Dating Communication

Married people often go off about how they wish there weren't so many "games" in dating, and that people should just tell each other that they like each other. Their advice to do so, as any single person knows, is ridiculous. This is because the married people have forgotten what it is like to live in an environment where there is no guarantee of returned affection: when a married person says that he/she loves his/her spouse, the person has confidence that the feeling is mutual.
Despite the uncertainty and resulting insecurity in dating, it is undeniable that the experience would be less painful if a person knew when another liked him/her. This does require communication, and it is important for males and females to realize their roles in this in order to make it universally reliable.

Roles

The role of the male in dating communication is to "make the move." This means that he must initiate interaction between himself and the female that he is interested in. The female's role is to reciprocate any welcome interaction, usually by repeating whatever action the male initiated or something similar to it. This basically serves as a green light for the male, letting him know that he's welcome to make the next "move." Males that continue to "make moves", or to try to increase the level of the relationship, without receiving this green light, will usually be considered too forward and presumptuous, and will find themselves faced with frequent rejection.

Examples

To show that these basic roles in dating communication are present throughout the whole relationship, a few examples are presented:

• A boy makes eye contact. The interested girl smiles at him.
• A boy asks a girl for her number. If she wants him to call her, she'll give it to him. If not, she makes some excuse.
  
• A boy puts his arm around a girl. If she's interested, she leans into him. If not, she leans away (a subtle way to have him remove his arm -- unless he's a retard).
• A boy holds a girl's hand. If she likes that, she'll squeeze it back.
• A boy moves in to kiss a girl. If she likes him that much, she'll kiss him. If not, she'll turn away.
  
• A boy asks a girl on a date. If she's interested, she goes with him. If not, she tells him no (and if it is with an excuse, she makes it an obvious one so that he will get the hint).

There's some misinformation regarding this last one. For some reason, the female of the species has been trained since preadolescence that it is inappropriate to turn down a date, especially a first date. This is simply not correct. A female should no more do this than she would expect a male to insincerely propose marriage. Either party, male or female, should stop participating in their role as soon as they are no longer interested, or not interested to the level of relationship implied by the next action.

Hopefully, if males and females realize their own roles in dating communication, then both parties will know how the other feels and no one will be put in situations where they are uncomfortable. Maybe, someday, somewhere, someone will even be happy.