Dear Women,

I’m a guy that likes superhero films and video games. I play the guitar (and not very well), love to travel and don’t read nearly as much as I wish I would. An everyday guy who by no measure would be called a mushy sap. But I am admittedly a romantic and it’s not something about myself I feel the need to hide. There is not a lot I enjoy more than having a special woman in my life that has me grinning all day. A woman that I inevitably text when something weird happens at lunch ’cause she gets my kind of weird.

I’ve had my share of casual (and fun) experiences with women in the past, mind you. And during my time playing the field, I learned that there aren’t many things one can generalise about in the dating world. There is one thing I’ve observed across the board, however.

Every woman has always been surprised at the person that I was to her. A gentleman – a pretty average one at that.

I’m not complaining, trust me. Your utter delight only puts our relatively rare kind in a strongly favourable position. But it makes me wonder.

Who have you been dating, ladies, that has compelled you to set the bar for the men you meet so very low?

Maybe you’d like to get to know this rare breed of men I speak of. We’re mature adults who know themselves. We are smart – certainly smart enough to know unequivocally what or who makes us happy. And we’re smart enough to do everything we can do to stay happy. We treat the women in our lives like queens because that’s how we were brought up.

Because we genuinely believe that women – be it mothers, sisters, friends or a girlfriend – are fascinating, adorable creatures of unique beauty that deserve all the gentle love and fierce respect we can give them. We are gentlemen.

We’re the guys that know you can open your own doors, put on your own coats and pay for your own drinks. But we like to do these things for you whenever you’ll let us.

Not because we have any doubts in your ability to do them for yourself, but because we want to be the ones to make you smile and we’ll take every chance we get. We remember all your quirks, hold your hand and steal kisses sometimes ’cause those moments just won’t do without them. Also, we feel an embarrassing amount of pride every time we make you laugh. Seriously, every inside joke we share with you increases our life expectancy by about six minutes.

We understand that intimacy comes from comfort, and comfort comes with time.

And we’re okay with putting time into a relationship because (at the risk of sounding like a L’Oreal commercial) you’re worth it. We’re not afraid to reveal our emotions to you, because we trust you with ourselves at our most vulnerable.

And we want you to know you can trust us too.

The kind of men I speak of, have no interest in playing games.

We always text back when we see your texts, we tell you we miss you and we mean it, and we certainly don’t sneak around. We’re with you because you make us happy. And if we make you happy too, please, don’t spend another minute in compromise.

Raise your expectations. Date a man that deserves you; a man, not a boy.

It may be longer till you finally meet one of us, since admittedly, we are rather scant. But hold off, don’t settle for less. Because we’re worth the wait.

Yours sincerely,

The gentlemen of the world