I had a bunch of baggage that made screening for kink both necessary and difficult for me while dating. Shortly before I met my husband, I thought about what makes someone a good dm or a good dom for me, and the Venn diagram was basically a circle. Then I thought about all the dms I know and what I know about their sexual tastes, and I started using dm as a green flag to investigate further.
Of course, my husband just put a quick, dry note in his profile, double checked near the end of the first date that I knew what it meant and was interested, and then we didn’t address it again until we had been on several dates and were more invested.
That’s better than my janky avoidant system, but my system works better than anything I’ve tried other than direct communication. But if you aren’t in a place where you can communicate directly with potential partners, you probably shouldn’t be trying to start anything(1). If you’re going to anyway, look for a partner who’s the right level of assertive for you, but it will come up as something problematic if you’re trying to enter a longer term relationship.
(1) In my case, it’s just that I had difficulty speaking plainly about my wants and needs before having sex with someone. I never had too much of an issue afterwards, but I also catch feelings after having sex with someone, so I need to get it out of the way first, because closed ltrs with incompatible partners suck.
That’s actually also fine, because that’s very easy to feel out when talking to someone, IME. I was more trying to filter out the type of person who doesn’t know anything about BDSM but would enthusiastically agree to take control without doing any work to understand how to do things safely. I’m tired of being endangered because someone didn’t want to listen to me explaining that you need to avoid the kidneys in impact play or that you can’t put the entire body weight on an unsupported suspended strappado. I’m not good at sorting that type of person out in my dating life, unfortunately, but I can spot them immediately when they dm/talk about dming.
Ooh, yes. When I was in high school and college, I wouldn’t date anyone who drove recklessly. A combination of survivorship and selection bias made that no longer an issue when I got a little older, thankfully.
Just remember it’s basically garbage in, garbage out. I know a lot of folks half-ass it (bad photos, lazy profile, half-assed messages) and then are surprised that they don’t rise above the sea of other half-assed people and the algorithms.
I had a bunch of baggage that made screening for kink both necessary and difficult for me while dating. Shortly before I met my husband, I thought about what makes someone a good dm or a good dom for me, and the Venn diagram was basically a circle. Then I thought about all the dms I know and what I know about their sexual tastes, and I started using dm as a green flag to investigate further.
Of course, my husband just put a quick, dry note in his profile, double checked near the end of the first date that I knew what it meant and was interested, and then we didn’t address it again until we had been on several dates and were more invested.
That’s better than my janky avoidant system, but my system works better than anything I’ve tried other than direct communication. But if you aren’t in a place where you can communicate directly with potential partners, you probably shouldn’t be trying to start anything(1). If you’re going to anyway, look for a partner who’s the right level of assertive for you, but it will come up as something problematic if you’re trying to enter a longer term relationship.
(1) In my case, it’s just that I had difficulty speaking plainly about my wants and needs before having sex with someone. I never had too much of an issue afterwards, but I also catch feelings after having sex with someone, so I need to get it out of the way first, because closed ltrs with incompatible partners suck.
Come for the memes, stay for the very good relationship advice.
huh. I’m a gm but I’m an extremely subby rope bunny.
That’s actually also fine, because that’s very easy to feel out when talking to someone, IME. I was more trying to filter out the type of person who doesn’t know anything about BDSM but would enthusiastically agree to take control without doing any work to understand how to do things safely. I’m tired of being endangered because someone didn’t want to listen to me explaining that you need to avoid the kidneys in impact play or that you can’t put the entire body weight on an unsupported suspended strappado. I’m not good at sorting that type of person out in my dating life, unfortunately, but I can spot them immediately when they dm/talk about dming.
Ah! ok, that makes sense.
A similar thing probably also applies to other areas of life - like how does this person drive?
Ooh, yes. When I was in high school and college, I wouldn’t date anyone who drove recklessly. A combination of survivorship and selection bias made that no longer an issue when I got a little older, thankfully.
man, I need to try online dating again
Just remember it’s basically garbage in, garbage out. I know a lot of folks half-ass it (bad photos, lazy profile, half-assed messages) and then are surprised that they don’t rise above the sea of other half-assed people and the algorithms.
If you’re looking for actual dates, not hookups, I can very much recommend hinge. The platform makes it surprisingly easy to start a conversation.
thanks, giving it a go! It looks very much like bumble, but we’ll see