'Mankeeping' Is Building Resentment In Straight Relationships. And Women Are Finally Talking About It.

"These stories reflect a shift among young women in which more and more of them are "quiet-quitting" these relationships. Women are now 23% less likely to want to date than men, not because they don't care, but because they feel they've invested too much emotional labor without support in return. The Other Side Of The Masculinity Crisis? The Emotional Intelligence Gap. In intimate relationships, young women are taking on a disproportionate load of invisible emotional labor, often supporting men through intense feelings of failure and isolation from friends. Many men described feeling "weird or like a waste of time" when opening up to male friends, instead reserving vulnerability for their relationships with women."

"Ava, 27, seemed unbothered by her partner's inability to communicate his emotions. "We have enough to think about," she told me as she slid her laptop out of her tote bag, still dressed in her tweed blazer from work. She'd been dating Max for a few months when it struck her - mid-conversation with a friend - that she had no idea what he felt about her or their future. So she stopped asking."

"While men consider this unburdening to women a "natural part" of their relationships, those same women describe it as work- what researchers at Stanford University call "mankeeping.""

Young women are increasingly 'quiet-quitting' romantic relationships after repeatedly providing invisible emotional labor without reciprocal support. Many report feeling exhausted by labor that involves naming, reassuring and carrying men's shame and vulnerability. Statistical indicators show women are 23% less likely to want to date than men, driven by perceived emotional overinvestment. Men often avoid sharing vulnerable feelings with male friends and instead offload them onto female partners. Men describe that unburdening as natural, while women describe it as unpaid work, a dynamic researchers label "mankeeping." The imbalance contributes to declining dating interest among young women.

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