Because some men ; like SOME women ...just have to be pretensous .... wannabe's ... +5

Well, as long as we're generalizing, let's not forget how "false" plays a role in many relationships on both men and womens behalf. True some men might use false pretenses or mislead a woman, or even outright lie about things to bag a girl but it's a game both sides play. Just as many women are just as guilty of doing such things. And let's not forget that women (genralizing here) shouldn't harp too much on men being false when a marginal amount of women's entire image is false. The hair color is not real, all the makeup, the things with straps and panels and this and that to tuck and lift and flatten, the nails, etc. Maybe women should consider the notion that men aren't trying to get you all in bed before marriage or dating to have sex with you, we are only trying to get you in bed with us since that's the only time we can see what you really look like and we'd like to be sure before we slap a ring on it.

You said it yourself. We have to. We're driven. It's a compulsion. It's not my fault. I'm sick. I need help.

Because the honest ones are not taken seriously?

Because panty hose are much harder to put on so they compensate for the extra "give" and hope not to "tear" into anything that might not fair the exposure well...:+

Social Conditioning; Takes a lifetime to shake it off

It's the code. It's required by law. If you think every man you meet is lying to you about everything then maybe it's time you warm the bench. Let someone in the game who actually LIKES men.

Maybe it's because they feel insecure about their image, or else feel the urge to make that woman see only their good side. no one likes their bad habits, even though they find it difficult to stop doing them. if you want to sell something, including yourself, to someone, you don't show them the faults first, only its plus points. if the guy doesn't know you well, and that you are accepting, most probably, he won't let you in on his darkest secrets, to call them that. you said you find it hard to let your guard down with new people you meed in one of your comments. it could be that they too find it hard to say all the truth the first time, and so tell you something else to impress. they might (but not always) let their guard down later on, but if you are astute enough, it might not progress to that point, because the girl has already written them off as untruthful gits. so in the end it might become a two-sided sword. i am a girl, and have passed from this experience, when a guy said he was an honest guy, says always what's on his mind and the truth, but is a 'good' bad boy - the classical playful funny guy. but then as i got to know him, i caught him in several lies, and that destroyed my image of him. it's just so disappointing, i'm fed up with it too. i guess the only thing you can do is make them understand that you understand that no one is perfect and that you accept them as they are... obviously, as long as they respect you and are honest with you.

same reasons women do...

So you may be spared the truth.

Well, Why do women? I'm sure it's the same reason.. And you can answer that yourself. It's no more a male characteristic than it is a female one.. Even less so IMHO

Wish I knew hon? Probably so as to never have to buy the cow. Some just lay down under her in blissful abandon with a mouth full of free milk!

For the very same reason women do it.

What do you mean?

It's the whole "macho" thing!! they feel they have to "act like a man"

because women don't like the truth

To make that sparkling first impression. Nobody's perfect, and anyone who starts out with the line. "Hi there, I snore a lot and have an annoying taste in music. Oh, and it's hard to pull my attention away from the TV when Football is on." is going to go home alone... A lot. So we put on out best smile, some man scent, make ourselves look big, and present ourselves as close to an Adonis as we can get. It really is like the mating show peacocks do. Hopefully, once the shine and BS wears off you love us enough to put up with our flaws.

women expect perfection because of the movies, men as they are cant match upto the perfect actors in the movies etc so we need to lie about who we are.

Some guys have a false perception of who they really are...they look in the mirror and see something else...like a stud when their a dud...or they see something fairly shitty and try and make up for it by acting overly impressive...try too hard...but as girls we can see through all that,,,we just dont tell them 'cause we dont want to hurt their feelings or crush their ego...