‘It happened to me five times in ONE week.' The new dating trend I *don’t* want to write about.

Read the full article on Mamamia by Ebony Leigh here.

Last week was going to be MY WEEK. “Hello world,” I told myself in the mirror. “I am single and ready to mingle!”

Which has essentially been the case on and off for the past eight years of my life. But, you know... here we go again.

I was putting myself out there. (And by *putting myself out there* I meant I was swiping. Repeatedly. On multiple dating apps. All day long.)

Well, fast forward a week and consider your girl BROKEN. Because I got cancelled. Blatantly ghosted. And it happened not once or twice. Oh no. It happened FIVE TIMES with four different men in the space of one teeny, tiny week. 

RIP me.

But rather than wallowing in the inevitable questions that arise from these sorts of dating fails (ie, 'Is it me? What did I do wrong?' etc, etc), I decided to find out from an expert just what the hell is going on with guys these days. 

(Or if it was, in fact, me. Which is couldn't have been. No way.)

'It’s really sh*tty behaviour.'

“There’s a bit of a theme at the moment of people doing this more and more, and it’s really sh*tty behaviour,” Sydney sexologist Georgia Grace told me. 

“Unfortunately, there is a bit of a culture of standing people up – and it can be for a range of reasons."

The first, she said, is that people get nervous and their only way to deal with the nerves of the first date might be to avoid it. 

“They may just be so overwhelmed with the concept and idea that they've got to go and meet up with someone, that they may just never show up,” she explained.

Which could explain Brian. 

Brian, with his innocent smile, naive eyes and a WhatsApp photo that should have been left on LinkedIn. His image and banter just screamed (or, politely raised its voice) *good guy*. So after days of chatting on Hinge, and rescheduling one date already, we booked in a coffee for a Saturday morning.

And then I just... never heard from him again.

Besides simply ceasing to exist (not a super-likely scenario), another reason people are doing the dirty is that – wait for it – they may just be insensitive souls. (Ok, my words, not Georgia's – clearly the rage still simmers).

"It may be that they are lacking interpersonal skills and awareness as to how cruel it is to not turn up to a date," the sexologist said of outright standing people up. 

"Even though the other person may be a stranger to them and they might not know them well, they still lack care for how their actions may impact an individual.” 

Which sounds like just the right way to introduce Mark, who told me half an hour before our coffee date that he had to "pick up his grandma" from the shops. I want to believe that Grandma exists. I really, really do. But figment of Mark's imagination or otherwise, how he handled the situation left me p**sed.

But I was already dressed to leave the house (which you KNOW is a *thing*) so I suggested a drink later that evening. 

Six hours later, he told me he'd stayed at Granny's for dinner. 

(Plz let her be real.)

Read the full article here.