Who Is "Love-Shy"?

     At the outset it is important for the reader to have a clear understanding of the 
nature of love-shyness and of the key characteristics shared by all the people studied
for this research.  In essence, a love-shy person is one who possesses each and
every one of the following seven characteristics:

     (1) He is a virgin; in other words, he has never had sexual intercourse.

     (2) He is a person who very rarely goes out socially with women.  None of the 
           love-shys studied for this book had dated more than four times during the year
           prior to being interviewed.

     (3) He is a person without a past history of any emotionally close, meaningful
           relationships of a romantic and/or sexual nature with any member of the
           opposite sex.

     (4) He is a person who has suffered and is continuing to suffer emotionally because
           of a lack of meaningful female companionship.  In short, he is a person who
           desperately wishes to have a relationship with a woman, but does not have one
           because of shyness.

     (5) He is a man who becomes extremely anxiety-ridden over so much as the mere
           thought of asserting himself vis-a-vis a woman in a casual, friendly way.  This is
           the essence of "love-shyness".

     (6) He is a man who is strictly heterosexual in his romantic and erotic orientations. 
           In other words, he is a person who is in no way a homosexual.
 
     (7) He is male.  No female love-shys were studied for this research.