Last but not least: Who would have thought

Two Swiss dating sites released studies today. The results are earth-shattering.

Editorial - April 18, 2013

Parship.ch made the start. "Men are more likely to style themselves for the opposite sex than vice versa" was the promising title of the report. 92% of all single women and 77% of single men style themselves primarily to increase their own well-being. Secondly, because they think their job and everyday life demand it. A quarter of the women surveyed stated that they also wanted to please the opposite sex. A little more and a little more honestly the men: 45 percent! 65% of women and 87% of men need less than 30 minutes a day to make themselves feel good. Six percent of men spend over an hour a day on this. The study does not reveal what men spend so long doing in the bathroom. 18 percent of men in Basel and 16 percent in Zurich describe themselves as vain. In each case, 15 percent are accused of being vain by those around them. Eastern Swiss and Bernese are not vain.

That was already very interesting - but it gets even more interesting. A little later, Friendscout24.ch followed suit and announced further revolutionary findings under the title "Likeability and fun are required on the first telephone date". Would you have thought that 77% of Swiss singles pay attention to the likeability of the person they are talking to during their first phone call? Whether the phone call is fun is important to 74 percent. Consequently, 26 percent are also satisfied with a sad conversation. But watch out: 62 percent don't like it if the conversation is stagnant or boring. This comes as something of a surprise, as research to date has actually assumed that it is the faltering, boring conversations that are particularly appealing for everyone involved.

Half of all interviewees have lied at least once to end a conversation. I wonder if the other half lie in interviews from time to time? I'd love to expand on the startling results, but... alas, the dog ate the study.

Thomas Häusermann