Summary

The article discusses the reasons why some men pretend to be women online, ranging from harmful intentions like gaslighting and manipulating women to more benign motives such as seeking attention or exposing predatory behavior.

Abstract

The author shares personal experience encountering men posing as women in online forums, revealing deceptive practices that can have various underlying motives. Some men adopt female personas to influence women's dating behavior negatively or to trivialize abuse, reflecting a disturbing mindset that can be harmful to women. Others may do so for the positive attention and social interaction they crave, which can lead to a greater understanding of the issues women face online, including unsolicited advances and harassment. Additionally, there are instances where men exploit these personas to take advantage of other men, either for financial gain through blackmail or as part of efforts to catch online predators. The article underscores the need for societal changes, including better support among men and a culture that encourages healthy, platonic interactions.

Opinions

Men who pose as women to manipulate dating advice or normalize abuse are seen as having malicious intentions and may require psychological help.
Some men pretend to be women to receive the kind of attention and compliments that women typically receive online, which can lead to a realization of the frequency of creepy messages women are subjected to.
There is a segment of men who exploit their female personas to deceive other men, whether for monetary gain, gifts, or to engage in so-called "creep catching" to expose potential predators.
The author believes that the phenomenon of men posing as women online is indicative of broader societal issues, including the lack of genuine platonic support and interaction among men.
The article suggests that while some reasons for men posing as women online may be relatively harmless, such as seeking attention, other reasons are more sinister and can perpetuate harmful behaviors towards women.

Why Do So Many Men Pose As Women Online?

It can be for sick reasons, or just a way to get ahead. You might be surprised at what I discovered.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

I was on a forum when I got into an argument about the horrible dates I’ve had prior to getting married. One “girl” kept saying that having bad dates was my fault, that letting men slide in my DMs on Instagram is a smart idea, and that maybe women should “lower their standards” a little.

Eventually, after she started talking about Chad, I realized that this wasn’t a girl. It was a guy who was pretending to be a girl. I called him out on it and lo and behold, the account was deleted within five minutes.

After a while of cooling down, I started to ask myself why so many guys pose as women online. Honestly, I came up with a couple of reasons.

Some genuinely want to gaslight women into bad dating advice or accepting abuse.

So, I like to think I’m not the only one who caught on that there are lots of guys who pose as girls, just to give girls dating advice that benefits men exclusively — often to the detriment of a woman. Or, they claim they’ve never faced sexual harassment, or come to the defense of a rapist.

The clues are there. I mean, it’s not like actual women go on rants about “fucking Chad.” Heck, most women, even in conservative circles, don’t talk about having a Cock Carousel. Moreover, you’ll be hard-pressed to see women defend child rapists unless there is something messed up in their heads.

I don’t think I need to say that guys who do this are sick in the head. Obviously, they don’t have women’s interests in mind and they tend to be abusive towards any poor partners they do have.

Men like this need therapy. I mean, how obsessed does a man have to be to take time out of his day to try to brainwash women into being controlled by men like him?

But, most of the guys who pretend to be girls do so because they want attention.

A lot of men generally live their lives being totally ignored by society. When you’re a girl online, guys will fawn over you. Some guys actually pretend to be girls online just so they can hear that they are attractive or get people talking to them.

Honestly, this is actually kind of innocuous. Guys who do this often realize how many creepy messages women get, and tend to become more sympathetic.

More importantly, this illustrates an issue we have in society. Men need to support each other better. Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt all of us to encourage a society that does platonic compliments and attention on the regular.

Then, there are guys who take advantage of other guys online.

Photo by Ekaterina Shevchenko on Unsplash

Most women have had guys offer to buy them presents or send them creepy messages online. Some men picked up on this and decided to take advantage of creeps.

On several forums, men openly admitted they played games as girls in order to get gifts from guys they flirted with. Others pretended to be women online to get cash from men.

A former acquaintance of mine played a girl on dating apps, encouraged men to send full-body nudes, then blackmailed them into sending money. He’d specifically go after guys who were extremely sexually charged.

Even more tend to do this as part of predator catching. And honestly? Creep catchers are people I have no problem with. They’re doing the right thing and keeping kids safe.

The bottom line?

Men pose as women online because they can. And the motivations behind it usually deal with something that’s selfish. Sometimes, it’s innocent — like wanting attention they otherwise wouldn’t get.

Other times? It could be that they want to gaslight women into allowing abuse in their lives. Or, it could be that they want to bilk other guys of presents. Once in a while, you’ll see someone who wants to expose creeps on the net, but that’s rare.

Either way, this article should be a wake-up call to people. Remember: you don’t know who’s behind that keyboard.