When most men hear the word “vulnerability,” their immediate reaction is to associate it with weakness. In general, men are raised to withhold their emotions, to not show weakness, and to ignore any hint of introspection. I want you to think of vulnerability in a more broad way. Not just emotional vulnerability, but physical vulnerability, social vulnerability.
For instance, making yourself vulnerable doesn’t just mean being willing to share your fears or insecurities. It can mean putting yourself in a position where you can be rejected, saying a joke that may not be funny, asserting an opinion that may offend others, joining a table of people you don’t know, telling a woman that you like her and want to date her. All of these things require you to stick your neck out on the line emotionally in some way. You’re making yourself vulnerable when you do them.
In this way, vulnerability represents a form of power, a deep and subtle form of power. A man who’s able to make himself vulnerable is saying to the world, “I don’t care what you think of me; this is who I am, and I refuse to be anyone else.” He’s saying he’s not needy and that he’s high status.
The way to combat neediness is by opening up to vulnerability.
If you’re basing all of your behavior on the approval of the other men and are constantly covering for your weaknesses, it says that you’re low status, not trustworthy, needy, and probably not going to be a dependable father.
Other men, when challenged, stand up for themselves, but when wrong they also admit their fault, as they see no reason to hide their weakness. They have a sense of honor. They don’t react to any of the other men around them; rather, the other men react to him. This behavior implies high status, a man who is dependable, comfortable in his strengths and weaknesses, a man who can be counted on and who is likely to rise through the ranks and provide for his family.
We all have weaknesses, embarrassments and vulnerabilities. A needy man is terrified to show them because they care more about what others feel about him than what they feel about themselves. A non-needy man is comfortable showing his flaws because he’s comfortable with how he feels about himself more than how others feel about him.
Sharing yourself openly with others forces that transition between the two: from needy and afraid of what others think to non-needy and comfortable in how one feels about himself. The reason is because sharing these truths about yourself forces you to own them and accept them, and also demonstrates that feeling embarrassed or ashamed is just that, just another feeling, another part of your humanity, not the end of the world.
Expose yourself and share yourself without inhibition. Take the rejections and lumps and move on because you’re a bigger and stronger man. And when you find a woman who loves who you are (and you will), revel in her affection. But opening oneself up to vulnerability, training oneself to become comfortable with your emotions, with your faults, and without expressing oneself without inhibitions doesn’t happen overnight.
Slowly, you will chisel away at yourself. You’ll humble yourself, expose yourself, and then learn that it’s OK. It’s OK to be rejected. It’s OK to make mistakes. It’s OK to say something stupid. Women will not dislike you for your rejections and mistakes or saying something stupid.
They’ll like you for your ability to be OK with being rejected, to make mistakes, and to say something stupid. The man who always has the perfect line to say to her is a man she will not trust. Because he shows no vulnerability and his words are inauthentic and therefore needy.
The true power of vulnerability is that it resolves the investment paradox. The investment paradox is the conflict between the two aspects of female attraction. Women are attracted to men who are of higher status than themselves (or in our terms, less needy). They are also aroused by men who desire them. The paradox is that typically, if a man shows desire towards a woman, then he’s also showing some degree of neediness or that he’s lower status. The common term for this is “putting her on a pedestal.”
Vulnerability short-circuits the paradox. A man comfortable being vulnerable will not behave in a needy way. And when desire is shown without neediness, it is attractive. When desire is shown with neediness, it is unattractive
Women want a strong, independent, high status male -- a “doesn’t take shit from anybody” bad boy -- but they want this bad boy to have a depth and a sensitivity that they only open up and show when they’re around her.
The point is, despite what every fiber of your being may be telling you, opening you thoughts, actions and feelings up to being vulnerable actually defines attractive behavior by men. Being an independent and confident person depends on it. Acting on your desires and making moves on women depends on it. And once she gets to know you, displaying it to her will make her go weak in the knees. Plain and simple.
When women connect with you emotionally and your desire for them, it’s not what you’re saying or the words you’re choosing, it’s the emotion behind those words. If the emotion behind your words is needy and self-serving, then she will become turned off no matter what you say. If the emotion behind your words is genuine and vulnerable, then it will turn her on.
Your statements must be authentic. Your statements toward women must be unconditional; otherwise it’s not really being vulnerable. If you tell a woman that she’s beautiful only because you think it’ll give you a better chance of sleeping with her, then amazingly, she will not be very flattered. If you don’t believe me, try it out some time. Give women false compliments and see how they respond. They won’t respond very well.
So the catch is that everything you say must be as authentic as possible. There’s no shortcut. There are no tricks. You say it because you mean it and mean it because you say it. The more nervous it makes you, the better, because it means you’re being authentic and making yourself vulnerable.
How attractive you are is based your non-needy behavior. Your non-needy behavior is based on how vulnerable you’re able to make yourself. And how vulnerable you’re able to make yourself is based on how honest you are to yourself and others