Men are quicker to say "I love you"

From the daily telegraph:

It is a cliché of romance – that men find it hardest to blurt out those three crucial words: "I love you".

But while men take an average of seven months to tell a new partner that they love them, women take almost eight months, according to the dating survey conducted for Stella magazine.

The study, which exposes several myths surrounding relationships, also found that the over 55s are the most active – and experimental – of all age groups, when it comes to dating.

Oliver James, the clinical psychologist and author, said the findings supported other studies that showed that men fall in love more frequently than women, and that they are more prone to feelings of being "swept away" by someone.

"This is because women mature sooner than men and develop to be more hard-nosed, realistic and in touch with their emotions," he added.

"So when a man says 'I love you' it might be his way of dealing with a lot of complex, difficult emotions that he doesn't really understand, whereas when a woman says it, it might carry a greater weight. The classic cliché is that men use love to get sex and women use sex to get love."

Here are some statistics I gleaned from the article:

It found that 91 per cent of men would most like their ideal partner to have a sense of humour.

In contrast, 85 per cent would most like them to have attractive looks.

In contrast, almost four fifths of women date to find a long-term relationship, compared to around two-thirds of men.

And one fifth of men would have sex on their first date, compared to only one in seventeen women, with 28 per cent of women waiting until the fifth date, or later. (prudes)

For men, the preferred age gap for a relationship, is with a partner who is up to five years younger than them. In contrast, most women would like their partner to be up to five years older. (I'm glad they didn't survey Dirtygirl. They probably just didn't know which arcade her and her preferred men go to)