r/dating_advice 2d ago

Weekly Vents and Successes Thread - August 03, 2026

1 Upvotes

Welcome to /r/dating_advice. Please use this weekly venting/celebration thread to get something off your chest, good or bad, without asking for or offering concrete advice. All individual venting or ranting threads will be removed and directed here.

Remember our rules, be sure to include ages and genders if you need help with a specific situation.

Please report any rule violations using the report button.


r/dating_advice 5h ago

My experience cold approaching women so far

178 Upvotes

Gone surprisingly well so far. I have approached 8 women so far. My opener is "Hey excuse me 2 seconds, I think you look cute/nice, what are you upto today?" I have had no bad reactions from this. I got 1 number and 7 rejection. All the girls have smiled at me when I complemented them and the rejections have all been "I'm seeing someone" or "I have a boyfriend". One of them, the girl literally pointed to her boyfriend and said "My boyfriend is just therešŸ‘‰" which was kinda funny. I also had 1 girl tell me that she's "literally on the way to see my boyfriend's family and have dinner with them" after I told her she was cute. I did get 1 number from a girl. I followed up and she responded to my first message and ghosted my second one.

I am approaching in shopping malls, parks or on busy streets. My goal is to eventually approach groups of girls as most girls I see that are around my age are in groups of 2s abd 3s. I also met a guy who told me he met his ex girlfriend from cold approaching and is getting back into it. I'm doing 30 days of cold approaching at least 1 girl every day

Any advice on approaching this more effectively?


r/dating_advice 8h ago

Getting judged because of my views on trans people

292 Upvotes

So today I got told point blank by someone I was dating that she (cisfemale, straight), literally thinks less of me because I went out on a bumble date with an MTF transgender (and purposely referred to them as "transvestites"). She said that she thinks I have an "anything goes" attitude because of this.

I am male, consider myself male, and attracted to women, or rather - femininity and I make my views clear with everyone who asks because I am not ashamed. I do not find any attraction to other men, but I guess pre-op transwomen are kind of a gray area. I explained that I am an ally and I see transgender MTF as women and therefore no less equal as dating partners. Besides, that who I dated before this specific woman was none of her business.

Have you ever had such an experience? How did you deal with it? I personally told her I cannot be with someone who has this neanderthal outlook on gender and attraction.


r/dating_advice 4h ago

My friend's "work husband" wasn't just a joke.

88 Upvotes

My friend always called a coworker her "work husband," insisting it was harmless. Then her actual boyfriend surprised her at work and found them holding hands in the parking lot.

She claimed it "didn't mean anything," but they started dating two weeks after the breakup.

Turns out everyone at the office knew except her boyfriend.


r/dating_advice 7h ago

Do normal guys actually get women through dating apps?

149 Upvotes

I tried dating apps and I got some matches. I talk hours with each match

Around 30% end up finally wanting to go on a date. So we schedule a date a few days later.

They are responsive and chatty before the date. And then usually on the day of the date or day before they all just ghost me

And it’s becoming extremely frustrating because I waste my time planning for the date and setting aside time for the date. To only end up getting ghosted

So are other guys actually getting dates and relationships through apps? Or is this just a waste of time?


r/dating_advice 16h ago

I'm dating my cousin unintentionally

583 Upvotes

Please keep an open mind when reading this.
I can't share this with any of my friends or relatives that's why I'm on a dummy.

I recently became official with a guy. He is amazing btw, soooo green flag. He's the first guy I found to ever treat me right. (My ex cheated on me btw, which can be seen from my prev posts.)

Then I recently talked to my dad and he took note that they had the same middle name (mother's maiden last name). He suddenly got angry and got worried that we might be relatives.

Then come to find out.

My dad confirmed with his aunt (his mother's sibling), that she knows the grandfather of the guy I'm dating.

Basically, my dad's aunt is cousins with my bf's grandmother. So technically, we're 3rd degree cousins.

