"... summarily weighed, judged and dumped."

So damned sad that people (in this case, a man) are able to kid themselves about what they are really looking for in a partner and then not be up front about what to DO about the mistake.

I have met one woman who was pretty, charming, intelligent, witty, caring...etc., but whose romances were short and sad, and who never understood why. The truth was that she had this ideal template for "male companion", and the moment a man showed serious interest in her, she began the process of altering him to fit her notion of perfection...and she was not too subtle about it! The men usually wrikled their foreheads in confusion and slipped quietly away. (I did not DARE to tell her what my thoughts were....and thus I remained friends with her)

I also knew a man many years ago who went through women like a whirlwind....he was always charmed by any woman who proved 'hard to get', but once she gave in to him, he was bored with her. (I once threw him out of my house for trying to assert his power over a woman who was a guest of mine and now had an interest in someone else....he never understood why I was so upset with him and refused to have any more to do with him!)

Maybe it's just that people in this complex society have so many conflicting ideas of what is fair, interesting, reasonable and sexually desirable that the chances of a good match between them have decreased a lot in the last few decades. I have 27 interwoven theories, but no answers.