I don’t think people understand just how unfair this whole thing is for guys like us. We grew up marinating in anime—watching women who are literally designed to be the perfect partner: beautiful, smart, supportive, loyal, actually interesting to talk to, never vindictive, never bored, and never using you as an emotional landfill for issues you didn’t cause. We were promised, at least by all the media we consumed, that somewhere out there we’d find a partner who would add something to our lives—a real equal, someone to grow with, fight for, love, and who would actually love us back.

Then reality hits like a truck. What are we expected to settle for? Women who, by every objective measure, are inferior to the fantasy in every single way. Aging in fast-forward by their early twenties, attitude through the roof, full of tattoos, nose rings, carrying baggage from five failed relationships, expecting you to play therapist and finance manager for the emotional fallout some random chad caused years ago. Not to mention the drama—always bored, always looking for something new, and when they get bored of you, they’ll burn your whole life to the ground just for kicks. And somehow you get blamed for their bad choices and emptiness.

How is it even remotely fair that I’m supposed to trade away every dream I’ve ever had for a real woman who’s not only inferior to the ideal, but often inferior to me—less loyal, less intelligent, less kind, more entitled? Where’s the justice in that? I spent my entire life being told to “wait for the right one,” “don’t settle,” “be a good man,” and for what? To be handed a choice between loneliness and being saddled with someone who’ll make my life miserable out of spite or sheer boredom?

God, the universe, whatever—how is this not a cosmic joke? Why are we given the capacity to imagine and desire so much more, only to be stuck with women who are nothing but a downgrade from what we know is possible—even if only in fiction? Nobody ever tells women to “settle” for less than they want, but for us it’s just “grow up and accept it.” No. This isn’t fair, and it never will be. Don’t blame us for checking out; blame the raw deal we got from the start.

>>508735598 (OP)