A romantic connection (also called pair-bonding) is a deep emotional bond to another individual. The tendency to form a deep emotional bond to another individual is an universal feature of human life.

The connections we form to our partners are designed to keep people together. When we form a connection to a partner – we want to be near that person. And we tend to feel safe and secure when our partners are around. Overall, forming a connection was designed to help create stability. If you are connected to someone and the relationship comes to an end, the sense of loss can be overwhelming – including feelings of uncertainty, fear, and despair.

Humans are designed to form a strong connections to a romantic partner because human offspring are born extremely immature (unable to care for themselves). Individuals who formed a deep connections to their sexual partners were better equipped to raise offspring. And over millions of years of human development, evolution favored people who formed a deep emotional bond to a sexual partner. As such, people living today are all the descendants of individuals who formed an emotional bond to their romantic partners in the past.

Not only are humans designed to form a deep emotional bond to a sexual partner, but the process by which we do so is very similar to how infants form a bond to their primary caregivers.

Human infants universally form a deep emotional attachment to the person who provides the most care (usually a mother). This attachment is designed to keep infants close to their caregivers, which ultimately helped ensured an infant’s survival. When infants form a deep emotional attachment to their caregiver – children feel safe and secure. For infants, attachment figures (caregivers) provide a sense of security and comfort. When separate from their attachment figure, infants will stage a protest (crying and screaming) designed to get their caregiver’s attention.

How do infants know who to form an attachment to?

Infants form an attachment to the caregivers based on the nature and amount of physical contact they have with others. Infants form an attachment to the person who provides the most physical contact – the most kissing, cuddling, caressing, and so on.

And adults do the same when it comes to forming a romantic connection. Adults form a deep emotional connection based on intimate physical contact – kissing and cuddling, etc. If you have repeated intimate contact with another person, you will most likely form a deep connection to that person. Once a connection is formed – people want to spend more time together, feel safe and secure in each other’s presence, and they will experience loss when the relationship comes to an end.

The lesson to be learned? Be careful about whom you have repeated intimate contact with – you are likely to form a strong connection to that person. And once a connection is formed, it can be very difficult to break. Doms especially tend to forget that when they dominate someone they are creating a two-way street where both will feel increasingly connected emotionally.

Most people can read more than one book during the same week. They read one a little bit, then the other, then back to the first one without losing track of where they are on each book. Some people can read several books at the same time like that. But I don’t think someone can read fifty books at the same time and still keep track of all of them. So there is some number that is the limit of how many books you can handle simultaneously. Similarly there is a number of relationships each person can handle, and it varies from person to person.

If you are reading different books they don’t have to be necessarily about the same subject. If one book is about politics for instance, the other books don’t need to be about politics as well. You can be reading one book about cooking, another about photography, one about dieting, another about computers, and so on. Similarly humans maintain relationships of different natures simultaneously. Different people play different roles in your life. But even within the somewhat narrower range of romantic and sexual relationships you can be having different types of relationships at the same time

Some books you read in a day, during one long flight, or during a weekend. You like them for the short term and entertainment you get from them. Other books are big novels and you want to read them for a long period of time. Some books are references and you like to just go back to them every now and them when you feel the need.

When you finish reading a book don’t just drop it anywhere or leave it laying around out of place. Put it back on the shelf! Unfold the corners, make sure the cover is fine and remove page markers. Put it back on the shelf in good shape and with respect. The other books will see that is the way you treat a book and they will appreciate you more for that!

Every time you read a book it makes you smarter and more experienced, more prepared to read the next book that comes along. That is why it’s important to always read something. Even if you don’t have right now the exact book you would like to find, but there is a book of quality within reach and you have the opportunity, read it anyway for the experience it will give you.

Finally, it doesn’t matter how many times you read a book, the ending will still be the same.

Drama accomplishes a lot of things at once. It gets attention, it sends emotions through the body (emotions are highly addictive chemicals), it’s a way to be self-righteous, it’s often fun, it’s interesting and prevents boredom, it gives things meaning… and on and on. There are a lot of good reasons for drama. But most
men can’t understand because drama fulfills needs that most men don’t have.

