Hadley Freeman’s ‘Every Dating Guide You’ll Ever Need’ (taken – and edited – from Be Awesome: Modern Life for Modern Ladies)
‘With the help of this little guide, you’ll see that you won’t have to change anything about yourself to get your man, other than your behaviour, personality, natural desires and looks. Once you do all that, you can have ANY man eating out of your hand. Yes, I said ANY man. The only stress you’re going to have in your life now is … which guy to choose!
First of all, how to meet this special someone? You need to break out of your usual social circle as that pond is too small for you to fish in – aim for the ocean! Give internet dating a go – honestly, EVERYONE’S doing it these days (except anyone who ever advocates that you try it) and how about joining an evening class? Not a girly one like ‘vegetarian cooking’ or ‘beginners French’ because you’ll only meet girls and gays there, which would be a total waste of your time and money. Be ruthless and choose ones that don’t interest you at all but sound hot and hetero, like ‘car maintenance’ and ‘how to make your own app’. But also bear in mind that when you meet someone that way there is a risk that you’ll have nothing at all in common, especially if you met him in an evening class that doesn’t interest you at all or on some internet site where decisions are based purely on aesthetics. Read more…
Since no one marries the girl/boy next door any more, chances are you’ll need a date or two to track down the elusive ‘one’. (Or ‘two’. Or ‘three’. We’re all going to live until we’re at least 110, which is a long time to live with just the one.)
Nothing is more terrifying than first-date nerves: the combination of choosing an appropriate outfit (the leopard-print boots? the sequinned dress? the smoky eyes?), navigating conversational topics and dusting off your best flirtatious behaviour seems to turn the most assured of us into quivering wrecks. You stutter your way through the first fifteen minutes of conversation, grateful for the bar’s low lighting (the sequinned dress was a mistake), until the first few boozy gulps kick in, cranking your dating prowess up a notch. In your dreams. Read more…
In honour of the month of the WOM4N, a 4×4 of some of 4th Estate’s most seminal, inspiring books about being one or another kind of girl…
We’ve partnered up with Topshop to offer a free sampler of Hadley Freeman’s smart, hilarious Be Awesome, which is available to download FOR FREE via the apple store.
