Half of men would ditch woman who gained weight: poll

Two audience members at an outdoor concert in New York in a file photo.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Men are more concerned with their partner's body type than women but they also seem to value family more highly, according to a new survey released on Tuesday.

Nearly half of men questioned in the poll of 70,000 people said they would ditch a partner who gained weight, compared to only 20 percent of women.

Two-third of men also said they had fantasized about their partner's friends, while only one-third of women had done so.

"Even as men are getting more comfortable with meeting their girlfriends online and less anxious about who she's 'friending' there, other romantic behaviors have proven to be timeless ones: chivalry isn't dead, size matters, and women forgive while men forget," said James Bassil, editor-in-chief of AskMen, which conducted the poll jointly with Cosmopolitan.com.

While only 18 percent of women said they would want their mate to be better endowed, more than 51 percent of men said they wished they themselves were.

But the survey also found 39 percent of men chose family as their top choice of the ultimate status symbol. By contrast, 43 percent of women selected a beautiful home, compared to only 6.5 percent of men. One-quarter of women named a successful partner as a top status symbol.

But men were more likely to lie about the number of sex partners they had had (50 percent) than women (35 percent).

One thing both sexes agreed on was an as-yet undeveloped male birth control pill, an idea that proved popular all around. More than half of women would want their partner to take it, while more than two-thirds of men were ready for male birth control.

But the sexes differed about paying for dates, at least in the early stages. More women, 38 percent, think each should pay their own way, versus 33 percent who think men should foot the bill. But 59 percent of men think they should cover the tab, at least until a relationship is established.

Nearly 80 percent of men said they feel cheated by the divorce courts. But more women feel the sexes receive equal treatment than those who agree the men get a raw deal.

Women are also far less comfortable with their mates keeping in touch with their ex. More than two-thirds of men are okay with their partner friending an ex on Facebook, as opposed to 38 percent of women.

But three-quarters of men surveyed said they consider sexting cheating.

The full results of the poll can be found at www.askmen.com/specials/great_male_survey and at www.askmen.com/specials/great_female_survey

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Patricia Reaney)