For an example parallel to PUA, men may get squicked by this advice for women, even though they know it works.
That’s an interesting list. A lot of those serve as general advice that tends to be given to guys too.
Always look great, whatever your income.
Never reveal information you don’t have to. An enigmatic [man] drives [women] wild.
Try and stay in shape and involve some fitness regime at a gym.
Never be available when he wants you to be.
If he is available Tuesday, you are available Thursday.
Ensure you are a good kisser.
Never ever talk about previous [girlfriends], particularly their prowess in the bedroom. Your ex-[girlfriends] are your business only.
Never assume anything about your date until you choose to know him better. You cannot always tell by looking.
Never ever come across as too available or too desperate. [She] will run a mile.
If the [girl] in the corner is gorgeous, go get [her] and create the need in [her] for you. Never wait for [women] to come to you because you may watch [her] leave with someone else.
If you want a child, don’t mention it on the first few dates.
Never ever criticize [her] mother unless you want to remain single.
Then there are some tips about evaluation strategies that guys tend to be warned to consider:
If any man shows the slightest signs of possessiveness or insecurity, run like the wind. Life is too short for boys.
If his shoes or hygiene are a disgrace, dump him.
(Yup. Shoes, and insecurity. Those two are the big ones in fashion and behavioral signalling respectively.)
Then there are others that guys are often suggested strategies for dealing with. (Such strategies vary rather a lot depending on individual identity, what kind of relationship is desired and pure arbitrariness.)
Let your man pay. If he is interested, he is interested enough to ensure you eat well and get home safely in a cab.
Often I’ll do this as a hat tip to tradition or as a pure matter of convenience. It depends a bit on the girl. Sometimes it will pay for a meal then say, for example, that now she can take me and buy me icecream. With respect to the attitude conveyed in the above tip, if a girl does expect me to pay and conveys that then I expect her to do so from the position that it is a gesture that she appreciates, not her prerogative. I am not paying for her time, the transaction is ‘time and company’ for ‘time and company’. She isn’t a hooker!
Ensure you receive flowers. If he doesn’t know what a florist is, dump him.
I like how the unreasonable tips come with “dump him” instructions. Dumping her would be hard work after all. Flowers are to add flavour of novelty within an established relationship and even then subject to preference.
Keep dates brief, but your men interested. Less is always more.
Yawn. Organising dates is a significant overhead. Short is the opposite of interesting to me.
Never ever sleep with a guy until he has fallen for you. Sex early in your dating game plan will ruin everything.
I have found sex too early in the relationship to sometimes be a mixed blessing. Primarily because it can sometimes cover over incompatibility or lack of other common interests. But I don’t think that is what the tip is getting at (which is defintely squick).
Always keep a guy waiting and never turn up early. It is a lady’s perogative.
I prefer to arrange meetings where no waiting for either party is required and there is a minimum of inconvenience if someone flakes. Apart from that there are all sorts of ways to handle this and other sorts of power play in a way that eliminates deliberate discourtesy while providing the best experience for both parties. That’s where sharing strategies and successes with others who have found ways to handle a situation comes in handy.
Weekend shopping trips with girlfriends are sacred and not available for dates.
Sure, whatever. Just assume an approximately constant pool of ’asking out’s with two or three potential times given for each ask out. Calibrate availability and acceptance accordingly.
From what I observe of my own behaviour in general, if doing something does not work then I go and do something (or in this case someone) else. Einstein would call that ‘not being insane’.
Keep your man standing on quicksand by shifting landmarks and goalposts constantly.
I have fond memories of the time back in my teenage years when I realised that in dating, as in the rest of life, the only goalposts I have to worry about are my own. The approval of others is sometimes useful and sometimes it is fun to play other people’s games. But other times it is more fun to reverse them or ignore them outright.
Never talk too much about your father and how your date measures up in comparison.
You may well have all the bodily functions of a man, just try not to demonstrate them early on.
(Whatever.)
Always reply to emails at least 3 days after receipt.
A man who doesn’t reply to your email within 3 days should be ignored.
Now there is some real squick. My biggest peeve is bullshit double standards like that. Fortunately they are self screening once again.
Some of these seem also just designed to cause maximum drama. Consider:
Let your man pay. If he is interested, he is interested enough to ensure you eat well and get home safely in a cab.
Many females I’ve dated get actively offended if I the guys try to pay rather than splitting the bill. And frankly, they have a right to be offended, giving the historical double standards that are associated with this sort of thing. That someone is trying to get females to insist on this while others use it as a test in the opposite direction? Yeah, this isn’t going to lead to problems at all.
Many females I’ve dated get actively offended if I the guys try to pay rather than splitting the bill. And frankly, they have a right to be offended
I wouldn’t want to deny anyone the right to be offended at anything they please but for my part I would bid them politely goodnight and delete their phone number. Getting actively offended over things that are not a big deal is a huge red flag. It indicates either specific emotional issues or a generally high maintenance personality. I’ll leave those girls to you Josh. :)
Some sample sane responses in such circumstances:
No, we’ll split it.
Hey, none of that, Neanderthal! (With a smile and or fake arm slap to indicate lightheartedness. Equivalent to assertiveness with humor.)