Everyone will give you some drama. Everyone has baggage. What matter is that you baggage fits all the way under the seat in front of you. In other words, not uncontrollable and overwhelming amounts of drama and baggage. It is ok if she tells you a little about her crazy friends, but not about the reappearing assaulting and occasionally spanking ex-boyfriend who just got paroled. You get the idea.

So drama is expected, but there is a right way to deal with it:

Don’t react to it emotionally.

That is it. Don’t react. Don’t try to solve the problem. Don’t try to explain anything. Just smile, occasionally ask questions, but in general just ignore the issue. With time she will get tired of throwing her drama at you because it just bounces on you and falls to the ground. Just don’t do anything about it.

Weekends or long holidays are way too much time to be spent with someone you don’t know very well yet. Unless you are both in the beginning of that magic stage where you are falling in love and the other person can’t do anything wrong in your eyes, the fantasy can’t be maintained for that length of time. Not by you, not by her.

This means that by the end of the weekend, you’re just two people spending time together and if you’re clicking it goes reasonably well, but most probably it won’t. You may think she’s perfect and you’re in love, but after the first day, she’s just seeing you as a regular guy who is invading all her privacy or fogging up the mirror when she’s trying to put her make-up on.

Vacations are hard even on couples that are dating. In fact, they’re relationship killers – Looking back I see that of those long weekends and short trips with girls, most of the time they were the end of the relationship, not the beginning.

I also think long dates are very risky if you tend to fall in love, or take things to extremes. We’ve all read countless articles on the internet about guys who are actually displaying various forms of obsessive-compulsive behavior and have lost all sense of perspective, even though they’re always calling it something else. It’s a common problem with some guys – again, made worse by a weekend length date.

Even if you like her very much and she doesn’t bother you at all, just because she represents all the things you want in a woman, doesn’t mean she views you even remotely in the same way. The weekend may be exactly the time she needs to realize you are not her best lover, Mr. Right, or her all-time-favorite. So by the time you were on your way to the airport and wanted a blowjob, she was way past the point of wanting to keep your fantasy alive. She was just a woman ready to get home, hence her rather disconnected attitude.

My advice would be to proceed slowly – no weekend dates yet. Limit yourself to evenings at first. Then spend all days together but not far from home so both have the option of just driving back any time. Keep increasing the time and distance until you find what is your boundary with her. It may be a long way until you are going out on week-long cruises, but at least you won’t wear off the relationship unnecessarily.

It’s no secret that male and female sexuality differ. Many men feel sex is a recurring physical need – the daily physical release of sexual tension or energy, while many women might view the same act in more experiential terms, adding romance, intimacy, closeness, or sensuality to the mix. We all know how these differences can lead to misunderstandings in marriage or relationships, so this isn’t really news.

But these blanket generalizations only tell part of the story, however, because we are complex beings. Sometimes a woman might fantasize about being taken forcefully (not forcibly) into the stairwell of an office building by a handsome stranger she just passed in the hall. She might imagine being pressed up against the wall and being taken with great passion and physicality. And alternatively, a man might have times when he really does want to be held, nurtured and loved and “make love” rather than just have sex.

But even when we’re alike, we’re different.  The thought of that sexual fantasy might sustain a woman’s passion for weeks as she replays the scenario in her head- even though she has no intention of ever following through or making it a reality. Whereas the same fantasy for a man would usually only be a turn-on if it was in anticipation of the actual event somehow being fulfilled.

Most men feel horny again just a few hours after having sex and have trouble with the repetition of routine it creates. That is alleviated by fantasies, by watching porn, or by just observing, and desiring, other women. This isn’t that uncommon for men, ladies, so don’t get all insulted. Aside from the obvious fact that many men want or need sex almost continuously, the real issue here is that a lot of guys aren’t that “experiential.” This means they’d rather buy a new truck or a flat TV than go to Europe with you. Stated another way, many guys place a higher priority on durable goods than temporary experiences. How many husband/wife or BF/GF conflicts arise over this one difference?

