Back-up partner

A back-up partner, standby lover, or spare-tyre lover is a person anticipated as a potential future romantic partner in the event of the failure or unforeseen end of a current relationship. The main purpose of maintaining a back-up partner is to avoid ending up alone and heartbroken after breaking up with another lover.

The term "spare-tyre lover" (爱情备胎), has become popular on the Internet in China.[1][2] A study from 2014 found that Facebook users in relationships often used the site to maintain platonic friendships they felt could become replacement relationships if required, with men having such contacts at roughly twice the rate of women.[3]

Social context

An unstable current relationship may lead people to seek back-up lovers, particularly long-distance relationships.[4] Some people gain personal confidence from having a back-up lover, appreciating the fact that they are being admired by more than one person.[5]

gollark: It would be really nice to not have to deal with stuff like "charging".
gollark: Radioisotope thermoelectric generator.
gollark: But really, any decently powerful modern computer could *easily* control a bunch of drones.
gollark: Phones have power constraints too, since they use uncool batteries instead of superior RTGs.
gollark: It's *amazing* how hilariously underutilized computers are half the time. It doesn't help that most software is ridiculously wasteful.

See also

References
  1. 不愿一棵树上吊死.
  2. "Do you have a "back-up" partner waiting on the sidelines?". 20 November 2014.
  3. https://www.facebook.com/caitlin.dewey. "'Back-up husbands,' 'emotional affairs' and the rise of digital infidelity". Washington Post.
  4. "校园备胎族：感情的不忠还是安全感的缺失". Archived from the original on 2013-01-29. Retrieved 2015-03-20.
  5. "4 REASONS WOMEN HAVE BACKUP LOVERS". 29 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
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