We are gathered here today to lay to rest some of the hardest-working, most tired "boy moves" that men have pulled in the history of dating. These lame and predictable maneuvers have been driving women insane for centuries, and after all this time, we women have decided to tell you a little something: We're on to you.
We know these moves, we know what they mean (and what they actually mean), and we know that they're specially designed to make us feel crazy. We're done with them. Let us bow our heads for these top five most obnoxious boy moves, which I am hereby proclaiming to be dead on the battlefield.
The first:
"My life is just really complicated right now."
This gem is one that we still seem to swallow despite the fact that it means absolutely nothing. Complicated? Like a jigsaw puzzle? Like you're busy operating on babies? Or like you don't really want to stop doing whatever you're doing to see the movie I want to see? I see. Instead, just try saying "I don't want to be your boyfriend." We're grown-ups, we can handle it.
"You're upset by this? Well, maybe we shouldn't date if I upset you so much."
Way to burn the forest down, big daddy. When two people are in any sort of relationship, from the barista and coffee addict to married couples, they're going to have conflict. Pretending that conflict is a relationship deal-breaker under the guise of not wanting to hurt you is a boy move designed to keep you from voicing any emotions other than joy or sexual ecstasy. Thank goodness it's dead now.
"Yeah, I just ran into Joanna. You remember her, my ex? She wants to have dinner tomorrow, so I'll do that while you're in class, I guess."
This is girlfriend-baiting. For whatever reason, sometimes guys want you to be jealous, and so things like this happen. What they want is for you to freak out and insist that you not meet Joanna. Short circuit this one by marking your territory in ways that don't confirm the stereotype that girls are jealous nutjobs.
"Maybe I'm just not cut out to be with someone. It seems like I just end up hurting people ..."
This move should be lit on fire in its casket just to ensure that it's actually not going to rear its ugly head again. The martyr move usually comes out of a boy's mouth after he does something horrid to you, and it's a perfect way to shift the attention from what he did to you comforting him and telling him he's a special wonderful snowflake. Hey buster, this is about you hurting me, not about you being bruised fruit.
"Oh yeah, I ended up getting a girl's number last night at the bar. Why, does that bother you?"
This one takes the taco, and it has a million faces. Essentially, the formula goes 1) doing something clearly outside of reasonable dating behaviors, 2) announcing said behavior casually, and 3) acting like we're crazy for reacting appropriately. I'm not even sending flowers for this one.
With these five boy moves being called out and terminated, we can now breathe a sigh of relief. In lieu of flowers, we can honor these fallen boy moves by no longer putting up with them. That means no crumbling when you hear "Are you being psycho right now?", no feeling guilty about having normal reactions to things, and no telling your girlfriends "I think he's just really afraid that he's falling in love with me." These moves survived throughout the ages because they worked, so let's not let them work anymore.
A moment of silence, please.
How many times have you heard these boy moves? Are you as tired of them as we were? Which ones did we forget?













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Wednesday 22 September
By Anne
Amen.
Reply
Wednesday 22 September
By Angela
I was a sad sucker for the "Maybe I'm just not cut out to be with someone. It seems like I just end up hurting people ..."
Oh how I wish I would have read this 5 months ago!!!
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Wednesday 22 September
By Kathleen
Hell, I wish i'd heard that 45 years ago!
and the total deal breaker for me are two words - its complicated. Usually means I'M CHEATING
Wednesday 22 September
By getreal13
Only the weak will somone to make them go crazy ladies. We dance around all of these issues, because we don't wanna see those pitiful tears run down your faces when we tell you the truth. If you tell a woman the truth, she cries, if you lie to her she goes crazy. Lose, lose situation for us men. AND YES, YOU GUYS ARE CRAZY!!! The crazy thing about that is that you guys know you're crazy and just can't admit it. DENIAL is a crazy thing.
Thursday 23 September
By Noelle
Or he will date you for eight months then tell you "I really didn't feel that way about you. Maybe we can just be friends."
I didn't see him again until three years later, and he didn't even remember my name or that we had dated for eight months at all.
Wednesday 22 September
By Flumbumpawompawomp
These didn't disappear. Women took them!
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Wednesday 22 September
By noreenarshad
Excuse me? What does gender have anything to do this? It takes two to tango, and how do you know these moves are guy-exclusive? Sounds alot like the writer is a self pitier who wants to label an entire group. This is sexist at best, to say that men are the only ones to do these things.
