The 21st Century Woman’s Guide to Dating

When you get a chance, ask the closest teenager or 20-something girl about her views on dating, today. You will probably find yourself shocked at how different it was from when you were that age. For myself, I’m still getting over the fact that eight-year-olds need cell phones and the whole teenage world is centered round Minecraft. The rules of dating have evolved with your fast-paced, female-empowered lifestyle. While young boys once showed up in an oversized suit with a bouquet of pitiful flowers to ask a girl’s parents if he could take her out, today’s youth takes the more do-as-I-wish approach. If you are feeling lost – like many of us are – then here are some rules you should know about dating in the 21^st century.

1. Ladies Can: Ask a Guy Out

The dynamics between men and women today are drastically different from what they once were. It used to be that men provided for the family. He did the working-part while women stayed home and did the family-raising and home-caring part. And even in the post-World War era, this was still the case. It wasn’t until it became a necessity for women and men to both work that things started to change.

Anyone with a family knows that it is virtually impossible to survive on one income in the modern age. This shift in roles of the sexes vibrated all the way down to the way that we function in dating. Women make their own money. They take initiative to go after the things that they want and provide for themselves. Why shouldn’t they also ask a guy out, too? Put yourself out there if you want to get to know someone but he hasn’t mustered up the courage to ask you on a proper date yet.

2. Ladies Can: Pay at Dinner

A report by the popular dating website, Match.com, revealed that women pay on the first date approximately 41% of the time. In our progressive day-in-age, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that women want to be the one to pay. This is in no way because they want to “show-up” a guy, but simply because they want to showcase their ability to take care of themselves – and you – if they are interested in you. A good rule of thumb to follow is that whomever requests the date, should pay. If a first date is going particularly bad, then consider splitting the check just out of fairness.

3. Ladies Can: Schedule the Next Date

Did you have an awesome time on your date? Tell him so! Sure, you can wait until he texts or calls you, but why torture yourself? If you had a great time and want to see him again, make first contact and ask him out for a second date. If he says no, then move on. No harm, no foul. It’s certainly better to know than to keep waiting and wondering what went wrong. Most importantly, men like a woman who takes initiative. And don’t worry about having to pay for the second date if you already paid for the first. Any man worth his salt will know it’s his turn to pay even if you did the asking.