Drove myself there, didn’t drink much, didn’t go to his place until I had known him for several weeks
That’s a good one. If you’re just dating, stay public or at yours. If you’re meeting to have sex do it at yours or somewhere neutral. You have zero control over his place
I would just plain keep sex off the table until more trust than that is built, trying to imagine the situation where I’m comfortable letting someone into my body but not my home
I’m genuinely happy being single, but when I was dating I protected myself from emotional harm which tends to get forgotten. Mainly getting my friends to crush my hope so I didn’t end up feeling lost with it all. Protect your heart people!
I’ve never dated outside of a relationship, so I guess that that’s one way.
Though, my partner before dating me basically told a trusted person, in this case a cousin, where they’d be going and when the cousin should take action. I guess that that counts?
lol, I was almost going to say the same: don’t! 🙃
I am just not sure I would go on dates, tbh - I explicitly had as a goal to not have a relationship, my current relationship is my “exception” 😅
EDIT: my partner and I were thinking last night and we agreed we feel bad for straight women who only have men to choose from - we both agreed we aren’t sure there are any men we know who would be considered “relationship material”
Took myself to the place of the date, always somewhere public and at a time there would be other people around, and told a friend where I’d be … just the basics really. I was much more lax with my security on dates with women, though.
I liked going to places like public gardens and museums, if someone didn’t want to enjoy that sort of thing it weeded them out early.
Public places.
Trusted friend or sibling knows the location, timing, and who I’m meeting - and I tell the person as much.
No booze. No unattended food or drink.
I prefer first dates to be something other than dinner; I hate having to correct a dude on the “implications” even when we split the bill and it’s way too much pressure on uninterrupted 1:1 conversation for me.
If it is to someplace with table service or whatever, I make sure to speak directly with them. Not that I expect they remember me, more for my date to see we’re being seen and noticed.
Two more secret checks I don’t share online because I don’t want incels and abusers to figure them out. And if any man reads that last sentence and gets upset, they’re the ones I’m trying to filter out.
