A shortage of male university students is causing men to develop so-called ‘Golden Penis Syndrome’ where they see themselves as a prize to be won by female suitors.
The term, coined by students at Sarah Lawrence College, New York, and popularised by American journalist Jon Birger, is applied to heterosexual men who have an inflated ego due to the amount of interest shown in them by their female peers.
Men believe this interest is the result of their innate desirability, leading to an augmented sense of self and a tendency to become ‘accidental Casanovas’ with bad habits like cheating, ‘ghosting’ and stringing women along in casual flings.
They might also have poor social and sexual skills because they do not need to better themselves in order to secure dates with their accomplished female peers.
But in reality, this heightened level of interest is largely down to a lack of viable alternatives for women wanting to settle down.
In the UK, 57 per cent of all higher education students are female. The proportion is higher in the US, where women account for 59.5 per cent of all college students.
This imbalance continues into the workplace, where there are more women with college or university degrees than men.
Coined by students at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where only a quarter of the student population is male, ‘golden penis syndrome’ applies to male students who consider themselves to be prize – purely because there is a ‘man deficit’ among the student population. Stock image
Relationship therapist Charisse Cooke told FEMAIL: ‘Golden Penis Syndrome speaks of the delusional belief that you are unusually and uniquely gifted as a man, sexually or otherwise, and are above established norms of good manners, respect and dating etiquette.
‘It can result in overly-grandiose behaviour and self-reverence and an inflated sense of power over the opposite sex. Women can be baffled by these men, but intrigued and lured in due to the man’s self-belief and seeming promise.
‘However, the women are left disappointed and furious when discarded after cursory or non-existent date experiences and underwhelming sexual performances.
‘Often the only single member of the group, after a period of time their reputation becomes a mixture of Peter Pan to pitied and accidental Casanova.’
Birger, an award-winning journalist, toured US colleges …….