Playing hard to get…
Since the days of nursery, it has been noted that if you like a guy, in order to make them fall head over heels in love with you- you have to make out you have no interest in them whatsoever. However, the girls at HCX have been wondering whether this is necessarily true? Does a boy really enjoy the chase? In order to clear this up, HCX decided to take to the streets of Streatham Campus to find out from the male species themselves if the well known mantra “treat them mean, keep them keen,” should be number one tip in bagging you a man!
One notable member of the notorious EUBC says: “in my experience it may go one of two ways either the man enjoys a bit of a challenge and will pursue if he thinks she is worth it, or he just can’t be bothered. Generally, the girls that play ‘hard to get’ are attractive and know this. Annoyingly this either makes them more attractive or just really rather arrogant.”
A 2nd year engineering student felt that whilst “at first everyone loves a challenge and the excitement behind it for a while, the thrill of the chase wears off pretty quickly.” He advises girls to “not let it drag out too long as it simply won’t work.”
It is not just the engineers of Exeter that feel this way. Many of the boys we interviewed felt that after a while pursuing a girl who is playing hard to get, becomes very boring. One English student went so far as to say…“ why make an effort with a girl who doesn’t seem into you when there are plenty fit girls ready and willing on the 2nd floor of TP.” Shocking, we know…but clearly “treat them mean, keep them keen” does have its limits.
For some guys, the thought of the chase is not even exciting with one anonymous hockey player commenting:
“Showing an interest in someone is much more attractive than trying to play it cool. It’s nice to know what girls thinks otherwise you spend too much time worrying whether they like you or not, which can be pretty irritating.”
Similarly another campus heartthrob announced “I probably wouldn’t notice that the girl was playing hard to get and think she didn’t like me.” Clearly us girls are so good at pretending we don’t like a guy, that boys cannot even distinguish whether we are being serious or not- we always were the more intelligent sex!
As you can tell, the boys of Exeter seem to be just as baffled as us lot when it comes to whether “playing hard to get” actually works. For most, whilst this originally feels like a fun pursuit, it becomes pretty boring, and ends up having the opposite of the desired effect! On that note, HCX reckons while “treat them mean, keeps them keen” worked well at primary school, it is not so successful with the boys in Exeter and perhaps should be kept to a minimum. This doesn’t mean you have to go all Natasha Bedingfield on the guy you like- “I wanna have your babies” and all, but perhaps subtly let them know that you are interested so they don’t end up in the arms of another, more willing lady!