All men love their freedom; it’s in their nature. Commitment implies compromise, loss of independence, the sacrifice of sexual variety and the very real fear of financial loss. According to recent statistics, the rate of marriage has been on the decrease. Men today are apprehensive about getting married. Cohabitation is on the rise as it seemingly offers a way out should one want it. Following are some of the reasons why men say they are commitment phobic.

We like to make our own decisions and run our lives by our own rules. We want to do what we want when we want to do it, not when we’re told. Going out for a beer with buddies, buying a big screen TV, playing golf on Saturday afternoon suddenly have to be checked and cleared with her first. Now we’re trapped and given boundaries that we don’t understand or want.

We need "guy space". We need time and space for stuff like cars, tools and watching action movies. But most women want to take over. It’s okay until they start putting their “female touches” on everything. Suddenly your girlie magazines in the bathroom disappear to be replaced by some cheesy rag boasting a better sex life (like you ever see that). Before you know it, you don’t even recognize the place.

We need and want sexual variety. Commitment demands that we volunteer to cut ourselves off from other possible sexual exploits. Sexual boredom is quickly followed by a total lack of desire. For a lot of us ‑- even guys who weren't getting a lot of action anyway ‑- this can be the scariest consequence of all.

Second relationships when we have been divorced, gone through the psycho ex-spouse and run through the wringer with the court system, terrify us. We won’t be so quick to jump into another legally binding partnership with a woman. Successful achievers ‑- those of us who have built companies and high-powered careers from the ground up ‑- are especially afraid of being forced to hand over all the fruits of our hard labor and may make the decision never to get involved in a serious relationship again.

Many women look at marriage as though putting a ring on their fingers means that we will snap our fingers and magically solve all their problems, from childhood issues to huge debts. They learn to hide their true personalities and agendas until after the wedding and then when the truth comes out; it’s too late. All of a sudden we find ourselves married to a stranger with all this emotional baggage

You would like to think that a marriage would be a compromise where both parties share in decisions and contribute equally. Compromise from a woman’s point of view is usually “do it my way or we don’t have sex.”

Serious relationships are vampires that suck up all our time and energy. They take over our lives, pressuring us to keep up with all the expectations like family dinners, remembering birthdays and anniversaries and pick up the dry-cleaning. It’s a lot of work and sometimes we feel it’s just not worth the effort. If we wanted a second job we’d find one that pays

There is less pressure by society to marry and settle down quickly to start a family. We can consider our choices more carefully instead of jumping into marriage. Because there’s less pressure we can afford to wait for that perfect woman and concentrate on getting our careers off the ground, save and  buy a house or sow our wild oats.

Some women can't be trusted; we’ve been dumped for the next guy or we’ve seen it happen to our buddies. Women are looking to upgrade, to latch onto a man with more money and more status. Commitment to a relationship means putting your heart on the line, and we’ve seen too many guys get hurt by their women who latches on to what they consider a better prospect.

For a lot of women, commitment is the final goal. They want to get married, they want to marry the perfect guy and they want to do it NOW. They pressure, cajole or insist on us settling down. They nag so much that it makes you want to head for the hills.