But getting back to experiences vs. things – people that are more experiential will be more likely to incorporate, and want, some sort of emotional or romantic component into their sex life, rather than just approach it as satisfying a physical need. Regardless of gender, these types will be happiest with sexual encounters that enhance intimacy in various ways. I’d speculate that the majority of women fall into this group, as well as some men – they can even be the same men who at other times just want a quick, no-frills release. As I said, we’re complex beings, and neither an individual or an entire gender lives exclusively in one camp or the other.

If a guy is in the group that views sex as a recurring physical need, and not part of a larger act of intimacy, then he will feel this need can be satisfied in many different ways, or with many different people. He will also be willing to pay for this. In this sense, his daily physical sexual needs become commodified. If someone, male or female, views a service or product as a commodity, then it is inevitable that it will be shopped on the basis of price and value. We all do it everyday – at the grocery store, at the gas station, at the mall.

“How dare he call me a commodity?” most women think to themselves… Fair enough, you are a unique individual, not a commodity, and you certainly don’t think you are offering a commodity service. But my point is, many of your customers (oops! I’m sorry I meant to say your partners…) think they are buying a commodity service, because that physical sexual need can be satisfied in many places and in many alternative ways. Again, the reason being is that if you’re just going to be horny again later that day or the next day for sure, then price/value, which enables greater frequency, is also an important consideration. That’s not to say that many other men don’t value a high-priced courtesan experience, or spending the weekend with his high-maintenance hot girlfriend, or that the same guy who goes for quantity one day, doesn’t want a higher quality experience the next. Just as in the same way we all can appreciate a fine meal, even though we know we’ll be hungry the next day. But in reality, the daily fare for most of us is rather more generic. And the daily sexual fare for most of us isn’t a high-priced courtesan or seductive lover… it’s one of the many lower cost alternatives, including booty calls, porn, or self-service.

I’d bet that nearly every guy that has seen an escort has, at one time or another, thought he really should have used that money for something else – maybe the car needed new tires or he needed a new suit for work, or the rent is due.  Those needs don’t go away, and they’re still waiting for you when you get home. For the guys who are more motivated by things rather than experiences, spending money in this manner (on experiences) is difficult, especially when you know you’re letting something else slide. Also, and this is the big one, when you know you WILL want sex again later that day and hate yourself for having “blown” the money on what was a fleeting pleasure.

Ladies, you can attack this all you like, but this is a look into the inner dialog most men have with themselves before they call you on a date. The exceptions are the affluent, who have enough money to avoid making these hard choices, or those who place a greater premium on experience, and will gladly pay (in money, or gifts, or picking up the tab) for a satisfying time, regardless of the alternative uses for those funds – these guys don’t really care, as long as they had a unique and satisfying time.

It’s usually an insult to women who are not sex workers to state that many guys will go through this thought process. After all, this issue in its many forms is the most common problem between husbands and wives. Keep in mind too, that it is the guys who CAN’T see the alternative sources in which their money can be spent, or are unable to prioritize their expenditures in a rational manner in order to make the right choices that get into trouble in this activity. These are the guys that are out of control, falling in love with escorts, acting in an addictive manner, or becoming stalkers.

For most of us, life is a daily juggling act between what we want and what we can afford. It’s one of the things that makes satisfying our desires all the sweeter when that actually occurs.  But it also can lead to feelings of guilt or remorse in many people. This doesn’t make guys that feel this way jerks, it just shows they are human.

The basic blueprint

To understand the dynamics of dating in general it is important to have a certain understanding of our biological/evolutionary blueprint. This blueprint has a very simple purpose: to assure the continuation of our species. A simple task and done quite well, but not without some conflicts and misunderstandings that confuse people in modern societies.

Evolutionary theory suggests that a woman places significant emphasis on a man’s ability to provide resources and protection. These resources and protection are important in ensuring the successful raising of the woman’s offspring. The ability to provide resources and protection might also be sought because the underlying traits are likely to be passed on to male offspring. The theory also suggests that people whose physical features suggest they are healthy are seen as more attractive. However, from a reproductive standpoint women are torn between a mate that represents the best genetic health and will contribute survival characteristics to their children, versus the mate that will stick around long enough to help her raise the baby to the point of independence, which in humans is, regrettably, a very long time.