Ideal response:
Sure, but I’ve got the next one!
This follows from a general principle that a propensity for taking offence is an unattractive trait and an indicator of immature boundaries. If you want something different ask for it or actively make it happen.
From what I’ve read, being able to credibly offer a free meal is a critical tool in some men’s dating arsenal. Changing it to “well, if you want I’ll pay, but I’d be really grateful if you’d chip in too” could leave him substantially weakened. Her making decisions on his behalf and talking about them as a couple after one date also seems like a bad sign.
Hey, none of that, Neanderthal! (With a smile and or fake arm slap to indicate lightheartedness. Equivalent to assertiveness with humor.)
“Ha, ha! It’s funny because she insulted me and dismissed my sex’s relevance as economic agents!”
Sure, but I’ve got the next one!
“So just because I was curious enough to spend some money to get to know her better, suddenly I’m at her beck and call? What kind of spineless plaything does she see me as?”
...and that’s one of many reasons I hope I don’t need to date.
Wow. All those could technically be valid interpretations. That’s where things like body language and confidence come in. There is something to be said for interpreting everything in the best possible light. Occasionally (dependent highly on context) even when you know they intended it to be critical. (Although in this case they didn’t).
Hey, none of that, Neanderthal! (With a smile and or fake arm slap to indicate lightheartedness. Equivalent to assertiveness with humor.)
“Ha, ha! It’s funny because she insulted me and dismissed my sex’s relevance as economic agents!”
For my part I find the ability to mock tradition and culture without getting personally insulted by it kind of endearing. In this case, again depending rather significantly on cues in the context, I would quite possibly go ahead and be sure to open doors for her and move her to the side of the pavement farthest from the road. Because teasing each other is fun, life isn’t meant to be taken seriously and, incidentally, because it would be role playing the masculine stereotype light-heartedly.
Incidentally I don’t consider ‘Neanderthal’ to be an insult. Neanderthals were awesome. ;)
Many females I’ve dated get actively offended if I the guys try to pay rather than splitting the bill. And frankly, they have a right to be offended, giving the historical double standards that are associated with this sort of thing.
I have to admit, when I was dating, I would always offer to pay half the bill—but I never went on a second date with any guy who took me up on it. I know this goes against the general policy of forthrightness that I otherwise followed, and I can’t really defend the practice rationally. It probably was an area where I was following drives I didn’t fully understand, maybe something about finding a man who was capable of the old-fashioned, stand-up, protect & provide business.
In any case I would definitely advise men to offer to pay on the first date. I mean, don’t insist on it, but showing that you have money, and aren’t stingy with it, is generally an attractive thing.
When my date pays for things/establishes a trend of paying for things, it gives me permission not to fuss about money. I am very, very inclined to fuss about money if any of the money involved is mine, so I find it a huge load off my mind. (I go on first dates prepared to pay half if my date seems to prefer this idea when I ask, but preparing to do that before every date with a person I intended to see regularly would be rapidly exhausting for me, so I’d be leery of going on dates-that-could-cost-money with someone who doesn’t demonstrate an inclination to pay—though this doesn’t preclude 100% of possible second dates.)
Example: I recently dated a guy who took me out to movies (he paid), and we were trying to think of something else to do besides see movies. I proposed snow tubing, but then discovered that the only snow tubing place open in the area which had a device to pull the tubes up the hill was expensive. I dithered to him about this. If he had said something like “don’t worry about that, I’ve got it”, we would have gone snow tubing. He did not, so we didn’t. (This didn’t preclude another movie date after this non-event.)
I think the relevant joke and intended consequences is something like:
I insert an obvious derogatory remark about a tribal group you are very loosely affiliated with.
Since I am closely affiliated with that tribal group, this comment acts as a countersignal and ironically signals affiliation with that group. This also works because the group in question has a history of countersignaling in this fashion and calling it “humor”.
Since a disproportionate fraction up LW readers have past or present emotional connections to that tribal group, this raises my status at LW.
(Something else very Hansonian occurs here)
Profit.
ETA: And actually, this post also signals affiliation with nerdy internet people. Now if only I can find a way to simultaneous signal with people concerned about FAI and signal affiliation with paperclip maximizers, then I’m all set.
This is a nice example of a division of labor based on
relative strengths (at least when your partner does not
happen to have a similar aversion). For me, such a division
is preferable to the idea that roles in (heterosexual)
relationships are determined by the sexes of the respective
partners.
Yeah, I’d have similar preferences if I dated a girl. (I have been in relationships with girls, but never in the “we will go to a place and spend money on food/an activity” style of relationship.)
The division is that Alicorn is not strong with money; she lets her date sort out the money because (while not necessarily strong with money absolute) they are stronger with money than her. Relatively, the date is stronger, so they do the labour of paying.
One possible reason for someone being strong with money is they have lots of it.
Arundelo is making the point that it could have turned out that Alicorn was strong with money and her date was not; in this case Alicorn would have paid. It was not a case of “man pays, woman doesn’t.” It was a case of “those who can most pay, pay.”
That’s not the impression I got. The date ended up paying because Alicorn didn’t want to, and the date not paying would have led to fewer dates. She stated she was prepared to pay half, not prepared to pay full like her date was doing.
