Disclaimer
Any resemblance in this post to any persons living or dead should be plainly apparent to them and all those who know them, and anyone resembling them is probably better off dead.
Unrequited love
Of course there's really no such thing
Unrequited lust more like
It's been The subject of numerous books, films and plays, which causes one to wonder about the integrity and motives of the writers of these things, always portraying the rejected one as a noble, misunderstood character and the rejectee as a heartless she devil or at the very least a blind fool who comes to her senses towards the end of the tale ( occasionally it's the other way round, with the female being the pursuer, but that's rarely the case for obvious reasons, and would usually only be the subject of a comedy. Other than that, nobody would sympathise with her as its not within the bounds of decency or good etiquette for a lady to pursue a man.
But I'd like to put another spin on this, having been the object of unwanted attentions on more than several occasions, as probably all the women I've ever met have.
It's not the poor unappreciated chap with whom we should be sympathising, but the object of his desire.
Stereotypical scenario
Boy/man wants girl/woman
Girl/woman doesn't feel the same
Boy/man is convinced of his noble and worthy traits and is determined to make her aware of them,, certain that once she discovers what a selfless and honourable character he is, she'll fall hopelessly in love with him, and wonder how she ever failed to see this before. He devises a plan to make her aware and exerts himself to such a degree she becomes irritated which encourages him even more, desperate to prove his undying love and devotion.
When she fails to notice and seems indifferent to these outstanding qualities, he convinces himself she dislikes noble and worthy traits and would prefer the company of a scoundrel.
He repeats this using ethos and pathos to appeal to his audience and to reinforce his claims and strengthen his case , already having moved on to his next victim. Oh tut tut, naughty me. I meant to say " love of his life" ( this one's "THE one" for certain) This myth is adopted by other similar characters and has become a standard belief among the socially inept., who reiterate this philosophical question with increasing Insistency "why do women prefer bastards to nice guys? It must be the second most pondered question in the world, the first being the meaning of life.
Of course there are many women who would prefer the company of a scoundrel, but not for the reasons this worthy hero believes. ( I could probably write a whole book on this) of course most women admire genuinely worthy qualities in others ( well any woman worth her salt) but women have the ability to smell desperation a mile off, and desperation is anything but appealing . In fact the moment most women sense it, an internal alarm sounds, the walls go up and she goes into defence mode.
" nice guys" is just a polite term for " desperate sycophants" Not to be confused with genuinely nice chaps who aren't desperate in the slightest. Rather confusing, but there's " nice guys" and there's " nice guys".
When women talk about them they say " he's one of those nice guys" , as opposed to " he's a really nice guy" , (there's a world of difference between these two statements) and all her friends nod knowingly. To be fair, there are countless women who'll encourage and take advantage of these poor souls in one way or another, but that's a separate topic.
Perhaps some other time
Maybe I could make this into a novel
Me? A writer of romance?
Perish the thought!
Anyway who wants to read about these sort of men?
Women want the protagonist in a novel to be a scandalous villain with a name like Brick, Storm, Rhage, Saber , Thorn or another synonym of hard" or " bastard" or " hard bastard" or something that penetrates
Because that's what women want after all.
:-)creepy wink
Oh and before I'm bombarded with abuse from angry men who identify with this depiction and wish to dispute it, I shouldn't need to point out, it's purely satire and not aimed at anyone in particular. It's an over the top generalisation, no offence
intended Just having a bit of fun :-)