When I was only 17, my 19 year-old brother had been dating a pretty lady he had met while working as a tour pilot. (Yes, my brother did that -- he started his dream young.) One day my mom got a call and she sounded super excited and then my dad got on the phone. After the call, she came out onto the deck where I was, super excited and said that my brother was getting married. I did not share my parents' enthusiasm, but I hid my feelings. I was thinking, "Oh, shit, he's in trouble." Even that young, I had already figured out that marriage is a big risk with big problems. I won't reveal my age today, but suffice it to say that was a long time ago.

I suspect other MGTOW besides myself had inklings long before becoming MGTOW. I kept coming across shit about marriage that just wasn't right. It was more and more frequent as I got older. A red flag I saw over and over was the fact that as soon as you would meet a mate prospect, you could guarantee within minutes, or even within seconds, she would ask, "What do you do?" and then start mining for info on how much money you probably make and what kind of status your career has. That question is a supposedly under-the-radar version of, "How much money do you make?" I've always found it rude, but I didn't always understand the sinister underbelly of it. No matter how hard I searched for a woman who was first and primarily interested in me as the man that I am, what my beliefs are, what my experiences are, what's important to me, I could never find her. It was always money first, with the possible exception of girls in high school, but that's probably only because high school kids aren't in careers yet. However, even then lots of girls would lust after the coveted "older guy." It was a status symbol to be dating an older guy, maybe between 22 and 25 who was earning good money in a job (and never mind that she could get him arrested and thrown in prison).

The message I got over and over was, "I don't care about you, the man; I care about your money." This attitude has always made me want to throw up! I hated this shit when I was younger, and I hate it now. I've heard numerous rationalizations for this totally immoral behavior. It's just their instinct due to evolution, so they can't help it, and blah, blah, blah. I have an instinct to punch anyone in the face who insults me, or even kill them, but I don't do it! I've never believed humans have to be slaves to their instincts. I've looked and looked for women who believe it's immoral to go for a man for his money and status, but I've never found one. They're not out there.

And what happened with my brother and the woman he married when he was 19? He advanced to becoming a highly paid airline pilot for a major airline. He paid for his wife's education, both at university and at medical school. (I'd bet you can guess where this is headed.) While he was busting ass flying planes (it's a hard job), she was fucking around behind his back. Then as soon as she had her medical license, she divorced him and married one of her cheat goons, then moved out of state. She's now a highly paid doctor, thanks to her theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from my brother. Last we knew, she was on her fifth husband. I promise I'm not exaggerating, not even for comic effect.

My brother is now with his second wife who's actually stayed with him quite a while, but she nags him and drives him nuts. When we were having our family reunion, she renegged on her promise to come to it, bitching him out about trivial bullshit, making him feel like shit for coming to the family reunion that we had been planning for over two years. She's not as bad as his first wife, but you could say the same thing about Satan.

I never married, despite some opportunites to do so. One of my girlfriends even proposed to me. I laughed at her. It was totally unplanned and was nervous laughter, not an attempt to hurt her. That was still before my MGTOW days. I've always had an instinct toward marriage that says, "Fuck that shit."

TL;DR: Even at a very young age, I've always sensed that marriage is a scam. My life experiences have proved it.