(I go on first dates prepared to pay half if my date seems to prefer this idea when I ask, but preparing to do that before every date with a person I intended to see ?regularly would be rapidly exhausting for me, so I’d be leery of going on dates-that-could-cost-money with someone who doesn’t demonstrate an inclination to pay
In the comment just next to mine, she says...
Yeah, I’d have similar preferences if I dated a girl. (I have been in relationships with girls, but never in the “we will go to a place and spend money on food/an activity” style of relationship.)
Which illustrates the reasoning behind PUA advice being to split the bill. It explicitly states that she should only bother spending time with you for your company. If the idea that you two would work out something that didn’t involve spending money never comes up, then she just wasn’t into you.
A lot of my resentment toward your comments has to do with your acceptance (sometimes approaching flaunting) of women’s disproportionate bargaining power in relationships. This attitude makes me feel uncomfortable and sometimes provokes me to write flamey comments, which I then delete. I’m not sure how many other men here feel the same way, maybe I’m the only one, but still.
When my date pays for things/establishes a trend of paying for things, it gives me permission not to fuss about money. I am very, very inclined to fuss about money if any of the money involved is mine, so I find it a huge load off my mind.
Resisting temptation to make obvious joke about your paternal ancestry…
Something along the lines of “ah, and here we see confirmation of your Jewish ancestry.” The joke I was thinking of was simply that your concerns about money as expressed fit very well with negative stereotypes about Jews and money. It really isn’t that funny and is probably anti-humorous when one has to explain it to this level.
but I never went on a second date with any guy who took me up on it
I doubt you followed that rule consistently. It looks like to much of a unimportant minimal indicator that should be superseded by the rest of the date.
But if you poll enough women you will find many such statements that contradict with the ones other women give.
Getting angry for paying the bill, getting angry for not paying the bill. Expecting him to hold the door. Getting angry holding doors for her.
There is no standard rule set to follow. And i find it ridiculous how women (or anyone) expect others to just know what they want without ever bothering to tell them.
Another way of thinking about it might be that “paying the bill” or “not holding the door” are indicators of the man’s personality, rather than terminal values of the woman. In this case, telling the man “I expect you to pay the bill” is counter-productive. It doesn’t actually achieve anything the woman wants—what she wants (in this hypothetical) is a man that would do this on his own. It merely eliminates “paying the bill” as a useful indicator of personality.
Granted, this strategy doesn’t work well on a man who doesn’t have an opinion on the matter and just wants to make the woman happy, but it’s a plausible explanation.
Mind you the parent completely reverses the impression given by the earlier comment of “Wow, that’s an attitude of the perfect girl for a nerd to be dating!”
Mind you the parent completely reverses the impression given by the earlier comment of “Wow, that’s an attitude of the perfect girl for a nerd to be dating!”
I know! I wasn’t even aware of it as inconsistent at the time.
Mind you the parent completely reverses the impression given by the earlier comment of “Wow, that’s an attitude of the perfect girl for a nerd to be dating!”
Well, humans have lots of different behaviors and variation. It is extremely unlikely that anyone is going to be perfect. Moreover, everyone is influenced by cultural norms. As far as I can tell, that sort of thing is evidence more that people should try not to use any single warning sign as an absolute deal-killer unless it is very severe.
It is extremely unlikely that anyone is going to be perfect.
Naturally. siduri’s earlier comment indicated that she was an extreme outlier in terms of preferences and and proactive forthrightness. This additional trait just serves as a regression to the mean.
I have never had a guy offer to pay for my dinner. I guess Aussie blokes just don’t tend to do that kind of thing. I think that if anyone ever did—I’d be so surprised that I’d accept. I’d certainly be happy to pay for the next meal (or coffee or whatever).
I’m told that, during WWII, the American soldiers that were stationed in Australia cleaned up on the dating scene—because they happened to still use those traditional behaviours. ;)
I totally understand the inclination to get upset if being treated unfairly—but these days, I’m pretty sure that most guys that hold a door open for you are not doing it because they think I’m incapable of doing it myself… so I smile and say thank you, and make sure I pay it forward for somebody else next time I have the opportunity.
It seems that, steadfast allies as American GIs may have been to the ANZAC forces during combat, on the home front they were ruthless-if unknowing-defectors
I think a lot of women are looking for a man who can create romantic experiences, start to finish, for them. I think that’s what the “bill paying” business is really about. (If it were about money you could just ask what he does for a living.) And it’s fun once in a while when someone has orchestrated an entire evening for you and taken care of all the details for you. But if you expect that regularly and don’t reciprocate… I guess I disapprove of that. It reduces him to “The Guy Who Brings The Fun Stuff.”
I got a little angry reading that (didn’t follow the original link), but I’m feeling too lazy to discard the post I wrote, so:
Never ever talk about previous [girlfriends], particularly their prowess in the bedroom. Your ex-[girlfriends] are your business only.
Thereby signalling to her (if she were rational) that she’ll be equally a nonentity to you in a year, and/or (if you actively avoid the subject) that you handled your past relationships badly and are likely to do the same for your next.
Never assume anything about your date until you choose to know him better. You cannot always tell by looking.
