Dating Violence -- Always Man on Woman?

I spotted this interesting article on Reuters today. It's about violence in dating and that it is just as likely that men are subjected to violence as they are to dishing it out. Dr. Murray A. Straus, founder and co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire says that "women do about as much hitting of dating partners as men do." The study was conducted in 32 nations. It says basically that women are just as likely to hit their man as they are to be hit.

It is hard to imagine he says because so much dating violence goes unreported. And those that are reported are typically women reporting abuse by men. And then when a man hits a woman, he's much more likely to cause injury.

So is it fair? Is it the hitting that is the concern or the injury? Can you have the playful 'hitting' where no intention is made to do harm? Or where do we need to draw the line? Makes you wonder?

And it also talks about the fact that daters have more violence than married couples -- it says typically because daters are younger and younger people have more incidents of violence. However, I wouldn't have thought that. I'd have thought that as a dater that I'd want to value my date, whereas people like my parents have grown accoustomed to each other and can easily take each other for granted or treat with disdain. If you are dating someone and it gets that way, then get out, I mean you won't get much better treatment than what you get while dating and if it is that bad now...

eChemistry -- and what a personality profile!

I've recently finished the eChemistry.com personality profile. It is quite an interesting personality profile that they have going online. As of today, if you complete the profile, they will give you a full 1-year membership in their dating website when it goes live. I think I understand that it is going live pretty soon. So, I figured why not, it can't hurt.

The test was quite fun. 224 questions, a few of them (maybe 6?) are essays. More like explain your position on pets, or what is your favorite books and movies. Then there was the final tough little question which what most online dating sites have for their first introductory paragraph about yourself. But aside from that, it basically was answering what essentially amounted to yes/no questions on a sliding scale. All this information will go into their supercomputer and analyze you to death and give you a personality profile. You have even a little spot to put a comment about what you thought of your profile. Reading their material it sounds like they've really put a lot of effort into making a comprehensive personality profile. After all, they call themselves "The Science of Attraction"

(example of the question slider bar -- if you can read it)

Anyway, I ramble? No guarantees that this will be any different or better than eHarmony or some of the other popular online dating sites. No guarantees on how many members they will have or how truthful they'll be. But, it will be free for a year if you fill things out soon enough. Go ahead, try.

Special Dating Services That Cater To People With Faith

I spotted an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review by Emily Geyman that briefly covers a few of the online dating services that cater to people of faith. It talks about some of the more prominent online dating services that cater specifically to religious groups. It talks about Equally Yoked for the Christian crowd, DharmaDate for Buddhists, and Jdate for the Jewish singles. Rather than these sites just asking about what you are looking for and whether they should drink or smoke and what kind of politics they like, these sites ask specific religious questions of their members. And since for the most part all these sites are visted only by others of that religion, it makes it easier to find someone like minded.

"Outside The Bubble"

There is an interesting little article by Kat Voboril on Backstage.com (actors resource website) that talks about the pros and cons of dating "outside the bubble" or outside of people who work in their industry. How that people outside of "showbiz" don't understand and can't really relate to the non-showbizzers of us. And then they discuss a little of the cons of dating inside the bubble. But it seems to me like it all breaks down along the same lines of familiarity and the fact that if you are real estate agent that it is comfortable to date others in real estate.

Nevertheless, and interesting read into dating and Broadway. Take a look.

Gotta Flirt?

This interesting article from the Virginia Tech Collegiate Times about the new website "Gottaflirt.com" and how it is a dating game for computer savvy youths. While the article focuses on the potential drawbacks of the website -- namely that the "winners" e-mail information is exchanged and it then opens them up to potential preditors, the game actually looks really fun.

This set of 7 guys are put in a line-up and asked a series of questions by the female host. They have 35 seconds to answer each of 10 questions. Answering the questions in the "correct way" to the host gets you points. The one at the end wins and his email information is forwarded to the host.

Sounds like fun. Its fast paced and all. But take the article into consideration. Use those anyomous email accounts and don't reveal anything about yourself until you are ready! Have some fun, go ahead! I think I'll give it a whirl!

Click here to visit gottaflirt.com!

China's Growing Online Dating Scene

It is being reported that China's online dating market will reach $81 million by 2008. It was valued at only $11.2 million in 2005. They are predicting a 60% growth rate!

Amazing stuff, huh? The world is realizing that online dating can be a good thing and an incredible convenience!

Internet Dating Empowering to Women

But before I leave you for a while to have all those fears from the last blog post about how Internet dating can be a bad thing ... I'm going to send you to this article about how Internet Dating is Empowering to Women by Cherie Burbach in the American Chronicle.

The article is all about how Internet dating is scary, but that when you get down to it, it really is empowering to women. That they have more control of things, and the guys on there have to put a lot more effort than just making a phone call. Honestly, how many women are going to go out with a guy from an Internet site who can't write complete sentences or thoughts for a profile, or whose emails are poorly written? I mean they have a choice right off the bat before they succumb to "cute" factor... Think about it!

And if you really read that article below (about Internet dating gone wrong) if you believe the story facts as presented -- and of course it may not all be true -- then common sense could have prevented that. And then it could have all happened on a date that started in the classical way!

Internet Dating Gone Wrong

Well, what better way to start this blog off about the benefits of Internet Dating than to send you over to a story in New Zealand about a court case covering Internet dating gone wrong!

So their first meeting, she lets him come over to her house. After telling him repeatedly that she wanted to meet him in a public spot. "I can be trusted" he said. (right!)

She lets him in the house even though she's scared of the way he's looking at her when he first arrived.

She offers no resistance because she is a afraid of provoking him.

After he eventually leaves she lets him back into the house, where he subsequently "kisses her roughly", after claiming that he has "lost his wallet" (right!)

Oh, and she had supposedly had phone sex with the guy, reluctantly, the day before...


Sometimes this stuff makes you wonder...!

Cupid Missed?

Have you come to that point that you have now realized that Cupid has missed his target? That the little naked dude has been a terrible marksman (at least in our cases)? This is a companion blog to my website - and it is called, Cupid Missed ... imagine that?!

Well, I've kind of dropped the ball lately on my website and my love life. Neither have gone anywhere in the last 6 months. 2006 has really sucked. SO! Off to a new start.

And in case you wonder, there is a catalyst. I'm off to a wedding in the next few days where I'm going to watch a former girlfriend get married off to this dunce! [sigh]