Why do some men think all women want to sleep with them?

Believe it or not, some men believe that all women are sexually interested in them.

A study carried out by researchers at the Union College in New York suggests that a man’s attachment style, a personality trait mirroring a man’s romantic relationship tendencies, may influence his view on a woman’s interest.

The study which involved 500 men who were asked to imagine a scenario in which an attractive woman at a nightclub gets their attention. The woman sees that she is being stared at and smiles back.

The male participants were asked to assess the level of interest they believe the woman in the scenario was exhibiting. They were asked to gauge the level from “not at all interested” to “extremely interested.”

Moreover, they were also asked to evaluate the extent to which they showed toward attachment anxiety and toward attachment avoidance. Men higher in attachment anxiety have a need for love and reassurance as well as fear of rejection. They are reluctant to rely on and to trust others and they fear intimacy.

Their findings showed that men in the higher end of the attachment anxiety spectrum were most likely to believe that a woman is being sexually interested in them. It was also found that men project their sexual interest and flirtatiousness onto the woman based on their belief that she will reciprocate.

According to Professor Joshua Hart, this can be partly attributed to men’s strong inclination for intimacy.

Meanwhile, men in higher attachment avoidance have lower interest in intimacy which caused them to be less interested in the imagined woman. They see themselves as being less flirty and imagined the woman as less sexually interested in them.