If I had video of every time that was hilariously bad advice for me back when I still expected human statements to necessarily mean things, I expect I could make a substantially better contribution to this thread.
If the [girl] in the corner is gorgeous, go get [her] and create the need in [her] for you. Never wait for [women] to come to you because you may watch [her] leave with someone else.
This appears to be a disguised problem statement: “If she perceives you as pursuing her, she’ll run a mile, but if you wait for her to pursue you she won’t. Therefore, use magic.” So glad I’m a lifestyle-aspie where the rule is “if you want something from someone, ask, if you don’t think that’ll work, offer something in exchange, if you don’t have anything to offer, do without”.
My imagined “stereotypical advice” version of that sentence is more like “If the girl in the corner is gorgeous, too bad. The girl who actually talks to you and affects an interest in you will be gorgeous too if you let yourself see it, and you don’t want to miss out on her just because you’re hung up on someone else that you probably didn’t have a chance with anyway.
Never ever criticize [her] mother unless you want to remain single.
God, I love family-as-applause-light. Just seeing “criticize” and “mother” next to each other looks dirty. Mothers are sweet and upstanding ladies who work hard to take care of their daughters!
If his shoes or hygiene are a disgrace, dump him.
The lack of any definition of “disgrace” makes me want to look over the others to see if they fit the pattern of “blank canvas for the reader to project her already existing behavior on”.
Often I’ll do this as a hat tip to tradition or as a pure matter of convenience. It depends a bit on the girl. Sometimes it will pay for a meal then say, for example, that now she can take me and buy me icecream.
Should “it” be I?
She isn’t a hooker!
Also love “hooker” as boo light.
I like how the unreasonable tips come with “dump him” instructions. Dumping her would be hard work after all.
Are you implying that the page is saying that men withhold flowers from women as a less hard alternative to dumping them directly?
I got a little angry reading that (didn’t follow the original link)
Just so long as you don’t interpret it as avocation from me (except where explicitly indicated). It is, after all, a bunch of dating tips given to women and presented here because it may ‘squick’ guys. Mind you most of them did not squick me at all and even then it was just a “I wouldn’t date her” reaction. But other people not getting offended at something is sometimes itself taken as offensive so I don’t mind if you are angry at me too. :)
I know you mentioned that you hope you never have to date. For those that do date an attractive trait tends to be the ability to accept the dating patterns of the desired demographic without discontent. The signalling reason for this is obvious.
Thereby signalling to her (if she were rational) that she’ll be equally a nonentity to you in a year, and/or (if you actively avoid the subject) that you handled your past relationships badly and are likely to do the same for your next.
I wouldn’t call that rational. A rational girl would assume that I don’t have my entire history written down on my sleeve for all to see. I don’t speak of all the important things in my life in all conversations. I would call that girl ‘paranoid’.
So glad I’m a lifestyle-aspie where the rule is “if you want something from someone, ask
Not a bad approach at all. Not universally effective but the screening/signalling combo would work well for some combinations. :)
My imagined “stereotypical advice” version of that sentence is more like “If the girl in the corner is gorgeous, too bad. The girl who actually talks to you and affects an interest in you will be gorgeous too if you let yourself see it, and you don’t want to miss out on her just because you’re hung up on someone else that you probably didn’t have a chance with anyway.
In that vein the actual sentiment in the tip would translate to actively seeking out those other ‘gorgeous’, interesting/interested people too, rather than waiting passively.
God, I love family-as-applause-light. Just seeing “criticize” and “mother” next to each other looks dirty. Mothers are sweet and upstanding ladies who work hard to take care of their daughters!
‘Applause light’ is a little different from ‘personal—don’t insult’.
Should “it” be I?
No. Just no.
Also love “hooker” as boo light.
Framing, like it or not, is incredibly important when dating. A particularly aggressive framing of “If I do then I am entitled to material resource>” is an indication that a certain kind of relationship will follow and to some extent the type of personality of the girl. Again, it is how it is framed that is important more so than who actually pays for stuff. It also depends what kind of relationship you want.
Some people in some circumstances are looking for a more overtly transactional relationship than a partnership—rich middle aged men having affairs for example. Which is somewhat different to the provider/dominant-partner role that a less aggressive expectation that he will pay may indicate.
Are you implying that the page is saying that men withhold flowers from women as a less hard alternative to dumping them directly?
Almost certainly. It’s a male conspiracy. The CIA is probably involved too. And aliens. And if the flowers don’t work the Tin Foil Hat will every time.
...but probably didn’t.
No, quite probably not. The “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” attribution to Einstein is a cultural myth. But sometimes I humour culture on the little things. :)
I prefer to arrange meetings where no waiting for either party is required and there is a minimum of inconvenience if someone flakes. Apart from that there are all sorts of ways to handle this and other sorts of power play in a way that eliminates deliberate discourtesy while providing the best experience for both parties. That’s where sharing strategies and successes with others who have found ways to handle a situation comes in handy.
I had no idea such a thing were possible. Please share your strategies and successes for arranging those situations.
(I’m being purposely non-specific in the hopes of encouraging as much detail as possible; a good strategy for interviews and give-and-take, but for requesting particular information in an asynchronous exchange I’m unsure of its efficacy.)