Alpha males, commonly represented by wild “bad boys” are the most capable of risk-taking, vitality and strength – survival characteristics from our genetic past. Seeking adventure and flirting with danger for fun is exactly the thing you’re looking for if your genetic history includes being chased around by large cats and having to kill invaders. So while these personality characteristics are sought out by females as representing genetic health and survival, history has shown they tend to make bad fathers, hence the conflict. They don’t always come home, or have a strong enough couple-bond to either the mother or the baby to raise it. So like all of us, their strength also defines their weakness.

Being a promiscuous rogue may be as successful a reproductive strategy as the strategy of being a reliable provider. According to an article in The Independent, there is a “dark triad” of personality traits associated with naturally occurring ‘bad boys’, consisting of narcissism, thrill-seeking, and deceitfulness. The attraction of beautiful women to the “bad boy” archetype is attributed both to his confidence, intriguing mystery, seeming indifference (suggesting an abundance of sexual options) and unavailability, which challenges women to chase him.

This contrasts with supplicating men who seem needy and desperate to please, suggesting lower value, and so they are less attractive. The more stable male that will stick with the mother and raise the kids may not have the strongest survival characteristics, at least in the world that shaped our genetic heritage.

Evolutionary psychologist Professor Bill von Hippel claims that women are especially attracted to such bad boys when they are ovulating. He showed that women are continuously resolving this conflict on an unconscious level by being attracted to the “bad boy” type of male while ovulating (and most likely to conceive), and the stable type during the rest of her menstrual cycle. The study also found married women were more likely to stray during ovulation and you can guess which type of man they sought.

So it’s not your imagination – women are attracted to bad boys, whether they’re gladiators, fighter pilots, or football players. These guys have been making women squirm in their seats for centuries. And yes, they have been getting the girls because they represent strength, and risk-taking. But when it comes time for marriage and raising a family, most women seek the stable type of male personality.

Of course, the power of sexual attraction is strong and many women make the mistake of marrying (or being impregnated by) the “bad boy,” only to find themselves raising their child alone when the inevitable happens – the bad boy takes off in search of his next adventure. He is not likely to have the ‘stay around-ness’ character that is also needed, and he dashes off.

This isn’t exactly a new situation and nearly every society has invented the institution of marriage to resolve this fundamental problem and ensure its own preservation. After all, what’s the benefit to the social group of rowing your long boat all the way across the sea to rape and plunder if you decide you don’t want to return home after sampling the local beauties? Whether watching his sails disappear over the horizon, or the tail lights of his pick-up truck as he pulls out of your driveway, those are only variations on an age-old theme. Unfortunately, as the institution of marriage is also a very imperfect model, more and more women are forced to raise families on their own.

So don’t blame yourself if you’re a nice guy and seem destined to pay the bills while the stud gets the girls. It’s all in the genes and it’s been that way for thousands of years. Our behaviors are defined much more by 180 thousand years of evolution from the caves to the villages than by 10 thousand years of agricultural life, or just 250 years or so of industrialism. We are off the shelf mammals, with a very thin veneer of civilization on top.

The similarity of roles in modern society

In todays world, the everyday lives of men and women are almost exactly the same: we both get up, deal with the traffic, go to work (deal with some of the exact same work scenarios), drive home and have the same duties to do when we get home and the cycle begins again.

The distinction between men and women is lesser than it used to be. In earlier times life was more difficult, clearly more brutal in most social environments. For one thing, the ratio of men to women was much greater than today in many situations, like during colonization and conquests. The men went first to fight and destroy and the families would follow later, balancing the ratio of males x females back to normality. That in itself meant that men had to stake their claims on a woman, home and family and there was much to protect for and against. It was easy for a man to be a hero in his wife and children’s eyes then because he was pretty much facing foes and challenges all the time and for her.

Contemporary living

Modern life has really wrecked havoc on our sexual attraction. Things have just changed too fast in the last hundred years especially. We now live in a world where a more intellectual type of guy is the better provider – not a “nerd” necessarily, but someone who has the ability to succeed in an white collar/business environment.