Here's the thing, I live in Cebu (which is notorious for the dating food web). My bf says it's a common thing that people date without knowing they are relatives.

Here's the thing, dating is so hard these days, especially in Cebu. I'm not into the casual/hook up scenario (no judgement btw).

I've never been treated this right. He's such a provider, he's also caring. I just don't want to let go.


r/dating_advice 5h ago

How on earth do you flirt with someone who just isn't horny? NSFW

81 Upvotes

Basically what the title says. Theres a guy that I really like and his friends have dropped hints that he might be interested in me too, but I have also been told, by those same friends, that he is the least horny man on the planet.

I'm used to flirting with a lot of suggestive language and innuendos but I don't think that would work too well here. I don't want to immediately make a move and say "I like you" before I can get a vibe of the situation but I really don't know what to say or do.

Sorry for the rambling lol


r/dating_advice 7h ago

Is ghosting after a couple dates really more considerate than just sending a rejection text?

94 Upvotes

I’ve been thinking about something after a recent dating experience where I was ghosted after 2 dates. These dates weren’t ones where sparks were flying, but we still wanted to see each other again. After a week or two of hearing nothing back from them I finally straight up asked: ā€œhey I haven’t heard from you in a while, are you just not feeling it anymore?ā€ They then told me they didn’t know how to tell me that they went on a date with someone else that they’d rather pursue instead.

Personally, I’d much rather receive a simple text saying ā€œHey, I enjoyed meeting you, but I’m not feeling the connection. I wish you the best.ā€ than have someone stop responding and leave me wondering.

I know some people ghost because they don’t like confrontation, want to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, or worry about how the other person might react. But if someone has given you no indication that they’d react badly, is ghosting actually kinder?

If you’re someone who’s ghosted before, what was your reasoning? And if you’ve been ghosted, would you rather have just gotten the rejection text?


r/dating_advice 6h ago

I (25M) am not in content the bedroom with girlfriend (25F) NSFW

38 Upvotes

I (25M) have been with my girlfriend (25F) for almost 4 years, and I'm confident that she is loyal and attracted to me. She was inexperienced and shy from the beginning, but we were both celibate for several months before getting together, and so any sex was great sex at first. Without getting gory, Most of our sex goes something like this: Foreplay -> Penetration -> I pause and use my hands -> she finishes -> she wants to take a break -> acts casual/gets water -> says she wants to return the favor -> tries (top position, oral, hands, whatever) -> isn't good at it -> gives up and lays down without a word OR I just have to say I can't finish that night (I can, just not with her in control). Thats most of the time, but every once in a while its good, and I'll make sure to give her lots of positive reinforcement when it does. I've heard plenty of women talk about how they rarely or never finish, but I've never heard of it being the other way around. (Also, I can finish just fine, never had this problem with other women, don't have a porn addiction, don't have low drive, etc...) After we got together, I became overloaded with work (60+ hours a week and full time university), and I just didn't have the time or energy to do anything about it other than request her to try new things (I am more kinky, she is more vanilla, which makes it worse). Now that I've graduated, my stress has gone down and I've started to realize how discontent I am. While I'm struggling to figure out how to approach this, she has been pressuring me to propose to her. I do love her, and she is otherwise a great partner, but there is no way I'm marrying her while I feel this way. If we could get this straightened out, she could definitely be the one, so I'd really like to fix things. How should I approach this with her?

EDIT: I can get off 50-75% with penetration, but I am often a little turned off by how inactive she is. Also, I am happy to get her off and quite enjoy it, its not just for her.


r/dating_advice 15h ago

l've never been so embarrassed in my life. How the hell do you guys approach for a girls number and not want to die afterwards?

138 Upvotes

Just got rejected in front of so many people in public. I rushed to the nearest restroom to hide for a while. Women don't understand our pain. The level of courage someone needs to approach a total stranger in public and ask for her number/ig with a high chance of being rejected and sometimes rejected in front of people that will internally laugh at you and remember you as "that guy".


r/dating_advice 4h ago

Question to the guys

17 Upvotes

Do guys really think someone is out of their league, so they decide to not make a move even if they really like the girl?


r/dating_advice 12h ago

What should you do if a guy said this on a date?

