- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
Online dating is a useful and natural result of the internet, I definitely see it's merits and I've certainly heard a lot of success stories.
But, holey moley, my experience with it has really just whittled down into a fascination of how the male mind works. (Perhaps, men have plenty to say 'bout the women they meet online, but I can only speak about my own experiences.)
It seems lots of men approach internet dating the same way they'd approach shopping on ebay. They have an idea in their head of what would be an ideal mate (hd tv, cell phone, mp3 player), and then they shop for that. The thing that doesn't seem to occur to them while clicking through the time-limited merchandise is that the woman will have more of an opinion about who's living room she ends up in than the tv or the cell phone might.
And I can't decide if this is all terribly sad or sublimely hilarious.
I guess it does bother me that this dynamic upsets so many women. Women should decide for themselves what they would want and then go look for that. Just 'cuz guys seem to put "41 yr old seeking woman aged 18 - 34" doesn't mean they'll actually get that. Think of all the sad lonely guys out there that truly believe they'll win that sale, and how their genes must weep.
Personally, after meeting many different fellas online, I went to a dance at met a lovely 32 year South American and eventually married him. Bless his heart, he thought I was 30 when we met, and when he found out I was 39 he chuckled and asked for a second date.
It is nice when your first impression of someone isn't a thumbnail photo with a sell-by date.
