Have you ever wondered… what do men think we need to understand about them?

In which we ask three men to get candid.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel

In which we ask three men to get candid.

<b>Justin Vanderstraaten, 27</b>
<b>Justin Vanderstraaten, 27</b>

“One of the biggest things women need to understand is that we absolutely love our space. Sometimes, after a long hard day of crunching numbers in front of a computer or meeting clients, all we want to do is run into the warm, loving arms of… our bed.

Occasionally, we just want to vegetate in front of the TV during the weekend. Me-time for us is a chance to recharge and zone out without a care in the world, so don’t be offended if your man postpones your date in favour of being alone at home. It’s not that we don’t love you. We just don’t have to see you every day to know that we do. Use this time to meet your girlfriends or pamper yourself. Go. Have fun.

Also – a man’s definition of the word ‘nothing’ differs greatly from yours. For example, when you ask us if anything’s wrong or what’s on our minds and we reply with ‘nothing’, we truthfully mean that we’re completely devoid of thought. Men have the uncanny and unconscious ability to space out into oblivion. The honest truth is we’d love for you to use and mean the word ‘nothing’ as the dictionary intended. You have no idea how much your man will appreciate you being upfront with him if you’re unhappy about something, without beating around the bush.”

<b>Shaun Tupaz, 30</b>
<b>Shaun Tupaz, 30</b>

“The most important thing you need to understand about men is this: MEN ARE DOGS. Hear me out here.

Dogs are loyal. When they go out to play, they’ll always come back home. Just like men. When we go out to party, we’ll always come back home. Not always sober, but home.

Dogs care about their owners. They never bite the hand that feeds them. Men are the same – we’re protective and caring of our owners – I mean, girlfriends. And finally, dogs are funny. They play with your shoes, chase their own tails, and bark for no apparent reason sometimes. That’s just like men – we never take ourselves too seriously.”

<b>Carter Huff, 25</b>
<b>Carter Huff, 25</b>

“There are times when we’ll go silent for a while. This does not mean we’re upset, or giving you the silent treatment. This is our way of ‘absorbing’ something that has been said and organising our thoughts. Also, we might seem nonchalant when our partners are mad at us, but that’s only because we’re unaware. Most of us prefer a direct approach when it comes to conflict. We prefer being told directly why you’re mad at us, so we can talk it out.”

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