I had no idea such a thing were possible. Please share your strategies and successes for arranging those situations.
I presume wedrifid was essentially referring to making dates that were things you wanted to do anyway or meeting points where the waiting party has an alternative thing to be doing.
That was what I assumed, but to schedule a meeting where being late would not make the first arrival wait seems impossible to me. Perhaps a fair or festival? Those occur infrequently. A petting zoo? That’s… not a bad idea, actually—but petting the animals would hardly be the main activity, and the animals could only entertain one for so long. At cinema one may feel to have been made to wait by seeing other tribes all around, even though the explicit activity is idle viewing. A talk? One may want to save a seat for the tardy party, but besides that a talk appears perfect.
Well, that’s one “[meeting] where no waiting for either party is required....” I figured you or wedrifid might have a cache of events that fit that criterion and asked to hedge against figuratively ‘re-inventing the wheel’.
I recommend sitting down and listing ten things you might do for fun, just because you enjoy them. Then look at that list and circle the ones that don’t have a fixed start time (like zoos, fairs, festivals, museums, outdoor walks, amusement parks, beaches, etc. etc. etc.) If you haven’t circled anything, repeat the exercise with another ten things you like to do. If the area where you live publishes a directory of local events, that’s a useful place to start.
That’s an interesting list. A lot of those serve as general advice that tends to be given to guys too.
Always look great, whatever your income.
Never reveal information you don’t have to. An enigmatic [man] drives [women] wild.
Try and stay in shape and involve some fitness regime at a gym.
Never be available when he wants you to be.
If he is available Tuesday, you are available Thursday.
Ensure you are a good kisser.
Never ever talk about previous [girlfriends], particularly their prowess in the bedroom. Your ex-[girlfriends] are your business only.
Never assume anything about your date until you choose to know him better. You cannot always tell by looking.
Never ever come across as too available or too desperate. [She] will run a mile.
If the [girl] in the corner is gorgeous, go get [her] and create the need in [her] for you. Never wait for [women] to come to you because you may watch [her] leave with someone else.
If you want a child, don’t mention it on the first few dates.
Never ever criticize [her] mother unless you want to remain single.
Then there are some tips about evaluation strategies that guys tend to be warned to consider:
If any man shows the slightest signs of possessiveness or insecurity, run like the wind. Life is too short for boys.
If his shoes or hygiene are a disgrace, dump him.
(Yup. Shoes, and insecurity. Those two are the big ones in fashion and behavioral signalling respectively.)
Then there are others that guys are often suggested strategies for dealing with. (Such strategies vary rather a lot depending on individual identity, what kind of relationship is desired and pure arbitrariness.)
Let your man pay. If he is interested, he is interested enough to ensure you eat well and get home safely in a cab.
Often I’ll do this as a hat tip to tradition or as a pure matter of convenience. It depends a bit on the girl. Sometimes it will pay for a meal then say, for example, that now she can take me and buy me icecream. With respect to the attitude conveyed in the above tip, if a girl does expect me to pay and conveys that then I expect her to do so from the position that it is a gesture that she appreciates, not her prerogative. I am not paying for her time, the transaction is ‘time and company’ for ‘time and company’. She isn’t a hooker!
Ensure you receive flowers. If he doesn’t know what a florist is, dump him.
I like how the unreasonable tips come with “dump him” instructions. Dumping her would be hard work after all. Flowers are to add flavour of novelty within an established relationship and even then subject to preference.
Keep dates brief, but your men interested. Less is always more.
Yawn. Organising dates is a significant overhead. Short is the opposite of interesting to me.
Never ever sleep with a guy until he has fallen for you. Sex early in your dating game plan will ruin everything.
I have found sex too early in the relationship to sometimes be a mixed blessing. Primarily because it can sometimes cover over incompatibility or lack of other common interests. But I don’t think that is what the tip is getting at (which is defintely squick).
Always keep a guy waiting and never turn up early. It is a lady’s perogative.
I prefer to arrange meetings where no waiting for either party is required and there is a minimum of inconvenience if someone flakes. Apart from that there are all sorts of ways to handle this and other sorts of power play in a way that eliminates deliberate discourtesy while providing the best experience for both parties. That’s where sharing strategies and successes with others who have found ways to handle a situation comes in handy.
Weekend shopping trips with girlfriends are sacred and not available for dates.
Sure, whatever. Just assume an approximately constant pool of ’asking out’s with two or three potential times given for each ask out. Calibrate availability and acceptance accordingly.
From what I observe of my own behaviour in general, if doing something does not work then I go and do something (or in this case someone) else. Einstein would call that ‘not being insane’.
Keep your man standing on quicksand by shifting landmarks and goalposts constantly.
I have fond memories of the time back in my teenage years when I realised that in dating, as in the rest of life, the only goalposts I have to worry about are my own. The approval of others is sometimes useful and sometimes it is fun to play other people’s games. But other times it is more fun to reverse them or ignore them outright.
Never talk too much about your father and how your date measures up in comparison.
You may well have all the bodily functions of a man, just try not to demonstrate them early on.
(Whatever.)
Always reply to emails at least 3 days after receipt.