Physical strength and daring are no longer a requirement for modern living, yet we’re still attracted to them. To compensate for the blandness and safety of modern existence, we create sports and other extreme activities. They serve the same purpose, but they are contrived and manufactured risk, merely re-enactments of the risk-taking inherent in our history. They may sometimes be life-threatening, but they are pursued for the thrill of the experience, not to obtain food from an uncooperative bison or to flee a pursuing bear.

As a result, the modern woman is just as out of her element as the modern man. She still wants to be “claimed”, and secretly gets excited at the proposition of a gallant knight sweeping her off her feet and taking her away as his bride (kicking and screaming optional). While it’s not PC to even discuss this subject anymore, women are as genetically predisposed to be “taken” as men are to win them and sweep them away.

The problem in modern, civilized life is obvious, however, as laws seeking to modify behavior and ensure safety come up against this ancient instinct. Of course, in most of us, this is just takes the form of harmless flirting with a little sexual tension thrown in for good measure. He invites her to watch his football game, she screams and cheers as he makes a good catch, and then gives his big, sweaty body a hug after the game – all very primal, but satisfying very basic needs.

Sadly, these urges are not controlled and a little too close to the surface in some men, and you end up with rapists and stalkers. But let’s face it, until fairly modern times (genetically speaking) most men were rapists and stalkers. So it’s a delicate dance, and civilization is a thin veneer at best since we’re always juggling the disparate urges so deeply ingrained in us all.

Since we live in a world where the biggest risk most of us take is getting to work on the freeway, we have to substitute for the things that are now missing in our bland, modern lives. Women read romance novels and go to “chick flicks,” and guys vicariously live battle and conquest through sports, gambling, and aggressive business competition, as well as take risks through other extreme activities. Both are satisfying basic instincts they don’t even know they have.

Passion is the key element

Going back to the characteristics and ‘action’, which I want to portray as ‘passion’. Say for example the Mafia movies, or gang types. It’s always said that those who love passionately, hate passionately. The one reason that women have put up with the jealous types is because (to them) it shows the guys care, that it matters to them, and makes them feel special to see how much they are affected. Only later do they see it isn’t necessarily about ‘caring’, or ‘loving’ but about hangups – theirs! Those same men, throw the remote down on the couch, don’t grab the beer, but instead, grab their women in their arms right in the middle of her doing the dishes, and dash off to the bedroom, toss her like a sack-o-taters down on the bed, and yank her panties down to enjoy her! Yeah, that unleashed passion – that ‘action’ man is what gets to us all. That kind of man whose actions say you are ‘taken’, and ‘off limits’ because he has staked his claim makes one feel chosen, wanted, and secure.

You don’t need to read romance novels to know that the reason they sell is because of all the passion! If you ask women and they feel comfortable enough to tell you how it really it, they will say things like “Well, he just seemed to ‘know’ how to play it with me, tossed me on the bed and just had his way! Jumped right into a role play and I was taken right in with his passion”.

That, I think is the key. The action, the heroism (perceived), strength and vitality, but foremost is passion.

Sometimes, we expect or even fall in love with the characters that people play and forget that they’re also real people. Popular culture makes us view people by such high standards, always free of trouble and cool all the time. Invariably, we become attracted to that image even though no one is really like that.

For the same reasons, clients often fall in love with escorts. Fans fall in love with their famous idols. They see them when they’re perfect, well dressed, and focused on doing whatever is it they do very well. They dosn’t meet those same idols when they are in the supermarket, having a bad day, or with a bad case of PMS.

It’s much like falling in love with Batman, there is no link to reality. Especially because at the end of the day, Batman is just Bruce Wayne. No one ever sees Batman washing the Batmobile or going to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. In movies, they’re never doing maintenance, they’re only ever enjoying.

Similarly, people who study sexual behavior in the last three or four decades have noticed how porn has been changing the expectations people have about sex. In the past, we expected a more romantic sexual experience.  Now, because of the availability of porn, most of the population expects the other person to perform like a porn star. Because very few people can do it, expectations often come crashing down.

Relationships: easy to get into, hard to maintain. Why are they so hard to maintain? Because it’s hard to keep up the lie. ’Cause you can’t get nobody being you. You got to lie to get somebody. You can’t get nobody looking like you look, acting like you act… sounding like you sound. When you meet somebody for the first time, you’re not meeting them. You’re meeting their representative. – Chris Rock

We should recognize whether we’re meeting with the person or their representative. If you’re going to put forth any kind of image, you should keep in mind that the image is tarnishable. At some point the person will get to know you for who you really are. If you create a character it tends to lead to disappointment.

