You might think that romance is a universal thing, and then when it comes to love, we all speak the same language, but I happen to think that there are definitely some differences depending on where you are in the world and what your personal culture is!
There is no doubting that two of the most influential cultures in the world, thanks to mainstream media, are American culture and British culture, and when it comes to dating, these two Atlantic neighbours can often differ very greatly!
Here is how dating in the UK differs from dating in the US.
In Britain, if you have gone on more than one date with someone, it is generally assumed that things have now moved into an exclusive zone. This isn’t the case in the US.
It’s much more common for Americans to continue to play the field and go on regular dates with two, three, and even more people at once for a much longer time.
Going out on a date with someone during the day is pretty much unheard of in the UK, it’s just not something that people contemplate doing, even on the weekends.
In America, daytime dates like grabbing lunch are a lot more popular, whereas in the UK going out for dinner is pretty much the always done thing when it comes to seeing someone new for the first time.
I know this is a massive generalisation, but culture seems to suggest that British women are a lot less self-conscious on a first date, putting a lot less pressure on things.
American ladies have this ambition that every date might just be the date that leads to finding ‘the one’, whereas Brits are a lot more casual in the first impressions department!
In the UK, it seems as though there is a lot less pressure to put out on the first, second, third, even fourth dates.
American culture is much more obsessed with picking an early time to go to bed with a new crush, but in the UK, it feels much more like a natural progression that simply happens when it happens.
And following on from that point, it’s fair to say that Brits are a lot less obsessed with sex than Americans, possibly because the British don’t find it to be as taboo of a subject as it still seems to be in the US.
Sex simply isn’t seen as this big, major thing. It’s just one other element of the overall dating experience rather than being the be all and end all.
Double dates just aren’t really a thing in the UK, but they seem to be really popular in the States.
A British person would rather spend time just with the person they are crushing on, rather than having to make conversation and humour another person who their friend is seeing at the same time.
British guys are definitely more low key when it comes to the mechanics of dating. There is none of the flowers bringing and gift giving that we see occur in American shows and TV all the time!
I think deep down that Brit guys keep things lower key because they are scared of doing all that and then being rejected!
Approaching strangers in bars and clubs seems to be a much more American thing these days. British people prefer to go through friends of friends and use dating apps. The bravery to pick out someone in a public place appears to have disappeared!
Leading on from that, it is much more likely to date someone that you already know in the UK. The population is much smaller, and people tend to stick to their own social circles, going through everyone and taking a turn!
A person’s financial status isn’t quite as important in the early stages of dating as it appears to be in the US.
A person’s status in their career feels like it is much more of a draw in the States, everyone seems to want to catch themselves a doctor or a lawyer. In the UK, that isn’t as much of a factor.