DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: I saw your “Flurry of dating advice” post on Google, and one guy said pretty awkwardly that he was into Asian goth girls because he associates paleness with Japanese horror.

The thing is, I more or less agree with that guy. I’m not goth myself, but I do like that subculture, and might make some new additions to my wardrobe. I’m sort of into pale women in general because I associate pale skin with mortality, the supernatural, and horror. Some female characters I’m a fan of have this trait and and something to do with these themes: Death of The Endless (DC’s “The Sandman”), Frederica “The Cleaner” Sawyer (Black Lagoon), Tomie Kawakami (Junji Ito), and Morticia Addams (The Addams Family). For a pale male character I’m a fan of, John Kramer (Saw).

Essentially, I agree with the Gothic subculture; it appreciates paleness aesthetically because it represents macabre themes such as death, mortality, the supernatural (think vampires, ghosts, the undead), the afterlife, and decay.

And just like that other guy, I love horror; it’s my bread and butter. My idea for a date would be playing Silent Hill together, or reading horror manga together late at night while H.P. Lovecraft ambience plays in the background.

I’m essentially asking if it’s normal for horror fans, male or female, to find pale skin attractive? Is it normal to find beauty in pallor? Because this makes two people who do. Is it normal, and do you have any good dating tips for me?

Spooky Is Sexy

DEAR SPOOKY IS SEXY: You’re asking the wrong question, SIS, because whether this is “normal” or not is ultimately irrelevant. “Normal”, in the context that you’re referring to, just means “in the mainstream”. Attractiveness and physical beauty is as much cultural as it is biological. While, as a general rule, we tend to find things like facial symmetry and outward signs of physical health attractive, a lot of what’s considered “beautiful” is going to be defined by outside influences – your culture, your peers, your life experiences, and so on.

Standards of beauty have varied wildly over time and around the world. Things that one culture or people saw as the epitome of beauty often would weird out others – blackened teeth in Southeast Asian and Oceanic cultures in the 16th and 17th century would be repulsive in 18th Century France, while the powdered wigs, parchment-white faces with roughed cheeks and lips and fake beauty marks in Versailles would seem almost freakish in sub-Saharan African communities.

All of them would consider what they found beautiful to be “normal”. They might find other cultures beauty practices and standards exotic and intriguing or weird and upsetting… but it would be different and not “normal”. It’s only with the advent of modern mass-media that we’ve seen certain beauty standards become more dominant; that’s less about being “normal” so much as an increase in monoculture via cultural hegemony.

This is why wondering whether what you find attractive is “normal” misses the point. It’s not about being normal, it’s about understanding who you are and what you’re into. You dig pale skin, dark hair and the morbid and macabre. Your ideal partner is someone who appreciates goth culture, horror media and controlled scares. It means that your dating pool is going to be a little smaller than it would be if you were more into aesthetics that were more widely popular, but that’s different from being abnormal. Think of it like candy corn; a lot of people hate it, and a lot of people crave it. As the meme goes: there are people who will adore you for the exact same reasons as other people reject you. You are someone’s candy corn (derogatory), and someone else’s candy corn (complimentary).

Go find the communities and hangouts where you’ll find other folks with a taste of the macabre, unnerving, grotesque or scary hanging out. Worry less about what’s normal and put your focus on finding your candy corn.

Good luck.

Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com

DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: Allow me to start with the caveat that I have had some relationships in the past (2, one of 2 months and one of 3 months), those were at this point more then 15 years ago

I’m also basically the standard 36YO nerd, like me mappies, like me MTG, like me memes, like me vtubers, etc, simple as, I also work, own a house and a car, have friends that I see every few months, family that likes me and I like them, basically all standard stuff, regular john normal

However, I do feel a bit lost at this particular point: I’m still a f--king teenager who’s crushing on every woman he sees,

It’s kind of infuriating, “huh, this woman is interacting with me, I wonder if she’ll let me stick my penis inside of her”, this is 1) super distracting and 2) mega disrespectful, she’s her own person, probably with more capabilities than me, and not just a slab of meat for me release my urges into

So, I’ve decided to do something about that, I’ve lost 35kg (77 pounds for the yanks) and have started to go to a voice coach so I can sound less annoying (a complaint I’ve had over the years, I’ve even been seeing a psychologist every week

So why would I need advice from you I hear you wonder? Well, it’s always been kind of hammered into me that relations need to happen organically, boy meets girl leads to man meats woman (the only reason I’ve been called boring is because I stop myself from making jokes like this in regular company), basically 2 people talk and they both like that, at some point they touch each other and eventually they get into a relationship

Here’s my problem: I’ve never deliberately touched another human being, moved 10cm closer yes, but outright touching? no, I once even jumped when a woman touched my thigh during a card game since that’s never happened before (or since).

