Why Many Men Don’t Want to Make Their Relationships Public

Sometimes men want to keep a relationship private, especially at the beginning. But before you assume this is negatively motivated, know that things aren’t always as they seem. Among the reasons why they like to keep their relationships more private could be a concern for friends and family and the need to make everyone happy.

Bright Side compiled 10 reasons why men may want to keep a relationship a secret in order to show readers that understanding is the key to communication.

1. He doesn’t want mutual friends to know about it yet.

Many guys don’t want to be harassed by others’ opinions. When it comes to mutual friends of a couple, they could start asking a lot of questions about private things that could end up bothering both partners in the relationship.

The best way to handle the situation is to be patient and wait a while before telling anyone about the relationship and announce it when things feel more serious. If these people are true friends, they will surely approve!

2. He’s worried about his family’s approval.

If he comes from a traditional family or has parents who have very precise ideas about who he should be dating, he might want to wait before telling them about the relationship.

Communication is key in these cases: try to find the right way to approach the family and to understand their vision.

3. He thinks the relationship is more exciting if it’s a secret.

It’s really common among guys to think an air of mystery will make the relationship more exciting and hot.

And why not? It could be a way to enjoy things even more for a while!

4. He’s not sure about his feelings.

Men can be just as insecure as women, especially when it comes to feelings and new relationships. He may want to see where things go before announcing it to the world.

Time is key: he will realize soon enough if it’s real love or not.

5. The couple has the same friends and he’s worried about announcing the relationship to the group.

If they were friends at first and then became a couple without telling anyone, he could be worried about how this will influence the internal relationships within the group of friends.

But everybody knows that true friendship can overcome anything!

6. He just ended another relationship and it’s too soon.

If this is the case, there could be more than one specific reason why he wants to keep the relationship a secret:

• He doesn’t want to hurt his ex’s feelings since they just broke up.
• He wants to protect his actual girlfriend from any negativity from this ex.
• He may still have feelings for the ex and thinks they could possibly get back together in the near future.

In this kind of situation, the best way to handle things is to investigate his reasoning carefully without pressuring him.

7. He’s afraid someone could steal his girlfriend.

One of the reasons for his secrecy could be jealousy. If a guy is really into his girlfriend, he might think some of his friends could steal her.

Trust is an important element of a relationship. He has to be sure he’s the only one for this girl, and only then will he shout it out to the world.

8. Someone in his group of friends has feelings for him.

This can happen in any group — one friend can develop feelings without them being reciprocated. This can very well be a reason for a guy to want to be more private about a relationship as not to ruin the group balance or hurt the friend too much.

If the relationship is serious, when the time comes, he will be open about it with all his friends and there won’t be any problem.

9. He doesn’t want to hear other people’s opinions about it.

Some guys are really private and don’t care about judgment and other people’s opinions. They think the best way to handle the relationship is to keep it private to avoid unnecessary conversations and discussions.

In this case, he might not be totally wrong — privacy is an important part of a relationship. For this reason, perhaps the right thing to do would be to just tell close friends and family members.

10. He’s afraid to ruin his reputation if he gets dumped.

Public appearance is important to most men, especially those who have a prominent career or who are popular. For this reason, they may be afraid of ruining their reputation if they get dumped by a girl.

From a female perspective, this may seem like nonsense, but girls should try to understand this reasoning and realize that if the relationship is serious, there’s no need to hide it.

Which one of these reasons do you think is the most justifiable? Has this ever happened to you? Tell us in the comments!