Trying to Get Men to Date

Couple Watching the Sunset © by steelight

I was helping a guy friend fill out a profile for a dating site.  This was a new experience for me.  Usually, I am called in to help my female friends build a profile that would attract a man who is, as my one girlfriend put it, “A Johnny Depp, Bill Gates and Brett Favre combo.”   Yes, I think she does drink or listens to way too many Law of Attraction CDs, but whatever gets her going in the morning, I am okay with.

Anyway, I noticed my guy friend was a lot less thoughtful over his answers to the profile questions than my female friends. To questions such as “Where do you see yourself in five years?”, my girlfriends always create answers that reflect their desire to be in a long-time relationship or married without sounding needy or desperate.  However, to this specific inquiry, my guy friend answered “fishing alone in my own boat on the ocean-alone.”

Keeping in mind that he was new to the dating site world, I told him in the most patient tone I could muster, that using the word alone – twice – did not exactly scream, “I am okay with commitment.”   He just shrugged his shoulders and gave me permission to answer the question as long as I was honest and didn’t make it sound like he wanted to be in a long-term relationship anytime soon.

I could do nothing but stare at him and shake my head. Before we finished this profile for this particular dating site, I decided to research other sites to see if there was one more suitable to his lifestyle. If there was a site, “Hookers for love,” he would have signed up right away, but I tried to explain that if he wanted a nice woman — and by that I mean one who he doesn’t have to pay to talk dirty to him — he should refrain from the more “open” sites.

Along with the usual dating sites, I stumbled across several religious-based sites such as Christiansingles.com where you put your search for the right mate into God’s hands.  Now, this I thought was a little puzzling. If God is so intent on finding my friend a match, why doesn’t he just lead him to the intended woman?  Why does he need a third party?   If God really wanted to make my friend a match, couldn’t he just plop the perfect mate into the middle of his bedroom and say, “Here she is!  I picked her out for you myself!”  I would think a third-party dating site is a little insulting to the Big Matchmaker in the sky. Oh, and for anyone who likes the idea of faith-based dating, but you are not a Christian, do not fret.  There were other faith-based sites to choose from such as jdate.com, singlemuslim.com, wiccanpassions.com – and let’s not leave out the atheists or agnostics – freethinkermatch.com.  See, something for everyone.

We decided that an any-faith-goes website would be best for him in the long run. Finally, we got through the profile, and now instead of sounding like a guy who might go into convulsions at the mere utterance of the word “girlfriend”, my friend sounded like a relatively nice guy who — on paper– is considerate, open-minded and rich.  Well, at least affluent. Hell, he owns his own condo and car and he gets a paycheck every week, and except that arrest for public intoxication a decade ago, he is what most mothers would refer to as “a nice catch” as long as they don’t get to know him too well.

We moved onto the last phase of this project:  the photo.  I suggested that he shave his day’s worth of stubble.  He thought it made him look sexy; I thought it made him look like a sexual predator.  So, he shaved.  Next, I suggested a nice golf shirt instead of the tee shirt that displayed the saying, “Route 69 – Going down?”  I thought that this tee shirt gave women the wrong impression – maybe – who knows?

We snapped the picture and put it up on the website and do you know what?  He got six inquiries in less than 24 hours.  Now, my friend is happy that I budded into his life.  Will he marry any of these women?  Hell, no.  As he says, “Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice or three times – that just makes me really stupid.”   But, he might find a nice person to have a relationship with, and that would make me happy.  I have to be honest; I do sleep a little better knowing that I took a man who lived a life of single bliss and immersed him into the chaotic and traumatic world of relationships.

photo by Gregory

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19 thoughts on “Trying to Get Men to Date”

  1. Once again I am glad that I am out of the dating scene. I already have a nice woman who will talk dirty to me without pay. Well…she sure seems to like jewelry though!

  2. “If God is so intent on finding my friend a match, why doesn’t he just lead him to the intended woman? Why does he need a third party?”

    The God of Christianity and Capitalism are one and the same with some of these people you know.

  3. Donna, it looks like your female point of view certainly helped him. We men tend to think that t-shirts and stubble is the cool look. Otherwise, he might still be out on that boat all alone.

  4. Wow, he really doesn’t learn does he? I’d become a monk myself. Just ay’n. Ha-ha!

  5. My daughters have tried or are trying those sites. I’ll have to warn them.

    1. I actually know people who did very well on some of those sites. I think like anything — your experience will depend on the effort you put in.

  6. When I fail to shave for days, I tell the wife “George Clooney doesn’t shave all the time, and the ladies find it quite attractive!” Her response: “You are not George Clooney.”

  7. Let’s see how he feels six months from now. My experience from encounters from 3rd party dating sites – men are just looking to get laid. How little things change… heh heh.

  8. Well, if he likes (much) older, commitment-phobic women who would love a guy who wants to sit on a boat all day fishing, but who wouldn’t mind viewing him from afar (as she sat in an air-conditioned cottage with a lake view), I’m his girl!

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