A man who doesn’t reply to your email within 3 days should be ignored.
Now there is some real squick. My biggest peeve is bullshit double standards like that. Fortunately they are self screening once again.
Some of these seem also just designed to cause maximum drama. Consider:
Many females I’ve dated get actively offended if I the guys try to pay rather than splitting the bill. And frankly, they have a right to be offended, giving the historical double standards that are associated with this sort of thing. That someone is trying to get females to insist on this while others use it as a test in the opposite direction? Yeah, this isn’t going to lead to problems at all.
I wouldn’t want to deny anyone the right to be offended at anything they please but for my part I would bid them politely goodnight and delete their phone number. Getting actively offended over things that are not a big deal is a huge red flag. It indicates either specific emotional issues or a generally high maintenance personality. I’ll leave those girls to you Josh. :)
Some sample sane responses in such circumstances:
No, we’ll split it.
Hey, none of that, Neanderthal! (With a smile and or fake arm slap to indicate lightheartedness. Equivalent to assertiveness with humor.)
Ideal response:
Sure, but I’ve got the next one!
This follows from a general principle that a propensity for taking offence is an unattractive trait and an indicator of immature boundaries. If you want something different ask for it or actively make it happen.
No, we’ll split it.
From what I’ve read, being able to credibly offer a free meal is a critical tool in some men’s dating arsenal. Changing it to “well, if you want I’ll pay, but I’d be really grateful if you’d chip in too” could leave him substantially weakened. Her making decisions on his behalf and talking about them as a couple after one date also seems like a bad sign.
Hey, none of that, Neanderthal! (With a smile and or fake arm slap to indicate lightheartedness. Equivalent to assertiveness with humor.)
“Ha, ha! It’s funny because she insulted me and dismissed my sex’s relevance as economic agents!”
Sure, but I’ve got the next one!
“So just because I was curious enough to spend some money to get to know her better, suddenly I’m at her beck and call? What kind of spineless plaything does she see me as?”
...and that’s one of many reasons I hope I don’t need to date.
Wow. All those could technically be valid interpretations. That’s where things like body language and confidence come in. There is something to be said for interpreting everything in the best possible light. Occasionally (dependent highly on context) even when you know they intended it to be critical. (Although in this case they didn’t).
For my part I find the ability to mock tradition and culture without getting personally insulted by it kind of endearing. In this case, again depending rather significantly on cues in the context, I would quite possibly go ahead and be sure to open doors for her and move her to the side of the pavement farthest from the road. Because teasing each other is fun, life isn’t meant to be taken seriously and, incidentally, because it would be role playing the masculine stereotype light-heartedly.
Incidentally I don’t consider ‘Neanderthal’ to be an insult. Neanderthals were awesome. ;)
I have to admit, when I was dating, I would always offer to pay half the bill—but I never went on a second date with any guy who took me up on it. I know this goes against the general policy of forthrightness that I otherwise followed, and I can’t really defend the practice rationally. It probably was an area where I was following drives I didn’t fully understand, maybe something about finding a man who was capable of the old-fashioned, stand-up, protect & provide business.
In any case I would definitely advise men to offer to pay on the first date. I mean, don’t insist on it, but showing that you have money, and aren’t stingy with it, is generally an attractive thing.
When my date pays for things/establishes a trend of paying for things, it gives me permission not to fuss about money. I am very, very inclined to fuss about money if any of the money involved is mine, so I find it a huge load off my mind. (I go on first dates prepared to pay half if my date seems to prefer this idea when I ask, but preparing to do that before every date with a person I intended to see regularly would be rapidly exhausting for me, so I’d be leery of going on dates-that-could-cost-money with someone who doesn’t demonstrate an inclination to pay—though this doesn’t preclude 100% of possible second dates.)
Example: I recently dated a guy who took me out to movies (he paid), and we were trying to think of something else to do besides see movies. I proposed snow tubing, but then discovered that the only snow tubing place open in the area which had a device to pull the tubes up the hill was expensive. I dithered to him about this. If he had said something like “don’t worry about that, I’ve got it”, we would have gone snow tubing. He did not, so we didn’t. (This didn’t preclude another movie date after this non-event.)
I think the relevant joke and intended consequences is something like:
I insert an obvious derogatory remark about a tribal group you are very loosely affiliated with.
Since I am closely affiliated with that tribal group, this comment acts as a countersignal and ironically signals affiliation with that group. This also works because the group in question has a history of countersignaling in this fashion and calling it “humor”.
Since a disproportionate fraction up LW readers have past or present emotional connections to that tribal group, this raises my status at LW.
(Something else very Hansonian occurs here)
Profit.
ETA: And actually, this post also signals affiliation with nerdy internet people. Now if only I can find a way to simultaneous signal with people concerned about FAI and signal affiliation with paperclip maximizers, then I’m all set.
Voted up for being funny. This probably proves some kind of point, doesn’t it?
This is a nice example of a division of labor based on relative strengths (at least when your partner does not happen to have a similar aversion). For me, such a division is preferable to the idea that roles in (heterosexual) relationships are determined by the sexes of the respective partners.
Yeah, I’d have similar preferences if I dated a girl. (I have been in relationships with girls, but never in the “we will go to a place and spend money on food/an activity” style of relationship.)
