20 reasons why men leave the woman they love

Why men leave the women they love

Jessica was shattered. She was crying inconsolably and I didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t accept the fact that Steve has left her. They were having some problems like all couples do but she never imagined that he would take this drastic step. Steve has given a strange reason for the breakup. He has said that he feels stifled by Jessica and fears that he would lose his freedom. Jessica doesn’t believe this and suspects that he is having an affair with his colleague.

Why men leave the women they love? Why do they move away from the women they have once relentlessly pursued for days? Did they really love the women or it was merely an eyewash? Is it that men get bored very easily? Do they seek variety in their love life or there are concrete reasons behind such behavior? We will explore the reasons that make men break up and move away from their women. We will depict 20 such reasons here. Stay with us to delve into a man’s mind.

Why men leave the women they love?

There are plenty of reasons behind it and we will explain them here. Before that let me tell you one thing. A relationship works when both the man and woman invest sufficient time, emotions and trust in it. It needn’t be equal portions for all the three items, but a balance is required. If any one of them falters, the other is bound to feel neglected. When a man doesn’t give time to his partner or becomes less attentive that should be read as a sign of warning. If he hides facts, doesn’t express his feelings or gets angry when confronted, you should talk to him openly. In most cases, the mere fact that you have acknowledged the problem or want to do something about it is enough to make the guy also try to keep the relationship alive. A relationship dies and a man leaves a woman when he stops investing in it and finds his partner also doing the same. If you value the relationship, you must try to save it before it gets too late.

1. Cheating

There is no point for guessing the number one reason behind men leaving women. Around 17% of marriages end due to cheating. A whopping number of men, around 70% have admitted that they have cheated on their wives. Staying away from partners for a long time due to professional commitments, increasing expectations and stress in relationships make men seek pleasure outside. In the majority of cases, men who cheat eventually break up with their wives.

The other part of the story says that women are fast catching up with men. In recent years, the percentage of women cheating on their boyfriends and spouses has spiraled. Needless to say, these relationships usually terminate on a bitter note.

2. Sexual incompatibility

Sex is a vital component of a relationship. It makes a relationship special. Sex is also a way through which two lovers come together and share their happiness. It is also important to indulge in lovemaking often. Today, most relationships are breaking because couples do not find time for each other. Men and women who do not enjoy great sex cannot remain happy in a relationship. Lack of good sex makes either of them seek it outside the relationship. In most cases it is the man who drifts apart, ending the relationship.

Great sex doesn’t happen on its own. You need to find your own rhythm and style. You also have to keep in mind the demands of your partner. Couples who sit and talk about the issues and try different techniques usually end up enjoying sex.

3. Lack of intimacy

We want to stress the point that sex cannot hold a man and woman together. It is required but not sufficient to make a relationship work. Physical intimacy is another factor that keeps the relationship going. If a couple doesn’t spend time together and indulges in physical intimacy, the relationship may suffer from irreparable damages. By physical intimacy we mean hugging, kissing, cuddling and spending time together.

It doesn’t take much effort to feel close to your partner. A kiss in the morning, a hug before leaving for work, one or two messages during the day and cuddling at night- that’s what it takes to make your partner feel loved. Both the partners should take initiatives to find time for each other.

4. Loss of attraction

Why do you think a man would spend less and less time with his woman whom once he adored? You guessed it right. Loss of attraction. This happens in relationships which are old and the couple doesn’t take any initiative to keep the sparks flying. Either they get too busy with their individual lives or do not feel the necessity to spend time with each other. There is another aspect to this problem. With time, we grow, learn new things and that also modify our personality. This change is beautiful and makes us attractive. If we are not learning new things or not doing anything meaningful, we get stagnated and that gets reflected in the relationship also.

Self-development and having a mission in life is important. It helps us to concentrate on positive forces and our personality develops. This makes us attractive to our partners.

5. Boredom

This is another reason why a man may call quits. He is bored. Well, we cannot accuse only one party of this as it is both the man and woman’s responsibility to keep the relationship exciting. However, it may so happen that the woman doesn’t take interest at all in the relationship and is busy with her own life. Does your man return home late? Has he ever complained that he doesn’t like to stay at home? If yes, it is time for you to wake up and take action.

