Six feet tall, dark hair, dark eyes, olive skin, big arms, strong back, European. Shorter, dark hair, light blue eyes, pale Irish skin, likes the Mets. Taller than me, light hair, light eyes, surfer dude, great tan, enjoys outdoors, and Mexican food. Red hair, dark eyes, likes to travel, nice teeth, family guy, enjoys food.
Everyone has his or her own type, but what does that really mean? How do people know what their type is or how much does a type determine relationships?
I hear so many of my girlfriends say, “Well, he’s not my type.” I think that this is a concept that has doomed future relationships. With years and years of dating experience supplemented by excessive images of half-naked men in Cosmo magazines, we women think we have become experts for who our partners should be.
The truth is we developed this laundry list of things that guys need to have in order to pass the first line of defense. They can’t date us unless they have rock hard abs, well-flossed teeth, an adorable smile, and manners (can open a door for us). That’s just a random assortment of characteristics, but we all know that we can write our own Cosmo magazine of requirements guys need to have in order to make the grade.
We all think we know, down to the hair color and skin tone, what kind of guy we want. In a culture that is predominantly considered shallow, we wind up shooing away men who would make great partners. If a guy doesn’t have blue eyes and is too tall for you… so what?
One of the best feelings in life is being pleasantly surprised. Nevertheless, I am not calling you shallow or stubborn. Every person on this planet says he or she has a type – I am just focusing this article on letting other girls know that sometimes their “type” is restricting them from opening up boundaries and letting themselves find some really great guy.
I previously asked you what does a “type” really mean? I am going to take a crack at how I interpret this notion. I will put it in the female tense:
Type (noun): a type can be defined as a random list of shallow characteristics that a female forms in her head in order to narrow down the mate selection process while she is out in “da clubs.” This woman convinces herself that the possible suitor present is not acceptable as he does not pass certain “type requirements.” Realistically, this mentality is a defense mechanism to ward off any potential gentlemen. At the end of the night they go through a self-loathing process and ask themselves, “Why is there not one good person out there?” while they splurge in McFlurrys with girlfriends.
Drop the type, and join the dating hype!