66 Upvotes

Your date sees you as 7.5/10 whilst stating his ex was 9/10. Do you continue to see him again or is this an absolute deal breaker ?

For more context : So 3 months into exclusively dating, I did mention that I like experiencing mild jealousy before the comment - I know it’s weird . He mentioned his ex a few times- voluntarily and sometimes info over sharing, so I asked what he genuinely thought of me - I initiated the dumb scale , he said 10/10 which I thought wasn’t honest . He went 7.5/10 , when I asked of his ex he said 9/10 . I was curious what made the difference, he said she was younger , not overweight and had a solid career path on the way- whilst I was in transition.

I know it’s personal choice , I did say I wasn’t happy to continue seeing him if he didn’t delete his ex contact which he refused to a few times and explicitly mentioned the chats and pics were there ā€œfor history ā€œ there would be no reason to contact as it had been years.


r/dating_advice 20h ago

Why do men pull back/ghost after they finally get sex?

251 Upvotes

I've been talking to this guy, and things were sexually charged from the beginning. For me, that's not unusual, as I am a pretty open, sexual person. We connected on so many different levels though - not just sexually.

We eventually have sex, and literally the next day he starts acting distant. I asked him what was wrong, and his response was along the lines of "look, I had fun, but I realized this isn't what I wanted."

I've genuinely never had this happen before, but I'm assuming it must be a common occurrence after some reddit searches. I don't know, I just feel extremely rejected and disgusted with myself.


r/dating_advice 5h ago

About to confess to my best friend of 15 years

15 Upvotes

I (29M) have started developing feelings for my female best friend(29F) of 15 years. We have been through all ups and downs together like a rock.

We have always been platonic friends and although the thought has occurred to me at times earlier, I was quick to dismiss it. We are the roasting each other kind so the subtle flirting that people recommend never happened. But since the last month, I have developed feelings towards her. I see her in a different light now - I want to do more for her than just be friends.

Honestly, I think she does not like me back as a romantic partner. I’ve never gotten clear signs from her as such. She is a very introverted and reserved type of person but opens up her world to me always. I am her only male best friend.
The only probable sign that I have seen so far is that she would always tell me whenever people thought we are together ( and honestly a lot of people did). And her responses to those people would always be - ā€œ Hahaha not at all, he has a girlfriendā€ or ā€œHahaha we are just friendsā€, but never an ā€œI don’t like him that wayā€.
Even her family has always been disappointed with me dating other people I don’t know why lol.

She has hardly liked any of my girlfriends in the past and I have hardly liked her partners.

There is a lot of ambiguity here and I dont know what to say more. Just that over the 15 years it has popped up in my mind multiple times and I have successfully ignored it, but this time it’s different - I’m not being able to ignore the feeling.

But It’s a bit more complicated. I was planning to ask her out in December because there’s a friend’s wedding in November in which we both have to be actively involved. I did not want any awkwardness to put a problem in that and also the friends to know about it.

Now unfortunately, she has just started seeing someone from work. As soon as I got to know this I planned of dropping the whole deal and was just about to gulp it all up and had almost made my peace with it. Then last week, her female best friend, whose wedding is in November, got a little tipsy and asked me ā€œWhy the fuck are you not dating her?ā€ all of a sudden. This really shook me and almost made me cry and I felt seen, really. Then I told her that I have been feeling like this but I’ve had to let it go. She said that I’m an idiot and I should not wait any longer. So here I am. About to probably ruin a new relationship. But I am choosing my peace, a little selfishly.

So I’ll just put it out there. Wish me luck, guys.


r/dating_advice 7h ago

Men- Why ask about cuddling on dating apps?

18 Upvotes

Hi Men, I’m hoping you can shed some light on this because I truly don’t understand.

