Picture it: you’re looking forward to going on a date with a guy you met on campus. You meet up for coffee, but the date is a dud. Not only does he feel the need to mansplain the latest study from a course you’re specializing in, but he also proceeded to talk about himself all night.
Spoiler alert: turns out he has a major case of Golden Penis Syndrome (and, no, we didn’t make that up). So, what does this mean for heterosexual women looking to nab a date with a guy they met at school? Let’s break it down…
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What is Golden Penis Syndrome?
Originally coined by students at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, the term refers to the dating behaviours of heterosexual men on college campuses made up of predominantly women.
According to a recent study conducted by the National Student Clearinghouse, 60 per cent of college students in the US are women, while roughly 40 per cent are men. Other studies over the years have shown that college-educated women prefer partners with a similar educational background, thus making college-educated men increasingly more in-demand in the world of dating. Which is all fine and good, except that said men are — surprise! — getting more than a little arrogant about all the attention they’re receiving.
With a noticeable lack of competition in the dating pool, men have been allowed to get away with questionable dating habits — including ghosting and cheating — because they believe there will be an endless line of women ready to jump at the chance of dating one of those “rare” college-educated men.
Related: Singles want emotional maturity in relationships, survey finds.
How does Golden Penis Syndrome affect the dating world?
Golden Penis Syndrome became an even bigger part of the conversation when American journalist Jon Birger wrote about the phenomenon in his book, Date-onomics: How Dating Became a Lopsided Game.
‘The sex ratios among college-educated, hetero singles in Manhattan is approximately three women for every two men. I’ve interviewed a lot of men who were continuing to take advantage of that imbalance… We’re seeing a generation of young men who think they’re Adam Driver or Michael B Jordan. Of course, it’s not about them. It’s the ratio,” Birger recently told the UK’s Daily Mail.
He added, “When men are in undersupply, the dating culture becomes less monogamous — men are more likely to treat women as sex objects and treat relationships as disposable.”
But what does it all really boil down to? According to Birger and the aforementioned studies, this group of college-educated men will tend to have poor social and sexual skills because they don’t feel any urgency to better themselves when it comes to securing dates with women. So all this is to say: proceed with caution when dipping your toe in the college dating pool — especially on a campus made up of predominately women.
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