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Wednesday 22 September
By Robert Ford
Ditto
Tuesday 28 September
By GettingOverIt
I agree! I heard #4 after my ex-wife (of 25 yrs.) divorced her 2nd husband (of about 18 mos.), who turned out NOT to be the super-nice guy she left me for. I drove an hour to meet her at a spot half way for a meeting she requested. During the reconciliatory conversation, she casually mentioned that he wasn't "in the picture," anymore. "Maybe you were right," she said. "Maybe I just wasn't cut out to be married to anyone." (I have absolutely no memory of saying any such thing.) I gave this meeting some thought, for few weeks, then decided to make the two-hour drive to visit my kids - who live in the same town - and, maybe, drop by for a visit. Half an hour from my destiny, I recieved a call that she had called my house to give me some information and, oh, by the way, he's living back in her house. WT...?
Wednesday 22 September
By SkyBlue
A moment of silence, please, for the passing of these "moves".
Now let's have a report on the lame, manipulative moves women pull.
Thank you.
Reply
Thursday 23 September
By Joe
We just did skyblue, read above again. This female who wrote this "article" is nothing but a self pitty filled female, that's about all she is. For someone to even think much less say in an "article" for everyone to read that these things are what men say to women is nothing but stupid, not to mentoin sexist! Get over your self pitty and realize these things are what PEOPLE say to other people, that's about it. unless of course you happen to be like this person who wrote this garbage and believe that females are so much more advanced than men and would never say anything but the honest truth to the one they are with. Yeah, that's REALLY how things are aren't they lol.
Wednesday 22 September
By Ky
" That means no crumbling when you hear "Are you being psycho right now?","
The only appropriate response to "are you being psycho right now?" is "No, not right now. You'll know when I'm being psycho because you'll hear yourself begging for the sweet release of death, now stop trying to change the subject." The key is, regardless of sex or specific words used, don't let anyone use pathetic, immature games to manipulate your emotions and evade responsibility for his or her own behaviors.
Reply
Thursday 30 September
By SacWriterEditor
With mine it wasn't "psycho", it was always "you're having PMS", no matter what time of month it was.
Yeah, it was PMS, Putting up with Men's Sh**
Wednesday 22 September
By Mikeykid
Here's 5 tired Girl moves we'd like to see laid to rest:
1. I slept with your best friend.
2. I slept with my best friend.
3. I don't want to be married anymore.
4. I'm taking the kids.
5. I'm taking the house, car, and half your money.
Reply
Sunday 26 September
By Ashley
I'm just wondering why all the guys posting are crying "sexism!" This article isn't saying that men lie and women are perfect. But this website is geared more towards WOMEN, so of course its going to list the ways in which men lie to WOMEN. Otherwise it wouldn't be relevant to this site. So grow a pair and get over it :)
Wednesday 22 September
By kris
All of these should be filed under.."He's just not that into you". Anyone who does not drop the person who uses these lines immediately is basically giving the green light to be cheated on and lied to. Some boys will never commit to ANYONE, so it's best to just cut ties and let them be on their way if you are looking for a monogamous relationship.
Reply
Wednesday 22 September
By uneek07
That was a very smart answer. The woman writing this article must not have much guts. I say this to woman all of the time. Stop blaming him all the time, and take some responsibilty for yourself. You have a brain; use it. Responsibility is like power. If you keep putting all the responsibility on him; you're giving him all the power. This chick needs to GROW UP!
Wednesday 22 September
By Pete
People, men and women, are complex beings with fears and insecurities. Yes, there are people who don't really care who they hurt, but the writer and commentors here should think about how people who do things like these - not necessarily these specific behaviors - are themselves feeling and evolving. In other words attacking people like this article does should be put at the top of this list of things not to do.
Reply
Wednesday 22 September
By Kristin
I don't think the first one should be on here. I've used that myself, and meant it seriously, just recently. I'm not saying that all guys always use it the right way, but we ought to cut them a little slack if we do the same.
Reply
Wednesday 22 September
By Venus
Somehow I don't believe that these "boy moves" will go away just because of an editorial-oriented blog online. They've been around for eons and will continue, in some form, until the end of time. And, just for the record, these statements are not limited just to the males of this society.
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