There are things that you can do keep the relationship lively. Going on dates, eating out together, watching old movies or dancing together can make a couple feel happy. try new sex positions, get a new haircut, plan exciting outings and surprise your partners. Buy gifts for each other without any occasion. These are small things that infuse energy in our lives. Going on vacations or taking up a new hobby is a fantastic way to give your relationship a fresh lease of life.

The reasons we have been explaining so far are usually loopholes in the relationships. They can be fixed with a little bit of initiative from both the man and the woman. However, there are other reasons, toxic and negative that may make a man dump his woman. These are mostly those reasons where the man plays the second fiddle. Let us share a few of them here.

6. Lack of emotional bonding

This may sound strange to you but the fact is that men look for emotional stability in a relationship. In popular media, men are painted as only driven by sexual desire but that is not true. In general, men get into long term relationships for emotional stability. If for any reason, like incompatibility or lack of love or respect, he feels that the emotional stability is missing or being threatened, he would back off.

7. Emotional codependence

On the other side of lack of emotional bonding is emotional codependence. Too much emotional dependence is harmful to people. When someone starts depending on another person for his or her happiness, sadness, and overall wellbeing it stifles personal growth. In the long run, this may become a major problem in the relationship as there is little space left for personal things. Everybody needs to have a personal life. Friends, relatives, hobbies and interests are an essential part of this life. If being in a relationship means giving up on all these, anyone would feel caged. Some women, in a bid to hold on to their guys, start interfering in everything. Their lives revolve around their partners which make the men feel suffocated. This happens more with men who love their freedom. Thus women who try to control the lives of their men usually find themselves alone after some time.

8. Fear of losing freedom

Let me clarify first that there are two sides to this problem. On one side there are women who get too possessive of their men and lose them as the men find their freedom more adorable than the women they once loved and on the other side are men who read too much into things and confuse love and care with interference.

Most men are driven by this fear. The term commitment phobia has become passé. In most cases, this fear arises out of the things they hear from their friends. As you can guess, it is mostly baseless. Men often imagine things or read signals wrong. If he is late from office and his wife asks about his whereabouts, he may take it as prying. Similarly asking him to give up drinking or smoking would be interpreted as trying to control his life.

This fear of losing freedom and becoming a butt of ridicule in the friends’ circle drives men to break up. However, what they need to do is to assess their women correctly and decide whether she is actually trying to control them or it is just a mere fear. Voicing the feelings and talking over the problem may fix it also. You don’t have to run from the relationship to feel free.

9. When she tries to fix him

If a woman is too complaining, demanding and judgmental she may give out the impression that she is trying to fix her guy. Criticizing every mistake, providing, interfering in all his matters and providing solutions when not asked makes a man feel that she is trying to babysit him. Obviously, this doesn’t go well with men.

Some women really try to fix their men. They consider their men as incapable of doing anything fruitful in life and take it upon themselves to guide them. Needless to say, this is a wrong attitude and which often leads to the men run away for their life.

10. Not able to handle the pressure of love

“I was always holding onto people, and they were always leaving.”

This may sound strange but this happens with some people. When people become too possessive or obsessive they tend to create pressure on their loved one. This may take the form of demanding attention all the time, trying to keep a tab on what the partner is doing, asking to be pampered and trying to keep friends and relatives away. Needless to say, if a woman behaves like this, the man is bound to feel thwarted. The relationship gets strained and may break if nothing is done to check such a behavior.

A relationship is meant to be enjoyed and cherished. If it becomes a source of stress and sadness no one would like to continue it.

11. Lack of respect

A relationship begins with love and mutual attraction but these two are not enough to make it work. There are other things like trust and respect that creates the foundation. If there is no respect in a relationship it cannot survive in the long run. A man deserves respect as much as a woman deserves it. If a man is constantly criticized, humiliated and ignored, he is bound to feel bad about it. If he is not respected for who is, he would lose interest in the relationship. In the long run, it would also make him look for greener pasture.

12. Success of the woman may threaten him

This is unfortunate but happens with some men. If the woman becomes too successful in her career the man may feel inadequate and dump her. This happens because he compares his own failures against the success of his ladylove. He may also think that the woman would not give priority to the relationship. He doubts the future of the relationship and leaves.

In this case, sitting together and clarifying the doubts may save the relationship. If the fears are found baseless the couple can sit together and take a more optimistic view of the future and create a loving relationship that helps both of them to grow.