You mean the relative strengths of having money versus being a woman? I’m not seeing the division here.
The division is that Alicorn is not strong with money; she lets her date sort out the money because (while not necessarily strong with money absolute) they are stronger with money than her. Relatively, the date is stronger, so they do the labour of paying.
One possible reason for someone being strong with money is they have lots of it.
Arundelo is making the point that it could have turned out that Alicorn was strong with money and her date was not; in this case Alicorn would have paid. It was not a case of “man pays, woman doesn’t.” It was a case of “those who can most pay, pay.”
That’s not the impression I got. The date ended up paying because Alicorn didn’t want to, and the date not paying would have led to fewer dates. She stated she was prepared to pay half, not prepared to pay full like her date was doing.
In the comment just next to mine, she says...
Which illustrates the reasoning behind PUA advice being to split the bill. It explicitly states that she should only bother spending time with you for your company. If the idea that you two would work out something that didn’t involve spending money never comes up, then she just wasn’t into you.
It’s the impression arundelo got exactly, unless I miss my mark.
The relative strengths of having money versus whatever Alicorn is strong at.
(To be precise, it’s a matter of comparative advantage rather than strength, with the proviso that if Alicorn’s partner is even worse than her at spending money, they probably won’t do many spending-money dates at all.)
A lot of my resentment toward your comments has to do with your acceptance (sometimes approaching flaunting) of women’s disproportionate bargaining power in relationships. This attitude makes me feel uncomfortable and sometimes provokes me to write flamey comments, which I then delete. I’m not sure how many other men here feel the same way, maybe I’m the only one, but still.
Resisting temptation to make obvious joke about your paternal ancestry…
I’ve scoured the paragraph for possible allusions to make. None of the jokes I can construct are obvious enough to be particularly funny. Bother.
Alicorn is of Jewish ancestry on the paternal side. The real issue is that the obvious jokes just aren’t very funny.
I’m not even sure what the “obvious jokes” are given the hint about my dad’s side of the family being Jewish.
Something along the lines of “ah, and here we see confirmation of your Jewish ancestry.” The joke I was thinking of was simply that your concerns about money as expressed fit very well with negative stereotypes about Jews and money. It really isn’t that funny and is probably anti-humorous when one has to explain it to this level.
I doubt you followed that rule consistently. It looks like to much of a unimportant minimal indicator that should be superseded by the rest of the date.
But if you poll enough women you will find many such statements that contradict with the ones other women give. Getting angry for paying the bill, getting angry for not paying the bill. Expecting him to hold the door. Getting angry holding doors for her. There is no standard rule set to follow. And i find it ridiculous how women (or anyone) expect others to just know what they want without ever bothering to tell them.
Another way of thinking about it might be that “paying the bill” or “not holding the door” are indicators of the man’s personality, rather than terminal values of the woman. In this case, telling the man “I expect you to pay the bill” is counter-productive. It doesn’t actually achieve anything the woman wants—what she wants (in this hypothetical) is a man that would do this on his own. It merely eliminates “paying the bill” as a useful indicator of personality.
Granted, this strategy doesn’t work well on a man who doesn’t have an opinion on the matter and just wants to make the woman happy, but it’s a plausible explanation.
Mind you the parent completely reverses the impression given by the earlier comment of “Wow, that’s an attitude of the perfect girl for a nerd to be dating!”
I know! I wasn’t even aware of it as inconsistent at the time.
Well, humans have lots of different behaviors and variation. It is extremely unlikely that anyone is going to be perfect. Moreover, everyone is influenced by cultural norms. As far as I can tell, that sort of thing is evidence more that people should try not to use any single warning sign as an absolute deal-killer unless it is very severe.
Naturally. siduri’s earlier comment indicated that she was an extreme outlier in terms of preferences and and proactive forthrightness. This additional trait just serves as a regression to the mean.
I have never had a guy offer to pay for my dinner. I guess Aussie blokes just don’t tend to do that kind of thing. I think that if anyone ever did—I’d be so surprised that I’d accept. I’d certainly be happy to pay for the next meal (or coffee or whatever).
I’m told that, during WWII, the American soldiers that were stationed in Australia cleaned up on the dating scene—because they happened to still use those traditional behaviours. ;)
I totally understand the inclination to get upset if being treated unfairly—but these days, I’m pretty sure that most guys that hold a door open for you are not doing it because they think I’m incapable of doing it myself… so I smile and say thank you, and make sure I pay it forward for somebody else next time I have the opportunity.
It seems that, steadfast allies as American GIs may have been to the ANZAC forces during combat, on the home front they were ruthless-if unknowing-defectors
I think a lot of women are looking for a man who can create romantic experiences, start to finish, for them. I think that’s what the “bill paying” business is really about. (If it were about money you could just ask what he does for a living.) And it’s fun once in a while when someone has orchestrated an entire evening for you and taken care of all the details for you. But if you expect that regularly and don’t reciprocate… I guess I disapprove of that. It reduces him to “The Guy Who Brings The Fun Stuff.”
I got a little angry reading that (didn’t follow the original link), but I’m feeling too lazy to discard the post I wrote, so:
Never ever talk about previous [girlfriends], particularly their prowess in the bedroom. Your ex-[girlfriends] are your business only.
