The Emotional Cost Of Dating Men And How Women Are Rewriting Rules

Forbes

2 days ago

Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images.
A new cultural lexicon is emerging, and at the center of it is a term that captures the private exhaustion and public irony many straight women feel toward modern relationships with men: heterofatalism. Initially coined by academic Asa Seresin and recently spotlighted in the New York Times Magazine and Sexual Health Alliance, heterofatalism refers to the resigned belief that heterosexual relationships are emotionally unfulfilling.
These viewpoints suggest women pursue them anyway because they feel there might not be better options. However, beyond the memes and gloomy quips lies something more profound: a crisis of expectation, a mismatch of emotional labor, and an opportunity to reframe how straight women approach dating with greater clarity, curiosity, awareness and self-leadership.
This article explores the psychological and cultural roots of heterofatalism, synthesizes dating and relationship science and offers tools for dating men today without compromising your softness, emotional essentials or standards.
What Is Heterofatalism? When Cynicism Masks Hope
Unlike heteropessimism, which performs emotional detachment for irony or cool-girl effect, heterofatalism carries a heavier emotional resignation. Women may say, "I am hesitant about men," only to download the app again the next morning, reflecting not just disappointment in individual men, but in the more all-around system of heterosexual romance. The internal dialogue might become something like: "Even if I know better, even if he might not meet my needs, I want to pursue the connection anyway."
As the Sexual Health Alliance notes, heterofatalism often arises from a lack of relational modeling, and from watching women in our families "choose partners they did not seem to like." It can be intergenerational, systemic and reinforced by media that glamorizes dysfunction under the guise of chemistry. But how can we distinguish one from the other? Here's where self-agency comes in.
Cultural Conditioning, Romantic Myths And Emotional Labor
Popular culture has long sold women the idea that love will heal, elevate and complete us. But research on romantic beliefs suggests that idealizing a partner can actually predict greater disappointment over time, especially when initial chemistry masks incompatible values, true friendship or aligned long-term goals.
Even well-meaning narratives like "men should protect and provide" can reinforce benevolent sexism, an ideology that seems sweet but ultimately positions women as passive recipients of male behavior. These beliefs can make women more likely to excuse or romanticize emotional immaturity in men in the personal and professional realms alike.
It comes as no surprise that women in heterosexual relationships might often feel like they carry more of the emotional labor, initiating hard conversations, managing conflict and tracking their date's emotional needs. This imbalance contributes directly to the burnout that fuels heterofatalism, a widespread apathy towards the dating scene.
The Psychology Behind Attraction And Repetition
Classic social-psychology theory suggests people pair with those of similar social desirability, also known as the Matching Hypothesis. Yet in the world of dating apps, this can backfire. Research analyzing millions of profiles reveals that both men and women often pursue partners who are estimated to be about 25% more attractive than themselves, despite these advances yielding fewer responses. In other words, chasing someone perceived as "out of the league" is common, but it is rarely successful.
The convenience of mobile dating comes with its own set of challenges. A 2024 Forbes Health survey reports that 78% of users feel emotionally, mentally or physically exhausted from app use — and women report slightly higher rates than men. This aligns with qualitative findings showing "burnout" results from repeated cycles of hope, ghosting and emotional drain, or what researchers call mobile-online-dating fatigue.
Gen Z daters report even higher rates: nearly 79% say app fatigue has influenced them to seek offline alternatives or authenticity-first platforms (RAW app data, 2025). Apps like Bumble and Hinge are responding by introducing features such as conversation prompts and "double-date" modes to ease cognitive load and enhance engagement, too.
Why We Repeat Patterns: The Pull Of The Unavailable
Beyond algorithms and exhaustion, attraction is often shaped by what feels familiar, rather than what is healthy. Many women report being drawn to unavailable or emotionally inconsistent partners due to unresolved attachment patterns. Unsurprisingly, this dynamic perpetuates cycles of disappointment masked as excitement, especially in high-status, emotionally ambiguous men.
Heteropessimism refers to the ironic detachment and performative complaint about men while still participating in heterosexual dating. Its emotional tone is often askew and cynical, and it has become a staple of memes and social media commentary, such as 'men are trash.'
Heterofatalism, on the other hand, carries a more profound resignation: the belief that dating men may be unsatisfying, but there's no better alternative. Its tone is more defeated and ambivalent, emerging from emotional labor burnout and accumulated relational hopelessness, among others.
It's Not About Not Dating Men, But Dating With Discernment, Intention And Self-Sovereignty
Heterofatalism is not about giving up on love. It is about letting go of scripts that exhaust us. Instead of abandoning desire, we can choose to desire with clarity and intention. Instead of succumbing to resignation, we can reframe the terms of engagement comprehensively.
Because dating men doesn't have to mean enduring disappointment, particularly when you choose based on emotional congruence rather than cultural programming, dating becomes a space of alignment, not depletion. Finally, as a researcher and therapist, Dr. Alexandra Solomon says, 'Healthy relationships are not found, they are built. Moreover, you can only build with someone who is also ready to build with you.'
So no, the answer is not to stop dating men. The answer is to stop dating men who drain your brilliance, and to start dating as the woman who chooses herself first.