"If a woman never returns my calls, then I just assume she isn't interested in me" exclaimed one date-worn male. "Not so!" the authors replied, she's just playing by the Rules." -Brenda Ross

After reading this page, I took a poll of all the guys I could find online and showed them this stuff. I didn't find a one who'd put up with this kind of behavior. Comments ranged from "She won't call me back? Then forget her" to "I'd figure she's not interested if she never responded" to "Who'd want someone that manipulative?" to "What kind of idiot would take that crap?" One girl online then revealed herself as a Rules Girl, which led to several of the guys expressing disappointment and disgust with her, along the lines of "I can't believe you do that! Ugh! I thought you were more sensible."

"Got a look at the first "Rules" book once upon a time, when I was considering putting the authors on the air for an interview. Let me put it to you this way...it struck me that they were encouraging selfish and manipulative behavior, not just during the courtship but into the marriage. I didn't book them. But it goes further.
It made me take a solemn vow to myself...if I see "The Rules" on a bookshelf of anyone I go out with, that will be our last date. Manipulation doesn't build a good relationship. Give me honesty every time...that's what keeps people together." -Bob

"The more I recall having heard about these "rules" in the past, the more I remember that they're crap. There is no tried and true way to "snag a groom", and any relationship based solely on those rules would be shaky at best, IMO." -Nautica

"Here's what I have to say about "The Rules."
* Men don't usually like women who really play hard-to-get. There's a big difference between not giving it up on the first date and making yourself completely mysterious and unavailable.
* The best men will give up on women who are too much work. The ones who will actually take all the crap doled out by "The Rules" are the desperate loners.
* Many men can smell when they're being manipulated. I actually skimmed the book when it came out a few years ago. Shortly thereafter, I went out on one date with a woman, and I soon realized that she was puttin' the "Rules" on me. That was it for us." -EDM

Brenda Ross reports on listening to a radio show featuring The Rules Girls:

"It seems that 90% of callers participating to the show have a problem with 'The Rules". Men don't want to date a woman they might potentially marry who has to hide her true personality in a cloak of mystery just to become a challenge for him. If a woman caller proudly announced that she had followed every rule to the letter and actually had gotten her prey to tie the knot, one has to feel a little sorry for her man, naive fool that he is, who, I suppose will find out the hard way what his mysterious new bride is really like. Him: " What? I didn't know you liked to spend a few nights a week at Chippendale's clubs?" he declared fearfully. "Why didn't you tell me this?" Her: "Oh, I guess because I never returned your calls, and when we did speak, I was only supposed to talk about you...Oops!" she replies...

And this guy just really touched me somehow. He's right to look at all that women are missing if they really take it this far.

"Concerning a woman's pursuit of a man, I must take exception to the idea that women shouldn't take the responsibility for (or privilege of or have the joy of) starting a conversation. How can this be an exclusively masculine activity? When women are doing the same jobs that men do, owning land, voting, and all the things that once where unavailable to them, initiating a conversation can't really be problematic.
Men don't like women talking to them and so the women don't do it? Isn't that the same as appealing to the men who thought it was bad and non-feminine to have women in the workplace? While I don't expect any woman to chase me around a desk, massage oil and prime rib dinners aside, it seems that women striking up a conversation now and then does not pose a threat to the male psyche - certainly not mine. What are the women going to do after they are married, I wonder. Hopefully they won't wait for their husbands to ask them to make dinner, change a diaper, go out on the town, find fulfilling work, engage in hobbies that unleash their passion for life, or any other part of pursuing their dreams and realizing their goals." -David

Next week: Converts and rebuttals, or something akin to those TBD