Thereby signalling to her (if she were rational) that she’ll be equally a nonentity to you in a year, and/or (if you actively avoid the subject) that you handled your past relationships badly and are likely to do the same for your next.
Never assume anything about your date until you choose to know him better. You cannot always tell by looking.
If I had video of every time that was hilariously bad advice for me back when I still expected human statements to necessarily mean things, I expect I could make a substantially better contribution to this thread.
If the [girl] in the corner is gorgeous, go get [her] and create the need in [her] for you. Never wait for [women] to come to you because you may watch [her] leave with someone else.
This appears to be a disguised problem statement: “If she perceives you as pursuing her, she’ll run a mile, but if you wait for her to pursue you she won’t. Therefore, use magic.” So glad I’m a lifestyle-aspie where the rule is “if you want something from someone, ask, if you don’t think that’ll work, offer something in exchange, if you don’t have anything to offer, do without”.
My imagined “stereotypical advice” version of that sentence is more like “If the girl in the corner is gorgeous, too bad. The girl who actually talks to you and affects an interest in you will be gorgeous too if you let yourself see it, and you don’t want to miss out on her just because you’re hung up on someone else that you probably didn’t have a chance with anyway.
Never ever criticize [her] mother unless you want to remain single.
God, I love family-as-applause-light. Just seeing “criticize” and “mother” next to each other looks dirty. Mothers are sweet and upstanding ladies who work hard to take care of their daughters!
If his shoes or hygiene are a disgrace, dump him.
The lack of any definition of “disgrace” makes me want to look over the others to see if they fit the pattern of “blank canvas for the reader to project her already existing behavior on”.
Should “it” be I?
Also love “hooker” as boo light.
Are you implying that the page is saying that men withhold flowers from women as a less hard alternative to dumping them directly?
...but probably didn’t.
Just so long as you don’t interpret it as avocation from me (except where explicitly indicated). It is, after all, a bunch of dating tips given to women and presented here because it may ‘squick’ guys. Mind you most of them did not squick me at all and even then it was just a “I wouldn’t date her” reaction. But other people not getting offended at something is sometimes itself taken as offensive so I don’t mind if you are angry at me too. :)
I know you mentioned that you hope you never have to date. For those that do date an attractive trait tends to be the ability to accept the dating patterns of the desired demographic without discontent. The signalling reason for this is obvious.
I wouldn’t call that rational. A rational girl would assume that I don’t have my entire history written down on my sleeve for all to see. I don’t speak of all the important things in my life in all conversations. I would call that girl ‘paranoid’.
Not a bad approach at all. Not universally effective but the screening/signalling combo would work well for some combinations. :)
In that vein the actual sentiment in the tip would translate to actively seeking out those other ‘gorgeous’, interesting/interested people too, rather than waiting passively.
‘Applause light’ is a little different from ‘personal—don’t insult’.
No. Just no.
Framing, like it or not, is incredibly important when dating. A particularly aggressive framing of “If I do then I am entitled to material resource>” is an indication that a certain kind of relationship will follow and to some extent the type of personality of the girl. Again, it is how it is framed that is important more so than who actually pays for stuff. It also depends what kind of relationship you want.
Some people in some circumstances are looking for a more overtly transactional relationship than a partnership—rich middle aged men having affairs for example. Which is somewhat different to the provider/dominant-partner role that a less aggressive expectation that he will pay may indicate.
Almost certainly. It’s a male conspiracy. The CIA is probably involved too. And aliens. And if the flowers don’t work the Tin Foil Hat will every time.
No, quite probably not. The “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” attribution to Einstein is a cultural myth. But sometimes I humour culture on the little things. :)
I had no idea such a thing were possible. Please share your strategies and successes for arranging those situations.
(I’m being purposely non-specific in the hopes of encouraging as much detail as possible; a good strategy for interviews and give-and-take, but for requesting particular information in an asynchronous exchange I’m unsure of its efficacy.)
I presume wedrifid was essentially referring to making dates that were things you wanted to do anyway or meeting points where the waiting party has an alternative thing to be doing.
That was what I assumed, but to schedule a meeting where being late would not make the first arrival wait seems impossible to me. Perhaps a fair or festival? Those occur infrequently. A petting zoo? That’s… not a bad idea, actually—but petting the animals would hardly be the main activity, and the animals could only entertain one for so long. At cinema one may feel to have been made to wait by seeing other tribes all around, even though the explicit activity is idle viewing. A talk? One may want to save a seat for the tardy party, but besides that a talk appears perfect.
Well, that’s one “[meeting] where no waiting for either party is required....” I figured you or wedrifid might have a cache of events that fit that criterion and asked to hedge against figuratively ‘re-inventing the wheel’.
I recommend sitting down and listing ten things you might do for fun, just because you enjoy them. Then look at that list and circle the ones that don’t have a fixed start time (like zoos, fairs, festivals, museums, outdoor walks, amusement parks, beaches, etc. etc. etc.) If you haven’t circled anything, repeat the exercise with another ten things you like to do. If the area where you live publishes a directory of local events, that’s a useful place to start.