Love-shyness: Encyclopedia II - Love-shyness - Results of Gilmartin's research

Love-shyness - Results of Gilmartin's research

According to Gilmartin, people of all ages, all sexual orientations, and both genders can be love-shy. However, in Gilmartin's opinion, love-shyness is especially a problem for heterosexual men. (Note, however, that Gilmartin's study included only heterosexual men and not heterosexual women or homosexual or bisexual men or women.) Because of gender roles in Western society, it may be possible for women and homosexual men to become involved in intimate relationships without needing to take any initiative. Shy women are just as likely as non-shy women to date, to get married, and to have children. This is not the case for heterosexual men. Love-shy heterosexual men therefore normally fail to initiate any informal social contact with women. They cannot date, marry, or have children, and many of these men never experience any form of intimate sexual contact with others.

Gilmartin notes that love-shy men are frequently assumed to be homosexual by other people, because of their perceived lack of interest in women. Additionally, he notes that many heterosexual love-shy men are not interested in friendships with other men. This, combined with their lack of success in initiating contact with women, causes feelings of loneliness, alienation, and sometimes depression.

Gilmartin estimates that love-shyness afflicts approximately 1.5 percent of most male populations. According to Gilmartin love-shyness is, like most human psychological characteristics, the result of some combination of biological (genetic/developmental) and environmental (cultural, familial, religious, etc.) factors (see also: nature versus nurture).

Gilmartin makes references to unscientific subject areas astrology, reincarnation and Kirlian aura to support his research.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Results of Gilmartin's research", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki