Five Reasons Why Women Like to Date Bad Boys

Everyone knows the old expression “nice guys finish last”, right? Well, when you’re a man who’s out there in the dating pool, this expression sometimes feels like the absolute truth. Even if you’re a decent bloke, you know, good manners, okay looking, a decent job, no skeletons in your closet, it can still seem like it’s the ‘bad boys’ who treat women badly who have the most luck. So why is this?

We take a look at five reasons why the bad boys are doing better (or not, as the case may be).

The Fine Line Between Kindness and Neediness

For some women, even the slightest nod towards neediness can be off-putting, which means that many men have to carefully tip-toe the line between kindness and neediness. Many women love their men to appear confident and ever so slightly aloof, and the minute they go all-in they reject the poor bloke. The key here is to just be yourself – the right woman will like you for who you are.

The Thrill of the Chase

For many people, the best part of dating is that thrilling part where you’re flirting and getting to know one another and when you’re doing this with an emotionally unavailable bad-boy (or girl!), that thrill is seemingly never-ending. For most people, though, the game playing eventually wears thin and someone who is looking for a genuine connection will tire of this sooner rather than later.

The Big Fix

SO many women love the idea that they can take this flawed, rootless guy and settle him into the sort of bloke who makes perfect husband and father material. This is problematic for two reasons – firstly, it rarely ever works and secondly, you should be dating someone for who they are, not who they have the potential to be turned into by you. If you’re chasing some unattainable guy in the hopes of making a Mr. Darcey out of him, give it up; it’s probably a lost cause!

The Competition

Let’s face it, the average ‘bad boy’ isn’t usually only talking to or dating one woman at a time and if you’re the competitive type you’ll probably relish the idea of luring him away from his other beaus. That being said, if he’s keeping his options open and doesn’t make you his priority there’s a good chance he never will or, as the old adage goes, he’s just not that into you.

The Neg Factor

As gross as it is, there’s a dating practice that many people use which is referred to as “negging” – “is a rhetorical strategy whereby a person makes a deliberate backhanded compliment or otherwise insulting remark to another person in order to undermine their confidence in a way that gains approval” SO many bad-boy types behave in this way without even realizing it and many women find it almost addictive, trying to gain their approval. This may work with some women but in the long run, a relationship based on this sort of gamesmanship will never be truly healthy.