AskMen & Cosmopolitan.com Report That Modern Influences Have Altered Gender Dynamics

LOS ANGELES, July 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AskMen, the leading men's lifestyle website, announced the results of the 4th Annual Great Male Survey today. This is the 2nd year that AskMen has partnered with Cosmopolitan.com  for The Great Female Survey. With more than 80,000 respondents overall, the data revealed some noteworthy new statistics about the way men and women think about dating, sex, technology and lifestyle. The Ipsos-Reid-approved poll paints an intricate picture of the ways in which men and women relate to each other in 2011.

Despite the majority of responses pointing to traditional values and conventional gender roles, changing technologies and modern pressures have begun to blur the way men and women interact with one another. Here's a sampling of the data collected from the 2011 Great Male/Female Surveys:

Traditional Values:

Chivalry is not dead

Even though 33% of women expect men to pay for most dates, more women (38%) feel men and women should go Dutch -- he pays for half, she pays for half. A whopping 59% of men surveyed still believe that they should pay for either all dates or the majority of dates until the relationship is established.

Women are more forgiving

Only 20% of women would dump a boyfriend if he got fat, but 48% of men admit that they would dump their girlfriends if they gained weight.

Only 18% of women polled would want their guy's penis to be bigger, but 51% of men said that they would like to be better endowed.

When relationships fall apart

When it comes to divorce, 78% of men believe that they get screwed by the courts, while only 41% of women agree. 43% of women believe that men and women receive fair and equal treatment.

Faking It

54% of women have faked an orgasm, and 32% of men said they have as well. (Warning: 78% of men say they can, or think they can, tell when a woman is faking it.) But 85% of women said they would be offended if their guy faked an orgasm with them, and 79% of men would be offended if their partner faked it.

Only 35% of women have lied about the number of sex partners they've had. 50% of men have lied about how sex partners they've had, and say they do so either because it's no one's business, they want to protect their partner's feelings or to protect their ego.

Modern Influences

Rules for relationships aren't yet established on Facebook

An overwhelming number of men, (68%) say that they are OK with their significant other "friending" an ex on Facebook, but 24% of those men say it's only okay if they've met that person before. Only 38% of women are fine with this, but another 27% say it's okay only if they've met the ex before. And 34% say it's not okay with them for their guy to friend an ex at all.

Could it be the economy?

85% of men said that they would be okay with having a partner who makes more money than they do. 73% of women say that they would be okay with having a partner who makes less than them. And 12% of female respondents are already in a relationship where they make more money than the guy.

Get ready for it, guys

53% of women would want their guy to take a male birth control pill if one existed. (Note: one is being tested now!)  Fortunately, 68% of the men surveyed said that they would choose to take the pill if it became available.

Love (On)Line

50% of men in their 30s have met a woman online – the highest percentage of any age group.

30% of men between the ages of 20-24 and 28% of men between the ages of 25-28 wouldn't rule out the internet as a way to meet a woman if they've never done online dating before – the highest percentages of any age group.

Men of 35+ are the most successful at meeting women online and developing relationships with them. 24% of men from 35-39, 23% of men from 40-49 and 23% of men of 50+ have met a woman online and gone on to have a relationship with that woman.

"We are happy to have teamed up with Cosmopolitan.com to create a survey that will enhance men's understanding of the female mind," says James Bassil, the editor of AskMen. "As gender dynamics continue to change, we're pleased to provide AskMen readers with up-to-date insights that help them connect better with the opposite sex."

"AskMen was the perfect partner to work with on this survey," says Susan Schulz, Editorial Brand Director of Cosmopolitan. "Relationships are more complicated than ever, and it's our goal to help Cosmo's readers have fun and satisfying relationships with the opposite sex. And what better way to do that than to do an in-depth investigation of the male mind?"

Additional findings from The 2011 Great Male/Female Survey include:

67% of men say they have fantasized about their partner's friends. Only 33% of women say they do.

43% of women think that a beautiful house is the ultimate status symbol, while only 26% chose having a successful partner. On the other hand, men ranked "family" as their number one choice (39%).

Only 20% of women and 10% of men are completely satisfied with their sex life. The top reason for their dissatisfaction? Quantity, with an additional 20% of men and 11% of women reporting that they don't have enough sex.

Readers can view the entire findings from AskMen's Great Male Survey at www.askmen.com/specials/great_male_survey and Cosmopolitan's Great Female Survey at www.askmen.com/specials/great_female_survey.

About AskMen

AskMen (www.askmen.com), a division of IGN Entertainment, is the world's No. 1 lifestyle site for men. Dedicated to helping readers become better men on subjects such as fashion, health, dating, career, fine living, and entertainment, AskMen has the widest reach in the men's lifestyle category, attracting 15 million unique visitors worldwide. A foremost content provider with an archive of more than 80,000 articles, AskMen updates daily and works with partners like Yahoo!, Sports Illustrated and Fox News, among others, to promote its content.

About Cosmopolitan.com

Cosmopolitan (www.cosmopolitan.com) is the best-selling young women's magazine in the U.S., a bible for fun, fearless females that reaches more than 18 million readers a month. Cosmopolitan delivers the latest news on men and love, fashion and beauty, women's health and self-improvement, and entertainment. Readers can also interact with the brand on the digital front: Cosmopolitan.com reaches 4 million unique users a month. Cosmopolitan is also available on apps for the iPhone and iPad and via Cosmo Radio, the only magazine-branded radio channel of its kind, available on Sirius XM Channel 109. In addition to the U.S. flagship, Cosmopolitan publishes 64 print magazine editions around the world. Cosmopolitan is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com), one of the nation's largest diversified communications companies. Once it completes its acquisition of Lagardere SCA's 100 titles in 14 countries outside of France, Hearst Magazines will publish more than 300 editions around the world, including 20 U.S. titles. Hearst Magazines is a leading publisher of monthly magazines in the U.S. in terms of total circulation and reaches 88 million adults (Spring 2010 MRI).

SOURCE AskMen