If you are reading this, you are probably a pissed-off girl or a confused nice guy, because if you were a real jerk, you would be out somewhere ignoring your girlfriend.

It remains a mystery why women consistently fall for jerks. Although I may not have the answer, I do bring some insight into the phenomenon.

Women are notorious for saying one thing and doing another. They will tell you they want a nice guy, but they end up sleeping with a jerk. If women were truly honest, they would tell you their definition of "nice guy".

It's not enough to hold open doors and pay for dinner. They want a man who they can walk all over, someone who will return their call in .3 seconds and apologizes for everything - even if it's not their fault.

There are plenty of those guys out there, and they readily date these women, but these relationships fizzle out and the woman peddles her little malicious legs back to Jerkville.

This occurs because there is a difference between what women want and what they need.

Women want a man who is reliable and trustworthy. What they need is a man who is unstable and edgy. And most important, they need to feel.

Jerks make women feel. Feel anger, jealousy, resentment, and lust. Jerks are characterized by their self-assured manner. They exude confidence and sexuality. They know (or convinced themselves) that they are what you want. They won't let anyone walk on them, and this creates a challenge.

Perhaps this is where the attraction resides. Women need a guy they can "fix." Their mothering instincts kick in and they want to help him change. Besides, what more could a woman want then to be the girl that got him to surrender?

The difficulty of the relationship is what keeps it exciting and makes her continue to feel.

A little truth: Women talk -a lot. They share everything from how many calories were in their last meal to their natural hair color, but most of all they talk about men. They swoon when they hear stories of dozen-rose boyfriends but desperately cling to your every word when a relationship goes sour. They need to talk to their girlfriends about how they are feeling, and they live to use the line, "He's a jerk, but I love him."

I suppose the most mysterious thing about jerks is how they transform women. Women morph from pursued to pursuer, with animalistic aggression. The jerk is well aware of the power and retaliates accordingly. He will ignore you at first, check out everyone else, and then - if you are lucky - will give you the time of day.

He differs from the nice guy by giving her a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. He appears to always be on the prowl, so a woman must try to captivate his interest. The nice guy lets a woman know she is important by giving her undivided attention and taking things slowly. This is the nice guy's handicap. He can actually insult her by playing it safe. She may take his politeness as disinterest.

The jerk will let her know what he is all about. He will rarely compliment her beyond her physical attributes and isn't afraid to lay out a detailed sexual blueprint of his plans for her.

Above all else, it may be the simple fact that women don't want to take responsibility for their actions in a relationship. If they date a jerk, they already set themselves up to be the victim. Blame it on the jerk. If they are involved with a nice guy, that leaves the possibility open that she may actually be the source of the relationship's downfall - and that's just not lady-like.

Do what you will with my advice, but don't take it too much to heart. After all, I am the Single Guy.