3 Dating Stigmas to Dump

Get Rid of Social Expectations and Enjoy Yourself!

Relationships can be difficult enough to stumble through without all the bad advice and stigmas attached to proper courtship etiquette. Let’s look at a few dating conventions that you might want to leave on the sidelines.

1. A Girl Can’t Ask a Guy Out

This is probably one of the oldest dating stigmas still affecting modern women. In previous generations, it was thought unseemly for a woman to chase a man, except perhaps on Sadie Hawkins Day. While this antiquated convention may not stop you from pursuing him, it is likely to give most girls a few trepidations. In your effort to avoid coming on too strong, or seeming too desperate or needy, you can end up appearing disinterested in him. If he’s shy, or open to strong women in the way most men of recent generations are, he’ll appreciate your initiative. Your display of interest in him may be the perfect way to make him feel validated, giving him the green light to pursue you, too.

2. Wait at Least 3 Days Before You Call Him

Along similar lines, the waiting game has become a tired and trite dating maneuver. It hardly makes you look “cool” in the twenty-first century to follow this game plan, as he will easily see through this overplayed ploy. While calling him on the hour is not permissible- and places you in the stalker zone – by calling him when you feel like it, you take yourself out of the old game. Since life if short, why waste time adhering to old rules that move you further away from your goals – like finding that special someone you can build a relationship with.

3. The Guy Should Always Pay

In our modern era, and with the diminishing gap in male-female equality and earning power, the quaint view of man as the sole provider has dramatically declined. Every good relationship requires a certain balance, with each partner bringing different things to the table. If a woman wants to be viewed as an equal in the partnership, there should be equality in what each partner brings to the relationship. Going Dutch is always the safe way to go in the beginning of the courtship, unless he insists and your acquiescence doesn’t make you feel as if you owe him something (particularly of a sexual nature) in return.

Dating is never easy, and as times change, it is logical that you need to change your approach to all aspects of your life. Finding someone who is right for you is not an easy feat; the more of the game playing that you can remove from the search, the quicker you will find what and who you’re looking for.