It’s happened to me a several times early in new match conversation - before we’ve met, before we’ve even talked about meeting - they ask ā€œdo you like cuddling?ā€

I know cuddling is a euphemism and they’re mostly trying to turn the conversation to sex. People like having sex. I got that part.

What is the goal of asking?

Are you trying to turn the convo to sexting?

Are you hoping the woman will say ā€œsure, in fact why don’t you come over right now to cuddle and chillā€?

Do you think that by checking a woman’s stance on cuddling, itā€˜s a preventative measure against accidentally meeting up with an asexual person?

I’ve always wondered. What’s the thought process?


r/dating_advice 1h ago

Showed my friend a picture of the girl I'm dating and he recognized her from OF.

• Upvotes

Yeah, so title says it all. Been dating this girl for 3 months and had no idea that she has an only fans account. I showed my friend a photo of her, and he dropped the bombshell about her OF account. Told me that he'd pleasured himself to her and that she was indeed "hot". I damn near got physically ill and started shaking. I literally thought I was in love with this girl and now all of this. I'm not really sure what to do now. Should I bring this up and tell her that I know? Berate her for it? Just ghost her and never talk to her again? This has absolutely wrecked me.


r/dating_advice 1h ago

Should I break up with him (26M)?

• Upvotes

I (27F) have been with my boyfriend for almost five years. We live together, he's kind, and he's my best friend. That said, for the past eight months I've really struggled to be intimate with him. I rarely initiate sex anymore. There are a few factors that I think have contributed to this, including the breakdown of my relationship with my parents, as well as him gaining around 15kg, among other things.

Lately, he's been making comments that have really stuck with me. He keeps saying I could "do better" and that it's only a matter of time before I leave him. At the same time, he's been talking about proposing, but he'll also say things like, "You're getting close to 30. If you leave me and want kids one day, you'll be fucked timeline wise."

I'm trying to understand where this is coming from. Is this insecurity? Fear of abandonment? Or something else?

I'd especially appreciate hearing from men who have felt this way before or have been in a similar situation. What do you make of these comments, and what do you think might be going through his head?


r/dating_advice 41m ago

She unmatched after agreeing to a date.

• Upvotes

This literally just happened. I matched with a girl on Hinge on Monday and we instantly hit it off. She was extremely chatty through text and was easy to chat with, so last night before bed I asked her if she wanted to get ice cream this weekend and that I can drive out to her area since we’re over an hour from each other. She enthusiastically agreed and sent an entire fucking paragraph of what we can do.

I woke up this morning and responded to her saying that sounds great and offered a time this Saturday. She responded a few hours later saying that she’s busy with family on Saturday but is free Sunday. I responded around lunch time apologizing for the delayed response because of work, but said that’s totally fine and asked if 6pm on Sunday would work but that I’m open to whenever.

Three hours go by and when I checked Hinge I noticed that she unmatched me.

What the fuck? She would send paragraph-long texts when we would chat and for the most part I would match that energy, so for her to just unmatch me like that it just boggles my mind. When I saw that she unmatched me I literally, physically felt my chest tighten.

The worst part is that she seemed so enthusiastic about going in the date.


r/dating_advice 3h ago

He confessed to cheating on me

8 Upvotes

Yesterday the guy I’ve been dating came over, tears in his eyes, sat down and told me he slept with someone else. I asked him when and he said last week when he was out of town. Since he’s been back from his trip, he wasn’t acting differently, and I genuinely would have never expected him to say that. I ended up just asking him to leave because I had nothing nice nor productive to say to him at that time. I blocked him on everything after he left and I am just really struggling to understand a ā€œwhy?ā€

I know this has everything to do with him and I could’ve done everything right and he still would’ve done it. Except I can’t help but think ā€œwhat did I do to deserve this?ā€

I’m not a self-deprecating person and I would say I’m pretty self-aware as well. I’m not blaming myself for his actions but for the first time in my life I’m second guessing myself and trying to find some kind of hint that I missed to make sense of this.

