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Over the last few decades there has been a surge in the popularity of male dating advice.
Men’s magazines and websites regularly churn out articles offering advice on how to ‘get the girl’ to dissatisfied men confounded by the dating scene. The gist of the advice generally revolves around telling men to develop their confidence, masculinity, to become funnier, to be better storytellers. While touching on some truths — improved social skills will yield better interactions than preoccupied anxiety and awkwardness — these pieces of advice are usually highly generalized and seldom offer real insight beyond asserting that these things supposedly attract women. Much of the difficulty and awkwardness of personal growth is brushed aside, diluted into a few steps that one can learn to employ easily enough.
Socially awkward and sexually unsuccessful men usually come from significantly impaired positions. Most struggle with basic conversations, and many are in terror of even approaching an attractive woman. Some are terrified by the thought of the approach alone. Many simply do not know how or when to ask someone out. In these cases, the articles offer limited advice without much depth. It’s one thing to say “be confident” to a confounded dater, but what does this confidence look like, how is it expressed? What is this…
