Over the past few decades, the way people date has drastically changed. Instead of being limited to your social circle or areas that you frequent, now it seems like the whole world is your oyster to date. You could try creating an online profile and choosing someone based off their looks and common interests. Or you could try speed dating, judging someone based on a few minutes of conversation. But would you try dating someone based on their smell?

Yes, you read that right. Judith Prays, an Atlanta-based artist, held her first “Pheromone Party” in late 2010. Forty people were invited to the party. Twelve of those people “hooked up” (no definition included). Six of those (that “hooked up”) began relationships. The odds aren’t all that bad. So, how does sniff and date work? Read More »

Pretty sure these two are tens on anyone's scale.

On a scale from one – ten, how hot are you? Are you a solid eight, a mousy three, or perhaps a bombshell ten? A new LiveScience study reveals that the more you adhere to your stereotypical gender role, you more accurately you know your hotness level.

To conduct this study, Mitja Back and her fellow researchers studied 192 females and 190 males at a real speed-dating event. The researchers asked these daters to fill out a questionnaire about their personalities, go through a round of three-minute speed dates, and predict the number of dates that would be interested in seeing them again. This predicted number was then compared to the actual number of “yeses” the daters got from potential mates in order to see how accurately they could predict their own level of attractiveness.

The researchers found that the more stereotypically feminine – that is, the more warm, cooperative, and trusting – the women were, the more aware they were of their looks. Likewise, the men that adhered to the stereotypically masculine patterns of dating, such as the desire to be promiscuous and a need to play the field, correlated with a sense of self-awareness when it came to their appearance.

Although neither sex was particularly great at predicting their attractiveness to others, with most overestimating their appeal, the study did show a solid correlation between gender roles and the participants’ sense of  accuracy. The researchers hypothesized that “the reason for their finding is that daters who conform to gender stereotypes get more practice at the mating game. Promiscuous men are more likely to put themselves out there…[and] warm, trusting women may attract more flirtation than their aloof counterparts,” writes Stephanie Pappas, senior writer at LiveScience.

This experience can lead to a better understanding of one’s own league and, more importantly, where one fits into ever-important one-ten scale.

So what does this mean for our own sense of attractiveness as young, self-confident women?  Are only stereotypically feminine women considered pretty? Are only cocky men hot? What do you think?

Okay, I’m not the type of girl who’s ever really had a problem getting date.

Getting the right date is the catch. But where do you find these sorts of guys? Clean-cut, good-smelling, goal-oriented. The kind you can bring home to momma.

In my mind, online dating sites are usually home to creepers and lame-o’s with the odd average Joe thrown in. The good ones are still out there in the world, worse yet, they’re usually taken.

But what the heck? I’m bored, and slightly desperate, and ashamedly curious. So I give it a try. The site that catches my eye is www.WooMe.com. Its non-committal attitude somehow makes it seem less serious. I’m not really looking for a husband here. Just potentials. That I could maybe have a stimulating conversation with. Read More »

When I read Sloane Crosley’s bio and saw that she listed, “…the cover story for the worst-selling issue of Maxim in that magazine’s history” among her accomplishments, I knew her literary voice was the type that I would enjoy.

Crosley was a writer living in Manhattan, publishing stories in magazines from Playboy to The New York Times until she decided to start writing essays after getting locked out of two separate apartments, in one day.

The collection of essays make for a great read because they’re almost like “speed dating” (to quote Ms. Crosley herself). Her voice, as well as her stories, are witty, honest, irreverent and entertaining.

Take this for example: in one of her essays Sloane reveals a collection of plastic ponies she had accumulated from boyfriends over the years which she kept “semi-secretly” in a kitchen drawer, imagining what it would be like if she died one day and people found them in her apartment…

Pick up the book, I’m telling you — you’ll totally enjoy it.

OR, Participate in her Pony Project on Flickr.

Have your own drawer full of plastic ponies or other “nostalgic” mementos of love gone awry / other hilarious disappointments and minor humiliations? Share your traumatic trinkets with us.

~CHecK oUT mY FRee WeBcaM!~

No thanks, Fembot.

Online-dating sites, while fun and successful for those in the know, can be very daunting to your average, not-so-computer-savvy individual. Getting lost in the sea of PC-murdering spam and creepy come-hithers when looking for a date online is quite simple when you don’t have a clue what to do.

What gives, internet?

Bridging the gap between the informal, formal and humorous is WooMe, an intuitive way to meet people online in a more interactive fashion. Read More »