Women are often castigated for judging men in a single look, deciding on a man’s chances on the basis of a series of apparently unworthy pointers, from hair-parting, to attire, to his drink, to the way he leans at the bar. It’s been enough to force some of them out of the trenches and on to the Internet.

More fools them! Now, rather than just their looks and their lean, women have a more severe whip to beat them with: their own words.

Dating websites throw up lists of men that will meet your typed in criteria. Big, small, medium build. Brown, black, blonde hair. School, college or farm educated. 25 to 35, 35 to 45, 45 to over-the-hill. Thick as the wall, thick as a plank, thick as thieves. But it’s only when it gets down to the personal entries that it really gets interesting. For it is here that women can judge with impunity from the comfort of their kitchen chair, bed or office desk, firewalls depending. Men describing themselves in intimate detail equals heaven for women who love to judge recklessly.

Dating websites are the two-way mirror of singles scene. A line-up of the usual suspects, drawn from an invisible holding area, told to fan out and be judged, waiting either to be sent back to the holding cell or asked to step forward, turn around, say a line or two and prove themselves guilty or innocent: date worthy or not date worthy.

But, men beware! You may think that dating websites offer a safe-house from the wasp-chewing shrews who would spit venom on you as soon as talk to you, but all it means is that we can now do it with relative impunity and from the comfort of our own homes.

And, while pub lighting can tell white lies, descriptive words cry like a teenage go-between on a drug deal gone bust. Everything may be going well with your profile and then one or two little words and you’re done for. For instance, ‘good listener’ and the heavies are all over the joint.

a) This individual is such a desperado, they are not just willing to put up with but actively pursuing someone with issues that they want to get off their chest; b) they have their own issues and want to meet a kindred spirit; or c) and perhaps most depressingly, all they expect from a significant other is to be a shoulder to cry on. Hit delete! It’s enough to drive you back to the pub.

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