13. Nagging woman

This is a great put off for most men. Ask your male friends and they would tell you how they run away from nagging women. Constant nagging and complaining make them feel like children and most men do not like the idea. They want a loving and caring relationship. Instead, if the woman always nags and whines the man feels disgusted. These are negative emotions that take a heavy toll on the relationship.

Sadly, in most cases, the women do not realize that it is their own behavior that makes their men leave. They accuse the men of being cruel but don’t realize that trusting them and being a little considerate can save both of them a whole lot of agony and frustration.

14. Comparison

Jessica was still in a bad mood. I asked her what used to make Steve angry with her. Her answer made things clear to me. Jessica used to compare Steve with her best friend’s boyfriend and that used to irritate Steve. That gave me the clue to Steve’s suddenly ending the relationship. Yes, men cannot stand comparison while women cannot stop comparing. From how her friend’s boyfriend calls her up every hour to how he takes her to movies every weekend, there are innumerable yardsticks against which a man is compared. Some women may even compare their current boyfriends with their exes and create unnecessary tension. Men usually ignore these small complaints and comparisons but if it happens with everything they say or do, it becomes a problem. That’s what happened to Steve, he confessed to me when I bumped into him at a party. Steve also said that he had tried to reason it out with Jessica and told her that he gets hurt but she never paid any heed to his feelings.

Every person is unique. The women need to realize that by comparing they are only disrespecting their men and also their own feelings. Your ex is your ex. Why compare your man to someone who has left you for good?

15. Emotional incompatibility

This is a serious problem which comes to the front when the initial attraction wears off. People get attracted to each other for a variety of reasons; physical features are one of these. However, with time when they come to know each other closely they realize how different they are. At times, the differences complement each other and the couples can create a loving relationship but when the differences are incompatible the relationship suffers. Emotional incompatibility can leave the man and the woman dissatisfied and eventually lead to the breakup.

16. Too much dependence

“If you have to convince someone to stay with you then they have already left.”

Have you seen any relationship in which the woman is dependent on the man for every single thing? I am not talking not financial dependence only, but too much of mental dependence is also not right. Asking the man for help in each and every matter, depending on him for major and minor household issues may make the man get bogged down. You may call in immaturity or inability to be independent, but it is harmful to the relationship. No one wants to shoulder all the responsibilities. If you are not ready to share, you cannot expect to be happy in a relationship.

17. Lack of appreciation

Everybody seeks it though they may not ask for it expressively. When it comes to complimenting someone for their looks or qualities, we generally think of women. Of course, a woman needs to be appreciated and a man needs it too. While you would come across plenty of articles motivating men to appreciate the women in their lives there are almost none that asks the women to do so. However, the fact is without appreciation, a man loses interest in the relationship. He stops taking initiatives to please his woman. Slowly the relationship becomes dull and boring. Without nurturing the attraction dies and the relationship heads towards a tragic end.

18. Disagreement on major decisions

A couple has to take several major decisions together. These include buying decisions like a house, car etc, investment decisions and also issues like parenting. If the man and the woman have different value systems, they cannot reach a consensus. At times their perspectives may vary so much that it becomes difficult to find a middle point. The disagreements may lead to frequent fights if they do not budge from their opinions. Unfortunately, most divorces today happen on this ground.

19. Competitive attitude

Have you ever seen any couple where the man and the woman compete with each other? It happens. When the relationship becomes a battleground and the two parties compete to outsmart each other, you cannot expect them to be cordial to each other. Naturally, a lot of bitterness exists which makes the man and woman to drift apart. In most cases, it is the man who calls the quit.

20. Intellectual disparity

“I don’t understand, Jem. I don’t understand why you’d leave me. Why would you do that?”

Those who think that men only get into a relationship for sex need a reality check. There are men who look for other qualities in women than only physical beauty. They look for qualities like intelligence, confidence, and self-reliance and sense of humor in their women. They seek women who can match their level of intellect and be a real partner. For them a relationship becomes successful if it can provide mental stimulation. Sadly, if their partners fail to be such women of substance, they leave them.

“Angry at him for leaving without a word, angry at myself for being so easy to leave and for not being enough to make him want to stick around.”

It is not easy to end a relationship. When you have invested emotions and time in it and dreamt of a future together, you cannot take such a decision abruptly. If a man does so, you have to understand that he must be frustrated and lost all hope in the relationship. He may hurt too but cannot express it like Steve.

