No commitments, please

Guys hate the C-word, and when pressed for it, may even call it quits

Men love their freedom. For many guys, the dreaded 'C-word' implies compromise, loss of independence, the sacrifice of variety, and the looming spectre of financial devastation. Men consider committing to a woman a serious business - it's a decision that shouldn't be taken lightly. Too many men get married for the wrong reasons: they're getting older; all their friends are walking down the aisle; the woman is good-looking but lacks other desirable qualities; or they're scared they won't meet anyone else.

Men are extremely independent by nature. They like to make their own decisions and run their lives by their own rules. They want to do what they want when they want. But when a woman enters the picture, all the choices a guy simply used to take for granted - going out for a beer with his buddies, for example - suddenly have to be cleared with her first.

Commitment implies the ability to compromise - ideally a marriage should be a 50/50 partnership in which each half contributes and shares equally. But men hate the presumption of women: to them 'compromise' often means "do it my way or you're cut off from physical intimacy." So men are forced into surrendering to this blackmail, and the result is a terrible loss of male power, at least that's what most men think.

Serious relationships suck up an enormous amount of time and energy - they can ruin men's normal lives. The pressure is always on to do something, be it wine and dine her, interact with her family, remember her birth day, or pick her up from work. For some of men, all the bother just isn't worth the effort.

These days, men reason, there are fewer societal pressures to marry and they can weigh their options instead of just jumping directly from school into marriage. They can afford to wait for that perfect woman while concentrating on getting their careers off the ground, save to buy a house, or actively dating many women without commitment.

Men also believe that many women can't be trusted - they're always looking to upgrade, to latch onto a man with more money, more status and more stuff for exploitation. For a lot of women, commitment is the finish line for their adult lives. They want to get married and they want to do so now. So they exert increasing pressure on men to settle down - pressure that can cause men to pack up and leave.

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