One Third of One-Night Stands Lead to Long-Term Relationships

By Grace Tzeng

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What shocked me most about the singles’ poll results in the USA Today article (written a few months ago) was that it said that 35% of one-night stands ended up being long-term relationships. 
“Men, Women Flip the Script in Gender Expectation”

That’s scary; imagine shaking hands with a total stranger; then three hours later getting naked in front of him or her.  Creepy! 

But apparently about a third of the people are jumping into bed.  After the sex, they begin dating and getting to know one another.

The article brought up several eye-opening facts.  I found it shocking that women are writing in to sites like SingleEdition.com and asking if it's okay to have a one-night stand.  What if the guy that the woman just met and slept with is a serial killer? 

Out of the 5,199 men and women in the U.S. aged 21 and older who were polled, the survey included the never married (56%), divorced (31%), widowed (10%) and separated (3%) who were not in a serious relationship at the time. Five percent were gay or lesbian; 4% were bisexual; and 0.1% was transgender.  Research was conducted by Match.com affiliates. 

According to the USA Today article, “… among singles without children under 18, more men (24%) than women (15%) say they want children.”

Funny – I thought women would want kids more because of their maternal instinct.  I’ve come up with a few theories to explain the results of why men may want kids more. 

First, men don’t feel the pain of their genitals splitting to fit a football during childbirth. 

A rugby ball by Tina Phillips

Second, it seems as if moms do more of the child-rearing.  So naturally men want kids more than women do; men do less of the work.  Most women chauffeur the kids to after-school piano and sports lessons, do all the kids’ clothes shopping, prepare the meals and assist with homework.  When you got an injury, didn’t you go to mom more than dad to get comforted?

Okay, on to the next thing that surprised me.  According to the article, women want more independence than men: 77% of women vs. 58% of men.  And 35% of women vs. 23% of men say regular nights out with their friends are important. 

I thought that guys wanted a “guys’ night out” more than women wanted their space.  But apparently I’m wrong.  It’s interesting to see that men’s and women’s attitudes are shifting. 

However, although men’s and women’s attitudes are shifting, some ideas are still deep-rooted in the traditional way of thinking.  A whopping 89% of women have not asked someone out, and 48% of women wait for the other person to call after a first date.  So some things remain the same even though women are more independent and liberated nowadays. 

Maybe women don’t ask guys out because the ladies are scared that it will turn guys off or scare them.  But if guys are not scared of killing spiders, why would they be scared of a woman asking them out?  Spiders are a lot smaller than women.

What shocked you the most about the poll results?