Why do you think a man leaves a woman he loves? Do you think the woman can persuade him to stay back? Is there a chance of revival? Please share your thoughts.

Summary – We see a lot of relationships breaking around us. Sometimes we know the reasons, sometimes we don’t. In majority of these cases, the men are blamed for the breakup. If you want to know whether men should be accused for these breakups, here are 20 such reasons why men leave their women. It is up to you to decide whether men should be really held responsible for the breakups.

25 thoughts on “20 reasons why men leave the woman they love”

  1. For me, the most common reason I see firsthand is number 9 followed by number 1, especially when the couple is on a long-distance relationship. But I think number 9 is the most common. Oftentimes, the girl becomes too possessive to the point that she treats his boyfriend as her possession.

  2. The first thing that will always come to the mind of many when they hear a man leaves her partner is; “he wants to try another lady”.
    But that’s not completely true. The most important thing a man love to have from their partner is Respect. If a man is not getting enough from his partner, his heart begins to wander away gradually which may eventually lead to breakup. My opinion though.

  3. I have always regarded the loss of intimacy as a deal breaker. Couples undereastimate the value of intimacy especially when a relationship has been going on for a long time. This can be fatal to a relationship. I do understand that some relationships are long distance for professional reasons. It is particularly important for these kind of relationships to be intimate every time they are together or in their correspondence.

  4. While some of your observations are interesting, I have found your attitude towards competitive spirit disturbing. I personally prefer competitive men because I am very competitive. Anything else would bore me out of my mind. The conclusion that its the man who usually drifts away points to a man who is afraid of competition. A man like that does not deserve a competitive woman in the first place.

  5. I think men who leave relationships because of intellectual disparity should have looked at this issue at the very beginning of the relationship. It is unfair to bring this up years into a relationship. How is that it was never an issue and then suddenly becomes one. I think this is just a simple cop out. You can tell the intellectual level of your partner a few days into a relationship. I think it will be better to leave early than to wait because this only leads to more hurt.

  6. I will be honest. My boyfriend cheated on me for years. At first I did not know and then I pretended not to know. I then knew and pretended not to care. In the end I wanted to harm my boyfriend before I left him. In hindsight, I should have left when I found out. It could have saved me tons of heartache and sleepless night spent planning revenge.

  7. I was with my boyfriend for five years before we broke up. I still remember the golden years. Everything I did had value. This lasted a couple of years. After that he changed to something I could not recognize. He stopped appreciating anything I did. He started the blame game. Nothing was ever good. It was sad to see and more sad for us. We broke up and it hurt.

  8. I was with my boyfriend for five years before we broke up. I still remember the golden years. Everything I did had value. This lasted a couple of years. After that he changed to something I could not recognize. He stopped appreciating anything I did. He started the blame game. Nothing was ever good. It was sad to see and more sad for us. We broke up and it hurt.

  9. Nothing hurts more than comparison. To be compared to something you can never be nor want to be is very hurtful. A friend of mine had a boyfriend like that. Always mourning about something. He compared my friend to anything that moved. My friend ended up kicking him out. Good riddance.

  10. Loosing freedom can definitely lead to men leaving women. We are used to unabridged freedom and losing this freedom can create problems. Women tend to want their men to be part of the activities they are involved in. This cuts into the time men usually have for themselves or to be more precise; the time they have with their buddies. It’s sometimes funny how some men value time with their friends more than the time with their partners.

  11. I discovered that my girlfriend was cheating on me after being tipped off by a friend. It was so hurtful I left her the very day I found out. Some people have tried to bring us back together saying I should try to understand the reasons for the cheating and deal with them. I believe cheating is the last straw. I am not getting back together with her.

  12. Respect is important in any relationship. Noone wants to be in a relationship where he or she is disrespected day in and day out. Some women tend to lose respect for their man a few months or years after the wedding ceremony. It’s true the respect must be reciprocal. The man must also respect his women. If a man leaves a relationship because he feels disrespected, it must be because he respected his woman and did not get any in return.

  13. I will be honest. When I married my wife she had the body of a super model. That is not why I married her. It was a contributing factor. Two kids later she is very overweight and bingeing on food. I have tried to get her to move around and exercise. It is sad that she has lost control of her body and other things. She doesn’t look like she used to. She is not attractive anymore. I don’t want to leave but I hope she can get a handle on her weight.

