The Commercial Dating Service

     Sooner or later a high proportion of severely love-shy men join
commercial introduction services. This issue will be discussed at length
in part three of this book. Because I had long been aware of the popularity
of commercial dating services among love-shy men, I decided to contact
the owner-managers of several such organizations in both the greater
New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. I succeeded in obtaining
interviews with six such owner-managers. Unfortunately, only one of
these proved willing on my behalf to ask love-shy men if they would
be willing to cooperate in this research investigation. This manager pro-
vided me with 62 names and addresses; and 46 of these men did meet
the seven criteria for love-shyness delineated on page 117.
     It turned out that 22 of the 46 men were in the 35 to 50 year age
range. And these men were employed for the older love-shy sample.
The other 24 men were all in the 21 to 24 year age range; and I employed
them for my younger love-shy sample. (By the way, 19 and 20 year old
men are not eligible for membership in most commercial dating services
because there aren't any available women that young or younger to
whom to assign them.)
     For ethical reasons, the cooperating dating service manager mailed
a notice to each of the 62 men selected. This notice was included along
with each man's monthly "matches". The notice concluded by asking
the recipient to contact the dating service office by a specified date if he
objected to his name and address being given to me. None of these men
owned telephones--a fact which is "par for the course" among the love-
shy.