Someone Explain Dating to Me

Sometimes I think it’s hard being in a long-term relationship because I don’t know what “swipe left” jokes are supposed to mean, but then I remember about stories like this.

What I don’t understand about these stories is that I know I’ve been on very few dates, none of them with strangers, but I interact with men every day! I have male friends and acquaintances, male classmates and coworkers and relatives. Some of them are weird or mean or dumb, but none of them seem to act like they were raised by a random assortment of YouTube videos in a tent in someone’s backyard. Some of my interactions with them are bad, but it’s never like someone’s filling out a Mad Libs sheet with all the shittiest nouns, verbs, and body parts they can think of. But those dating stories are so common! How? Why?

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