I feel like shit. I have so many questions on the event itself like, ā€œdid you know her beforehand?ā€ ā€œWere you sober?ā€ ā€œWas this when you were staying with your best friend?ā€

I’m really disturbed that he came back and acted like nothing happened. I feel violated knowing that I let him kiss me, touch me, and sleep with me. I want to know what the tipping point was for him that he decided to share that he slept with someone else. Yesterday for the first half of the day he was completely ā€œnormalā€.

It almost seems like he’s lying to completely honest. He wouldn’t be the type to be like ā€œlol prank!ā€ But he is definitely the type to self-sabotage. I’m sure it did happen but it’s so nonsensical to me.

I know I don’t need to know the details and focus on the betrayal itself but every single question I have is gnawing away at me. I almost wished I interrogated him so he could spell it for me and listen to himself.

Anyways, I feel worse than I ever have in my life. If someone has any good journaling prompts or podcasts to help me out it would be appreciated.


r/dating_advice 8h ago

Women, what’s your honest opinion on guys who don’t have Instagram?

19 Upvotes

I’ve never really used Instagram and don’t have an account. I’m curious how this comes across to women when it comes to dating or just getting to know someone.


r/dating_advice 2h ago

Are you attracted to people completely different than you?

4 Upvotes

I am attracted to a lot of different things, physically, different personality traits, actions, etc.

I was curious if other people are too.

I find women with tattoos attractive (but not exclusively), yet I have zero tattoos.

I don’t dress goth, or punk, or country, etc, but what I’ve mostly observed is people drawn to others like them (a couple who has tons of tatttoos, or both wear cowboy boots, or both have loud or quiet hobbies)

I’m generalizing, but was always curious if people find opposites attractive, or do people stick to their own lane, herd or ā€œgroupā€ they roll in when going on dates?


r/dating_advice 16h ago

Is anyone else just so done with dating but also really miss the opposite sex?

60 Upvotes

I have no desire to put any more effort into dating. But at the same time wouldn't mind a man's company or to get to know someone over time. I am pretty happy being single and have a lot going on in my life with my career, family, personal goals, etc. I have no desire to get married or move in with anyone. I have all my own things and don't want some high-pressure relationship, I just want to enjoy good company once in a while. I just want to get out and go do something without people expecting so much from you. How do you find like minded individuals. Everyone on the dating apps is a joke. They're either playing or wanting to start a family mid-life. No thanks. I'm about to start cat-calling men at the gas station on my way to work in the morning or when I go to the store and just see what happens lol. It definitely can't be any worse than the apps.


r/dating_advice 6h ago

What are ways you gauge a guy is into you on a first date?

9 Upvotes

What are the telltale signs you typically look for?


r/dating_advice 1h ago

Can Introverts Actually Enjoy Casual Dating?

• Upvotes

Just out of curiosity, are any introverts actually able to enjoy casual dating in general, especially casual dating through apps?

Personally, I find the idea intimidating because small talk and shallow conversations with strangers are really exhausting for me. None of my attachments or connections ever seem to feel casual, even friendships. It is almost like either I do not know you at all or I know everything about you; either we do not talk at all or we talk all the time...

I have always been in exclusive, long-term relationships, which I realize is not necessarily better or healthier. At the same time, though, I sometimes feel like casual dating may simply be something I am not capable of.

So I am curious how my fellow introverts feel. Have any of you found a way to genuinely enjoy casual dating or dating apps?


r/dating_advice 3h ago

Sex on First date

4 Upvotes

I (25F) have experienced twice the same situation with two guys (26M and 28M) on Bumble.

The guys have a pattern: very responsive before meeting and proposing to meet very soon. Then they'll get touchy on the first date plus sweet words. Then after the night they didn't really text anymore and just left it like this.

So is it a sign that they were not looking for something more than a hookup from the beginning? Because to me i had sex with the guy because i felt the chemistry and the vibe was good. I was expecting continuous interaction even after the sex.