Edit: ‘Chase’ in this phrase is not meant to be taken literally.
For some extra information on the quote: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/compassionate-feminism/202504/the-psychology-of-dont-chase-attract
Edit: ‘Chase’ in this phrase is not meant to be taken literally.
For some extra information on the quote: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/compassionate-feminism/202504/the-psychology-of-dont-chase-attract
I think the issue there is that male friendships in general and especially with females are culturally discouraged.
My personal experience might be taken with a grain of salt because I’m a trans female (and my wife clocked that before she started dating me, even though I didn’t realize it myself until later), but from my personal experience being raised as a male I had very few friendships with girls and women and I never dated until I developed a close friendship with the woman who is now my wife. She expressed interest in dating me, and eventually we committed to it.
So, I think that breaking that cultural norm and encouraging men to have more friendships would help a lot.
I have as many female friends as male friends, I’ve never found it to be culturally discouraged but im autistic so peer pressure doesn’t really work on me so maybe I just didn’t notice.
It maybe depends on the particular culture/context around you. When I was growing up I was usually in explicitly Christian contexts, so it was probably more repressive than what some people experience. I think that toxic masculinity is pretty widespread, though.