A thread of this sort seems more fitting to POF than TERB but anyway... First and foremost, whenever someone (mostly women) asks a question about why they are not getting asked out more often, in my opinion, the framing of the question sets up a basically incorrect response pattern. I should note, men (generally) do the same sort of thing when asking why they are not getting dates. The question almost begs for the sort of responses found throughout this thread. Regardless of gender or the specifics of the question, the common thread in any such situation is the person asking the question. It seems clear not everyone has the same experience and thus it should also be clear that the question should really be about what the person asking is doing wrong.
I haven't seen Miss Maya Blue out and about intent on finding Mr Right (now) so I am not in a position to make any definite judgements. One thing that did strike me immediately was mention of her being being out with her
herd. That's well and fine, however, I would note that for most guys (myself included) approaching a table of women is sort of like a wolf approaching a herd of deer. Generally, wolves will jump on the lone deer that has strayed from the security of the herd (the young and the sick). Guys are a lot more likely to approach a woman that is by herself. Now, from experience, I'd say that means the circumstances have to allow for some degree of separation or some means to interact with the outsiders or guys. This does not mean that women should be hanging around alone, rather that the women have to provide a means for men to approach one-on-one -- if only for a brief interaction. In a sense, that is how women actually
make the first move. This can happen rather easily and it can be relatively easy to make approaches. Go get a drink at the bar (counter) by yourself, for example. If it is not happening for you, perhaps some tweaking of your behavior and/or appearance, as a group going out and as individuals from that group, might be considered.
Granted, I
live in Hamilton. Nonetheless, my own experience of "Toronto" women is not all that different from women from other places. It is easy enough to find examples of just about every sort of issue raised in this thread. Women who are too negative, men who are shy and insecure. None of this speaks to the whole population out there. Most guys are fairly decent and most women pretty nice. Not everybody is going to be
your type. We all have feelings. Sometimes, those feelings get trampled on by others. If you try to be Christian (or whatever faith based code you happen to subscribe to) about it, the chances are you'll survive to try again. Neither sex has a monopoly of experience with rejection or rejecting.
Some of the comments about the social circumstances offered were interesting reads. Given the level of generality, though, I am not so sure these serve as a useful explanation for anything particular to Toronto. I would say that the "game" is still played much as it has been. There are some nifty new tools available, like the net and cells, but nothing that has really revolutionized singles relations. Women still expect men to formally initiate contact. Men still hate having to initiate contact but they do it anyway. The circumstances of the interaction have changed somewhat. I suspect that a search would yield statistical evidence supporting that people still build most of their relationships through their existing social networks. Doing otherwise makes the entire effort of finding mates much more difficult.
Of course, this is a somewhat biased board from which to draw any general conclusions about dating so I won't do so. I will note that the larger part of the group of people participating here are somehow related to the sex trade -- either as clients or providers. This isn't a good sample from which to draw advice for the topic of dating. The expectations of interaction are probably skewed severely and I suspect the parties are somewhat disconnected from the
real world
de facto.
One thing I do notice is that regardless of the position taken, it seems as if the vast majority of participants seem determined to attribute blame to one or the other gender. Few posts even acknowledge the possibility that any generally observed phenomenea are necessarily a function of the interaction of the sexes, not a particular gender. It is stunning to read most of the posts here that place blame on women exclusively or men. Surely most people don't believe that?
Miss Maya Blue said:
i think what i am realizing is that men are as scared as i am to initiate.
Oh, probably. Even so, traditionally, men formally initiate. What women do is facilitate the initiation by doing stuff that makes them approachable. I know some folks would like to mess with that tried and true formula but really... Why?
Noir said:
Heck, when I read Tboy's post about approaching guys, I tried to replicate a conversation in my head in which I would approach a guy... I have no damned idea what to say! lol.... (Approaching ladies is a different story. ^_-)
Yup. It's a lot easier to approach a lady since she's expecting a gentleman to do so. That said, it is still the case that women really do their part in this dynamic too.