University (USA) have discovered that women are much more interested in men who are romantically attached. A guy who is single and available isn’t half as interesting.

Crazy? Maybe not. Scientists have even coined a term for it: “male poaching.” They hypothesize that men in relationships are more attractive to women on the prowl, because of their perceived “higher status.” Clearly, if another woman liked this man enough to get into a relationship with him, he must have something going for him. Also, by being in a relationship, this man has proven that he is able to commit, which is also attractive in a woman’s book.

You would think that women would shy away from getting involved in an affair. Most women believe in staying faithful and monogamous to their own partners, so why would they be the “other woman” in an affair?

In a strange moral twist, some mistresses justify their actions by saying that they’re “helping this man escape a bad relationship,” and that his current partner doesn’t deserve him anyway.

Other relationship experts have their own theories about why women pursue married or otherwise taken men. They believe that men who are sexually satisfied in a relationship give off different vibes than a single, horny guy desperate to get laid. When a man has all of his physical and emotional needs satisfied in a relationship, he is more attractive than a man who is looking to get those needs met.

So does this mean that the next time you’re out on the town hoping to get laid, you should tell the girls you meet that you have a girlfriend?

It certainly wouldn’t hurt. Women tend to let down their guard around a man that they don’t perceive as a threat, and such a relaxed social encounter can sometimes spontaneously lead to other things.

But if you’re hoping to meet a girl for a relationship, telling her that you already have a girlfriend is a recipe for disaster. Once she finds out that you lied to her, she’ll dump you faster than you can say, “But let me explain…”

And if you’re already in a relationship, don’t assume that those innocently flirtatious conversations with female colleagues and acquaintances mean nothing. Those girls probably were hitting on you, and they know exactly what it means if you flirt back. It’s up to you then to do the right thing. Do you dump your girlfriend and then pursue the other chick, or will the girl back off once you’re single? Only you can decide.