Data Shows Increase In Women Seeking Casual Dating Relationships
In a Market Watch article posted yesterday over at the Wall Street Journal which will surely be discussed in many a dating blog over the coming weeks, Plenty of Fish founder Markus Friend has announced that data he's collected from his advertisers shows that the number of women seeking casual dating relationships has doubled in the past four years.
Friend found this interesting statistic by viewing the number of women leaving his site via dating site advertising from 2004 and 2008, and then compared the results. The 2004 numbers showed 9% of women leaving were clicking on "intimate encounters" as their dating modality of choice, whereas in 2008 the percentage had increased to 18%. Additionally, the article suggested that with the decreasing ratios of men to women looking for casual dating relationships (10:1 three years ago to 5:1 today), that within a decade the ratios will level out and become 1:1 - although the article was not clear where this prediction came from.
Although I have a hard time believing that there will be a 1:1 ratio of men to women looking for casual dating relationships online in the next decade, I can readily admit the ratio evolved online in the past few years. Although Market Watch suggested that the reasoning behind this shift was due to the Sex In the City phenomena, I find this a simplistic take on what's really going on in the dating world; there is more to sexual empowerment and/or sexual revolution than one TV show, in my opinion.
But you tell me: what do you think? Is Sex And The City to blame or congratulate? Are there other factors? What do you think the coming years will bring when it comes to casual dating and online mating?
Comments
Sex and the city? job well done. other factors? feminism has done its job and women are no longer dependent on men for their wellbeing. Years to come? From what I have seen in my social group, less women want to have families, and very few women will ahve more than 2 kids. I also have found women are more aggressive when they find a man they like.
I also think that when you do online dating, you kind of do it temporarily, like just moved to a new city , or just got out of a relationship, etc..
He also did not really state age groups, 10 years ago mostly people in their 30’s and 40’s did online dating, thus- the relationship seekers. Nowadays everybody does it- 8 to 80 dumb, crippled and crazy! as the saying goes, lol!
It is a disaster to hear that commitment, romance and high morals and values are giving their place to temporary, aimless, superficial relationships that last short.
I really want to ask those who are interested in these relationships is SEX that important and how do they feel when one of their relationships end? I mean what have they achieved?
Even on Sex in the City, most, if not all of the women were looking to find The One. Even randy Samantha ended up with a boyfriend. Also the study doesn’t break down by age. I agree with Lily that most women in their 30’s, 40’s and up are seeking more serious relationships. More and more younger people are dating online, and they may tend to be less serious. Also, most women don’t live in big, exciting cities like New York, with high-profile jobs and $$ like the SITC gals. Casual dating in Bumtown, Iowa? Not so much fun. Either way, it does get old.