However, if you want someone to have a cool image of you, don’t do any maintenance in front of them. Make this policy part of who you are, not just something you do. Reserve time for yourself, time alone, and do all the maintenance during that time.

Sensual awakening releases the most intense energy and source of physical comfort and happiness there is. Nothing (even drugs?) can release tension and stress and improve your well being like sexual satisfaction.

It seems to me that if you look at all the problems that affect human beings, sexual needs and relationship dysfunctions seem to be on the root of nearly everything.

If you have good relationships and satisfy your sexual needs frequently what else is left to worry about in life? Oh, there is money…

First of all I want to shamelessly quote from FastSeduction FAQ:

Q: “There’s this one woman (I’ve been chasing for X days/months/years)… how do I get her to [like / love / sleep with me]?”

A: This is called “one-itis”. An AFC who doesn’t realize he’s an AFC (Average Frustrated Chump) will never understand why nobody can answer this question for him or why he will never be able to get this woman with his current mindset. First, you have to realize that if you’re thinking this way, you will always be an AFC and will almost always fail with women (you’re only sucesses coming from luck – hence, the term “getting lucky” which is used often by AFC types). Here’s why you can’t win over this woman: you don’t yet know how to go out and get 10 more desirable women in a short amount of time. If you DID know how to do that, you would not be obsessed with getting this one woman and you would already know how to answer your own question. Why? Think about it. If you could go out and have 10 (or more) women who are smarter, nicer, more beautiful, and more exciting than the one you are obsessing about, how important do you think she would be to you? You see, you can’t just go from being an AFC to PUA (Pick-up Artist) without a certain understanding. You have to first admit to yourself that you’re an AFC and get into recovery mode, becoming an RAFC (Recovering AFC). Learn to stop thinking like an AFC and the road to becoming a PUA will be clear. Once that road is clear, you will begin to understand the answer to this question. The reason this question is so difficult for an AFC to grasp is that truly understanding the answer is an epiphany.

[jetman coined one-itis, one of the most problematic symptoms of AFCs]

I faced this exact dilemma once more recently. Don’t read me wrong: I got rid of one-itis a long time ago, but occasionally a new girl comes along who is so far above average, with such high value to me, that I may have a relapse. So this time it was with a girl that off my list of most desirable characteristics a woman can have, a list with some 16 items on it she checked on just about… 14! That was way too close to my definition of an ideal woman for me, but she wasn’t as interested in me as I was interested in her. The result: I had for two days a case of one-itis! Here is the solution I found:

By the end of the second day I called another girl that I have been seeing for more than a year. She is a very good friend, one of the true sexually submissive women that I have found, and very fun to talk to and be with. So I arranged to meet with her at my place and we had a great session of sex, drinks, and fun talk, in that exact order. Then I got a Montecristo and a bottle of Malbec and went to the rooftop of my building. It was about 45 degrees outside and by the end of it I was shaking with cold, but didn’t stop until the end. I smoked the entire cigar and drank all the wine while saying outlout every little think, no matter how small or overlooked, that I didn’t like about her. In the middle I added phrases like “She is a Troyan Horse, sent to screw up my mind.”, and “She is very good, but there are others out there that are even better.” and other phrases to help me get a grip of myself.

Talking aloud makes your uncontious mind listen to it. I asked myself what would Style do? What would Joshua do if he was in my place? What would DeAngelo do? I questioned my motivations, I questioned her age (an important factor for me), and I questioned the wisdom of getting involved with someone that lives right on the other side of the country.

After all that I smelled like a cigar bar, was drunk, and literally felt the previously uncontrollable desire for her drained out of my body. She became a normal human being in my eyes and I could then see her problems, as well as her virtues, not through the goggles of passion but for what it is really worth.

My relationships have been characterized as more challenging and more rewarding. They take more trust, more honesty, and more openness than most. We get more pleasure and also build up a deeper level of respect and support than most people ever do.