Ah, L’Amour...

Soundtrack: “Autumn Cannibalist” by Die Manequin

Let’s talk about romance. Real romance.

People in our wonderful little American culture have a seriously skewed view of what romance is. Most American men think romance is being old-fashioned and doing “cute” things to make a woman think you care about her. And women... the average American woman’s view of romance is so varied that it's no wonder we men are left dazed and confused.

Here what I believe the true definition of what true romance is: it is demonstrating to the other person in a relationship that this relationship you are is meaningful. Which means that there is no right way to be romantic, but plenty of wrong ways.

One thing that many people seem to be confused about is the fundamental differences between men and women when it comes to our senses. Sexually speaking, men are turned on by sight and women are turned on more by touch. That doesn't mean there are exceptions or other variables involved, just that in general the sexes work that way. Back to romance, men are almost right on the “cute” things. Not so much cute, though, as little things that demonstrate how you care about a girl. You do care about her, right? Right?

The thing that I think is killing romance is that everyone wants to be single and have fun. That doesn’t work. Oh sure, it may work for a little while, but the second you see a girl walking around with another guy, you get jealous. Unless she’s a prostitute, but we won't get into that. Romance is supposed to work in a sense of being in a deeper relationship. A relationship that will lead to a life-long union, whatever that may be. Traditionally it is marriage, but some people never officially tie the knot and end up being “life partners” or whatever.

I am willing to bet you are asking “so if romance is doing something that shows I care about a woman, how do I know what to do?” That's the hard part. That is where you, mister, need to find out how you can properly demonstrate this. And that is called commitment. Oh yes, the dreaded “c-word”. Please don't ask me how commitment works, though. I seem to be attracted to women who are deathly afraid of commitment in any shape. Ah, woe is me.