Here’s Why You Should Always Date People With Sisters

Around 2 years into my relationship with my boyfriend I discovered that he does not own a housecoat (or dressing gown depending on where you’re from, the war rages on). A shocking revelation within itself, as the housecoat has been, and always will be a pinnacle of relaxation in my own household, but the reasoning behind his lack of cosiness was something I was even more shocked to discover. The conversation went something like this:

Me: ‘I’m a bit cold, I think I’ll just put your housecoat on if that’s okay, where is it?’ 

Boyfriend: ‘I don’t have one’

Me: ‘What? What do you mean, what do you do when you’re cold or want to be cosy?’

Boyfriend: ‘I don’t know, I’m a boy, I don’t really get cold, or do cosy things’

Me: ‘Well, my brother has a housecoat?!’

Boyfriend: ‘Yeah, that’s probably because he grew up in a house full of women’

And there we have it. The clear differentiation between the men who grew up with women, and the men who grew up with other men. My brother grew up in a house with my Mam, a single parent, my Nana, and myself, his big sister. After investigation, it seems that my boyfriend and my brother had totally different experiences when it came to their sibling relationships. While I was dressing my brother up in my clothes and forcing him to play Bratz with me, my boyfriend was play fighting and shooting toy guns with his older brother somewhere on the other side of the city.

“Men who grew up with sisters should be more tolerant of the nuances that come with being female, whereas a man who has had no exposure to women would struggle with that,” relationship expert David Kavanagh says on the subject. Of course, we know that this is a generalisation, just because a male doesn’t have a sister, doesn’t mean he has no respect for women, my own boyfriend is a perfect example of that. And on the flip side, just because a man does have a sister doesn’t mean that his respect for women is a given either. But, it seems that men who did grow up around females, and more importantly were close with them, have the ability to not only talk the talk but walk the walk too, “With my own clients, I have noticed that the men who have multiple sisters and women in their lives present with compassion and empathy towards women which is much more than the average male,” David continues.

Giving the perfect example of a situation where having sisters puts a man at an advantage in a relationship he says: “Women communicate very differently to how men do, so a man with sisters totally understands that a woman’s communication style is vastly different from theirs. Women can often be a lot less indirect with their communication, so, a man without sisters would take women at face value and be confused when she says something like she doesn’t want to go out for dinner for her birthday, he would do exactly what she says and later realise that he’d upset her. Whereas a man with sisters would immediately know that, of course, she wants to be taken out for dinner,” thus overall resulting in more relationship harmony. 

One woman who is very familiar with this harmony is 32-year-old Michelle, who’s husband John grew up in a house with a single mother and a younger sister. “My husband John has a sister and a single mother and I genuinely believe that experience has made him a better partner!” she says. Why exactly that is, Michelle explains “He’s more aware of the nuances of living with women (read: hormones and feelings), he’s naturally quite protective without being stifling about it and just a bit more sensitive than he would be if he’d grown up in a house full of men.” 

It’s true, that behind all the best men is a sister(s). Michael B. Jordan, Ryan Gosling, Harry Styles, all men very capable of tapping into their sensitive side, all men who are world-class rides with legions of adoring women at their feet, coincidence? I think not. To note, however, if a man doesn’t have a biological sister, a pseudo sister, will do just the job too. If I haven’t pleaded my case for why men with sisters are prime dating material enough already, then maybe these points will help to convince you. 

They Know How To Communicate 

As discussed above, men with women in their lives know exactly how to communicate respectfully and effectively with women. It’s likely to be instinctual for him to look at his partner as a confidant, a best friend that he can confide in, because he has been viewing all the women around him as equal his whole life. Not his first rodeo, he knows exactly what you mean when you say you ‘don’t care’ about what gift he buys you for Valentine’s day, and he also knows exactly when it’s time for him to shut up and ask you about your day too. 

‘Girl Things’  Don’t Phase Them 

Aside from the obvious tampons in the bathroom scenario. Men who grew up around women know that females are not unicorns, contrary to how we’re often portrayed. Girls eat, and poo, and wake up with bad breath exactly the same way boys do, and males with sisters will be well used to seeing females in their natural state. These men don’t expect women to be magically immune from bodily functions and know that it’s on a very rare occasion that we present ourselves with a full face of make-up perfection. 

They Have Someone To Go To For Advice 

Men who are close with their sisters, mothers, or female friends will always have someone to go to for sound advice on whatever it is they may need. No one understands females better than females, and so, when a male presents an issue or question regarding a woman, another woman is the best person to solve it. Whether it’s deciding on the best gift to get you, or what to wear on a date, men with women have the upper hand when it comes to serenading you. A man with a sister would never buy you shoes two sizes too big for Christmas. 

You Get A Sister For Free 

Meeting a man with a sister he’s close with, also means that you have now gained a sister too! Of course, you need to get past the approval stage first, a woman who is close with her brother may come off as frosty at first, but it only comes from a place of protectiveness, trust me. If you yourself are sister-less and have always wanted someone that you can do and talk girl-things with, now you have one! And if you already have a sister, well now you’re lucky enough to have another one, because life can never have too many females in it. Who run the world? (Girls!)

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