While things like cheating and lying are obvious deal breakers in most relationships, a new study has uncovered some pretty strange and kinda terrible reasons that many men say they’d break up with their girlfriends—here are some of them.
- Being transgender Understandably, many guys have trouble coping when they find out their girlfriend is transgender. While many couples manage to stay together despite such a big change to their overall relationship dynamic, 73.6% of men would consider it a deal breaker (similarly, 73.2% of women would also jump ship).
- Complaining about the relationship on social media Taking your relationship drama to social media is a big no-no for guys, with 48.8% admitting they’d be willing to break up over it. Incidentally, even more women felt strongly about this, with 53.4% deeming it unacceptable. Maybe keep your problems offline.
- Losing all four limbs in an accident This was one of the more baffling responses. While obviously becoming a quadruple amputee would be a serious, life-changing event (particularly for the person experiencing it), 27.9% of men wouldn’t stick around if it were to happen to their girlfriend. Uh, what the hell, dudes? (For the record, 17.7% of women would bail.)
- Gaining over 30 pounds from your current weight We know we gain weight in relationships, particularly happy ones. You can sorta let loose a little bit and not think about every morsel that enters your mouth because you know the person you’re with loves you unconditionally… or at least they should. Nearly a quarter of men (24%) wouldn’t stay with a woman who gained more than 3o pounds from her weight when they got together, which is pretty crappy if you ask me.
- Never posting photos of you together on social media While women care more about this than guys, 23.8% of men would be willing to go their separate ways with their partner if she refused to post photos of them together on social media. Similarly, 24% of women consider this a deal breaker as well.
- Being diagnosed with a chronic but not fatal illness Life happens, and sometimes our health fails us. No one wants to be diagnosed with a chronic illness, but many people live long, relatively happy lives with them. To many, it’d be NBD, but even if your condition isn’t fatal, 17.4% of guys still won’t stick around to see it through. If you have a terminal illness, your odds get slightly better with only 15.2% leaving you in the lurch. Pretty awful either way, I think. (The odds were much lower for women, with only 7% ditching their partner in both scenarios.)
- Not getting along with their parents or siblings If you’re close to your family, your partner getting along with them is incredibly important. No one wants to be caught in the middle of parent/girlfriend drama, and 32.2% of guys aren’t having parent drama (ditto on 28.5% for sibling drama).
- Embarrassing or humiliating them in public The survey isn’t clear on what exactly this entails, I imagine because what’s embarrassing or humiliating will vary depending on the person, but 46.5% of guys would drop a woman like a bad habit if she did this to them. Kinda sucks if it’s accidental, doesn’t it?
- Showing signs of anxiety or depression Mental health is important, especially considering mental illness affects one in four people. That’s the main reason it’s so baffling that 19.3% of men would break up with their partner if they suffered from anxiety and depression, even if it hasn’t been officially diagnosed (only 11.3% of women couldn’t handle it). Being a good partner means sticking by through thick and thin, so what’s up with this?
