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Spring has sprung, and love is in the air. The wedding invites will mount, and the spring flings will, well, mount also. Women are bringing out their flirty dresses and showing a little more skin. Men are, according to scientists, going into mojo mode.

And speaking of love, I have to make a couple of concessions to a few of my guy friends after my last column, about Beyoncé's “Single Ladies” and the song's relation to guys and single women and marriage. While most agreed with some of my points (and apologized for the jackasses of their gender), they did point out one thing: How come women don't see that marriage could be the short end of the stick?

After a lively discussion with a couple of them, whom I will call “Chase” and “Damon,” I was enlightened on what some men could be thinking when weighing bachelorhood and “here comes the bride.”

For the record, Chase is in a relationship with someone who agrees with him that marriage is not a necessary element; he and his longtime girlfriend (who has made it very clear that she does not want a ring on it) are also making a statement on gay marriage and won't marry until everyone can.

Chase's reasoning is that marriage is, at its most basic function, “just a legal contract.” Sure, there's love and commitment (in most cases), he argues, but can't you have that without going to the courthouse?

On the other end of the spectrum is Damon, who has recently been divorced and been burned by infidelity and debt.

In the event of a split-up, there's a “90 percent chance that the guy is gonna lose out,” Damon pointed out. In many cases, the woman gets the kids — unless she's Britney Spears, who, at one point, made K-Fed look like the undisputed “World's Best Dad” — and the money. Well, unless she's ex-Mr. Madonna, Guy Ritchie, who will rake in upwards of $92 million.

So, while this is not meant to be an indictment of marriage or meant to be used as a pretty decent argument for men who are noncommittal in the first place, I now can't blame some men for not jumping in headlong. With a divorce rate of 50 percent in the U.S., those are some pretty big odds to face.