“Men deserve periods” 🥀 Haha, we have all heard this guys, apparently they do “anything for the huzz.” But now science backs it too?
We’ve all heard the stereotype. Men are emotionally unavailable, women catch feelings first. But wait, science has arrived with a twist that nobody had on their 2026 bingo card.
A new international study suggests men actually fall in love almost twice as fast as women. Yep. The same people who take three business days to reply to “Do you wanna catch up?” are apparently speedrunning romantic feelings.
Before the internet declares “Men are the real hopeless romantics,” though, there’s a lot more tea in this research than the headline lets on.
Men Catch Feelings In About Four Weeks, While Women Take Nearly Two Months
Researchers from the Australian National University surveyed 808 adults aged 18 to 25 across 33 countries who were currently in love. Their findings, published in the journal Biology of Sex Differences, revealed that men reported falling in love after an average of 0.98 months. That’s just over four weeks.
Women, on the other hand, took around 1.92 months, or roughly eight weeks, to reach the same stage.
On average, men said they fell in love about a month earlier than women. The study also found that men reported falling in love more often throughout their lives, averaging 2.6 times, compared to 2.3 times for women.
So yes, the “I’m never falling for anyone again” speech may have a shorter shelf life than expected.
But Wait… Women Win The Emo Olympics
Now before the group chats start celebrating this as evidence that men are the biggest, baddest lovers, here’s the full lore.
While men reported falling in love sooner, women experienced love more intensely.
Female participants scored higher in:
- Romantic intensity
- Emotional attachment
- Commitment
- Obsessive thinking about their partner
Basically, men might be first to board the Feelings Express, but women are more likely to decorate the entire train.
And no, “obsessive thinking” doesn’t mean clinically unhealthy behaviour. Researchers simply measured how often participants found themselves thinking about their partner or mentally preoccupied with the relationship.
Almost 40% Didn’t Fall In Love Until They Were Already Dating
Forget every rom-com that insists love strikes the second your eyes meet across a coffee shop.
One of the most interesting findings barely made the headlines.
More than 39% of participants said they only fell in love after the relationship had already started.
So if you’ve ever looked at your partner one random Tuesday and thought, “Wait… I think I’m actually in love with you,” sorry. You’re scientifically average.
Turns out, for a lot of people, love isn’t instant, but a slow burn.
Your Country Might Be Influencing Your Love Life More Than You Think
Oh shit.
The researchers discovered that people living in more gender-equal countries generally reported lower romantic intensity and less obsessive thinking.
In other words, your environment might influence how you experience love just as much as your biology. That’s a pretty wild reminder that romance isn’t just hormones doing their thing. Culture, society and the world around us may all be writing and re-writing your love lore.
Before You Send This To Your Crush, Read The Fine Print
As spicy as these findings sound, the researchers aren’t saying every man falls in love faster than every woman. The study only looked at 808 young adults between 18 and 25 years old who were already in love. It also relied on self-reported answers, meaning people described their own experiences rather than being observed in real life.
In fact, once researchers accounted for social and environmental factors, many of the differences between men and women became much smaller.
So no, this isn’t scientific proof that your ex caught feelings in Week 3.
Science Just Made Love Even More Confusing
If anything, this study proves that love is far messier than the internet’s favourite “Who falls first?” debates.
Men may fall first. Women may fall deeper. Nearly 40% of people don’t even fall in love until they’re already dating. And apparently, where you live might shape your love life almost as much as your heart does.
So the next time someone says, “Men never catch feelings,” you can hit them with peer-reviewed evidence.
Whether they’ll reply to your text any faster, however, remains tragically outside the scope of the study.
Toodlesss.
