Four Stellar Dating Blogs Written By Women

Why even bother dating if you're not going to blog about it?

Asiz Ansari astutely noted in his recent tome Modern Romance that new additions to the dating canon like Tinder are equivalent to having a 24/7 singles bar in your pocket. Often, endless options lead to decision-making paralysis. It's a classic example of the paradox of choice. However, these five women shirked such psychological constraints and, taking autonomy over their dating lives, made the choice to not only go full throttle into the ever expanding universe of online dating, but also decided to submit their dating lives to the public record in the form of riveting, hilarious, and occasionally panic attack inducing blogs and websites. The results are a combustible look at what dating is like for women in the year of our lord 2015. Feast your eyes on four amazing dating blogs written by women.

1. 40 Dates & 40 Nights, Jamy Madison

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What do you do with a broken heart? If you’re proclaimed actress, writer, and dater Jamy Madison, you use it as the impetus to go on 40 damn Tinder dates in 40 damn nights in the pursuit of new love, and then blog about each and every one of those dates on the interwebs for all to vicariously participate in. The rules that govern this marathon of Millenial love? 1. A date a date for 40 days. 2. All dates from Tinder. 3. Maximum of 3 dates with any one guy. 4. No sex ‘til monogamy.

To the casual observer, exclusively using Tinder, widely considered just a hookup app, to find true love seems akin to eating soup with a fork, but Jamy, shrewd and worldly, quickly establishes that she’s a subscriber of the ‘it’s the journey, not the destination’ mindset, and she’s perpetually in control, even when she meets the occasional goddamn lunatic.

Jamy colors each interaction with her amusing recollections, perceptions, and (occasionally brutal) candor, from the weirdos (date 9 blindsided her with the fact it was his 30th birthday halfway through dinner), the losers (date 28, clearly just trying to notch his bedpost, went out of his way to provoke her with douchy behavior), and the winners (she eventually met ‘the one’, though not on Tinder. In a bar. Go figure.)

While Jamy’s playful prose is the main draw, you find yourself making return trips for her unique takes on the constructs of love as they relate to her and women in general in the year 2015. Her shift in approach from the beginning of the blog, in which she seems most interested in vetting the romantic potential in dates, to later posts in which just having genuine human connections becomes her focus, is tangible, and it makes Forty Dates & Forty Nights a reminder that the best way to successfully navigate the dating landscape is to jettison expectations and, above all, to know thyself.

Random quote: I was in Anaconda 2!

Read 40 Dates & 40 Nights here and pre-order the book version here.

irony is a lifestyle, Stacei Corliss

CBS / Via teaser-magazine.com

Single at age 29, writer and model Stacei Corliss was against online dating until a chance conversation with a co-worker inspired (cough guilted) her to take a plunge into the frothy waters of online/app dating. But why just dip your toe in and take it one date at a time when you could dive in headfirst and set up 30 dates in 30 days? Armed with Match, Tinder, JDate, OkCupid, and eHarmony as her tools, and wielding endurance that makes Atlas look like a chump, Stacei commenced her dating journey in the hopes of finding….well, some good stories, and maybe a boyfriend as an added bonus. Spoiler alert: she found all of the above, in spades. Her recipe for a month of dating dynamism?

1. You must be completely open to the process — including the idea that it might actually lead to a relationship.

2. Say yes to someone under 6’0”.

3. Say yes to someone who is clearly not your “type.”

4. Say yes to someone who is terrible at communicating via the written word.

5. Say yes to someone who is 39 or older.

6. No bailing on a date or a guy unless there is a really, really, REALLY good reason.

Suffice to say, her strict adherence to these rules took her down some paths that might have gone untraveled otherwise.

Stacie offers readers a look at the messages and conversations that bookend each date, opening an omniscient window with which to see each potential match come together (or, in many cases, hilariously combust). It gives her blog the air of a social anthropology experiment, but filtered through her acerbic charm. Highlights include Corliss’ blazing, analytical summation/takedown of the major dating websites (sorry, JDate), her takeaways from this social experiment, so much drinking that I got a hangover just by proxy, and her eventual claiming of a boyfriend. Did it work out? Find out yourself, lazy.

Random quote: I proceed to pass out on my newly acquired, enormous stuffed Nemo for an hour before pulling myself together.

Read irony is a lifestyle here.

Soon2BeCatLady, CatLady

20th Century Fox / Via catster.com

Let’s change it up for a minute. CatLady of Soon2BeCatLady, a blogger, podcaster, and photographer in her later twenties ‘searching the interwebs for the love of her life’, has not strapped on her dating shoes and run a marathon of meetups as our previously mentioned bloggers have. Rather, her blog takes the shape of a conduit to voice the myriad frustrations of online dating.

CatLady’s blog has many facets, but her most striking posts see her cataloging messages she’s received from potential romantic suitors from across a selection of the most popular dating/sites and apps, along with her whip smart, biting responses. Is seeing CatLady exercise her wit and wisdom entertaining? Extremely. Are the messages she posts a cascade of case study after case study of inexcusable failures of nurture? Sweet, merciful crap, yes. To read her blog is to become painfully aware of the sexism, danger, and indescribable what-the-fuck-ness so many women face every. single. day. online dating in a time and age when people communicate with screens and thus don’t have to take ownership over the shit they sling. To change a pattern you must first recognize it, and thus this website should be required reading for any empathetic owner of a Y chromosome who maybe doesn’t want to be a total blight on modern civilization. CatLady also provides an excellent reminder that it’s perfect ok to laugh in the face of any fucktard who would say aggressive, ridiculous things to a total stranger.

Random quote: Did he just basically tell me that I am Batman.. and make reference to pooping?

Read Soon2BeCatLady here, and click here to treat your ears to her plethora of weekly podcasts.

My Week on Tinder, Christina Walkinshaw

Disney / Via satinahall.wordpress.com

Two years ago Christina Walkinshaw, professional comedian and dating app newb, signed up for Tinder and dove straight into the deep end, booking seven dates in seven days. The result? The My Week on Tinder blog, initially a place to humorously muse on each romantic engagement that took place during that introductory week. Once her week on Tinder was up, Christina deleted the app, her foray into online dating complete. Just kidding. Endgames are for quitters, even when they invalidate your blog title. Fast forward to today and Ms. Walkinshaw just clocked her 73rd date, with her journey showing no signs of running out of steam.

Stripped of the goals and set dressing previous dating blogs in this article hung their premises on, Christina’s dating website reads less like a focused narrative and more like a diary; a hilarious and candid recounting of her adventures in dating and other dovetailing life happenings. In addition to blogging about each date, she solicits posts from ex boyfriends (!!), talks about oral sex, whether or not to date co-workers, what it’s like to be a female comedian, tries dating girls halfway through her bender, and charmingly slathers each post in approximately 500 uses of the Canadian expletive ‘fack’ (she’s from Toronto). As a comedian, it should come as no surprise that Christina’s blog packs more lols per post (averaging about four, per my count) than 9 out of 10 tumblrs (a fact I totally did not just arbitrarily make up to underline the fact that she’s really facking funny).

Random quote: Just take a drink any time the word ‘fack’ appears.

Read My Week on Tinder here and let Ms. Walkinshaw’s comedy album earn your guffaws, giggles, and snickers by clicking here.

BONUS

Toss in your two cents. Post your best (or worst) online dating experiences in the comments!