    1. Well, some men are so shallow that they’d leave a woman over something like her weight. I feel if you truly loved her you would find her attractive no matter what. Marry a soul, not a body.

      1. And vice versa… if you truely cared about your relationship you’d put down the donut and start drinking some slim fast. Why is it that people think that fatness should be overlooked in the interest of “love.” Should people tolerate alcoholics, drug addicts, wife beaters because they are in love? No matter how much love you have, nobody wants to look at a 250 pound jiggly lard ass in yoga pants. Having great sex, looking good, and being confident are all important components in a relationship. You cannot get that if you look like my 600 pound life.

        1. I feel like taking care of yourself and being healthy and attractive is an outward sign of your inward health…..Try helping your woman feel good about her self in every other aspect of life give her a night off two kids is a lot give her some alone time give her some spa gift certificates tell her she’s beautiful and mean it. Love is patient and kind the world sucks the last thing we need to do is be worried about being insulted at home

    2. That’s really pathetic. People gain weight for all kinds of reasons, but just because she is struggling with her weight is no excuse to leave her. If you truly loved her, her weight wouldn’t be a factor.

    3. You are not wrong for feeling like you prefer a fit body. Don’t let anybody make you feel bad for wanting to be attracted to your woman. Women try to act like it’s important to keep our looks up. Like men should just love us regardless. That isn’t realistic! I have an amazing man. I also know it is wise to stay fit on my behalf and on his. When you let yourself go you feel insecure! When you feel insecure you don’t feel sexy. When you don’t feel sexy u don’t have sex! When you look good you feel good! Try to encourage her to workout with you. Try to make it fun! Once you do most things for 14 days it becomes a habit! If she refused to participate it can very well be detrimental to relationship. And most likely she & other women will blame you for not settling for a slob! Like what sense does that make for me to be miserable for someone else’s pleasure! Our society is selfish and expect others to just tolerate it! Like when men leave woman. They expect a man to stay in a sexless, unfulfilling relationship just to satisfy others. That’s selfish to bribe & guilt someone to stay with you just to save face. Like why would you want a man that’s checked out of relationship. Especially if he’s fallen in love with someone else. Just to block happiness. He’s most likely going to keep the other woman around physically and mentally. I would just let my man go b4 I play myself like that! It will hurt but not as much as being in an unhappy marriage. Happily married people don’t have affairs barring a psyche infliction. They may have one night stand under certain conditions. But they’re not going to keep person around and stay in regular contact with them. Staying in shape is another good tip to affair proofing relationship.

  14. But what about many women these days leaving their husbands and boyfriends to be with another woman instead?

    1. They’re not doing that to hurt their boyfriends/husbands. They’re just doing that for themselves to be happy again.

      Sure, it might hurt their partners in the short run, but I’s sure you would’nt you want anyone so stay in a forced relationship if they’re not happy, would you?

  15. Reading this i now truly understand. All of what i have been doing wrong. This is extremely important in a relationship and it has made me see things alot clear. I’ve learned so much by reading this‍♀️❤

  16. I already am working on fixing my faults in my 17 year marriage with 7 kids. However, I don’t think he’ll ever be happy regardless. On week, he wants to leave, be cause his dreams gave him a “gut instinct” that I was cheating. (Like I even have the time, even IF I wanted to. Hello, 7 kids over here!) then the next week, the house is messy, I’m sick of mess I want to leave. Now, it’s because of HIS credit cards HE maxed out, and two car payments. Although I’m looking for work, it’s not good enough. So, come March, when we should get taxes, he wants to part our separate ways. He literally has a reason weekly as to why he wants to leave. Then he apologizes, and then does it again. Like what the F***?!?!!! I’m doing my best. I don’t get it. And I’m personally out of tears to cry.

  17. I tried to ask my mate when I saw him distant himself is there something I need to know he said nothing. We were suppose to go to Vegas for my birthday and the day before we had words he stated he didn’t want to go anyway. The next day when I was suppose to pick him up to go to the airport I received a text from him stating Bitch are you picking me up. I wS so hurt by what he called me I went on the trip by myself. When I got back to talk to him he stated it’s over and I don’t want anything to do with you and he broke up with me.

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