I once told a friend I’ve been flirting with a particular girl and he said “you flirt like a wet puppy” and another said that I looked like someone who’s crawling on top of closets with my phone held high in a desperate attempt to achieve connection, there was even a time where a friend said to my face: “you don’t really think you can seduce X?” to be fair to her, this had been going on for a few months already so I think she was just the messenger, anyways, people evidently have been bothered by my flirting style which is why I stopped for a few years

Anyways, long story short: if I were to meet a woman that I’d like and we’d to get along should I then consciously decide to touch her on the shoulder or above arm in an attempt to get closer to her or should I just keep on meeting women until I find someone I’d put my hand on her shoulder without thinking about doing so even if I’ve so far never done so for the thousands of people I’ve met over the years?

Kind regards, and hope to hear from you soon, 

How Do I Start?

DEAR HOW DO I START: The way you frame your question is getting in the way of what you’re actually asking about. Your letter is about touching someone, but then there’s what you’re actually asking: whether flirting is something that you should just “know” how to do, or if it’s something that you have to learn.

And that part’s easy: flirting is a skill, and skills don’t come naturally to us. Skills are developed through deliberate practice; that is, you get better by doing the thing you’re trying to get better at. If you were a bird, that would be one thing; you’d have an instinct to do a funky little dance and display your vibrant plumage, build a nest or otherwise put on a mating display. Those aren’t taught to birds as chicks by parents; they’re hardwired into them by nature of being birds.

You, presumably, are a human, though, and part of being human is that we have to consciously develop the skills we want to cultivate. You wouldn’t expect to be an expert at football from the first moment you set foot on the pitch; it takes time and effort, from learning the basics, running drills over and over again, playing in scrimmages and so on. Some people may have aspects that give them an advantage in learning those skills – they may have better coordination, faster reflexes, or a greater natural athleticism – but they still have to put in the time to actually develop the skills to become a top-tier player.

So, it is with flirting. We aren’t born knowing how to flirt; we have to figure out how to flirt and we have to get better at it by actually flirting. And that means that, by default, we have to be willing to flirt badly at first. You may know the broad-brush strokes, the same way that you know what being good at football looks like, but that’s not the same as being able to do it. You’re going to be ignorant of a lot of the fundamentals, which are appropriate for the moment, and how to use them the most effectively. 

So, yeah, you’re going to suck at first and you’re going to have to be ok with sucking at it. �That means accepting that we’re going to make mistakes, misread whether other people are flirting with us and flirt in ways that don’t work for the person we’re trying to flirt with or that are incongruent with who we are as individuals.

And that’s ok! Everyone starts at the same place when they’re trying to develop a skill: we all suck at it at first, no matter who we are. David Beckham didn’t come out of the womb with a right foot blessed by God, any more than Michael Jordan was born able to dunk like gravity simply didn’t apply to him. But as the sage once said: sucking at something is the first step to being kinda good at it.

This doesn’t mean that you should be laser-focused on figuring out when, where and how to touch someone that you’re interested in, although that is one of the ways people flirt. You want to figure out how you flirt, what flirting looks like when it’s in alignment with who you are as a person. The way I flirt is going to look different from the way you flirt, because we’re different people, with different personalities. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa. Figuring out your style is part of the point of practicing.

The thing to understand is that flirting is, at the end of the day, a way of signaling to someone that you are attracted to them and that you like them. Your goal isn’t to get them to like you as much as it is to invite them and encourage them to flirt back. The act of flirting is about interaction, about two people sharing a moment together, building a connection and deciding if, when and how they want to move that connection forward.

A lot of people, for example, will flirt for fun, but without intent. That is, they’re flirting because flirting is fun and it feels good to know that someone likes you and finds you attractive and to play around a bit with those feelings. They flirt for the same reason we play games – for the sake of enjoying something with another person. They may find that person attractive, but they don’t intend to take that connection any further than that moment. Others will, because that mutual attraction builds upon itself and they would like to see where it goes.

And this is where flirting acts as a filter, as much as a means of signaling, gauging and building interest. Someone who doesn’t flirt or enjoy flirting the way that you do is likely someone who isn’t necessarily compatible with you. If you’re someone who likes wordplay and teasing, someone who doesn’t like it isn’t going to respond well to it. Some people appreciate boldness and directness. Others feel their heart melt for someone who’s a little shy and adorkable but trying anyway. Playing that game together helps you find the people who are similar to you… and we’re far more attracted to people who are similar to us than our opposites.

So, if, as you mention in your letter, people are annoyed by how you flirt, it’s worth asking whether you’re flirting in a way that’s congruent with who you are, whether you’re flirting with people who are ultimately incompatible with you, or whether it’s the lack of practice that’s getting in the way.

In other words: it’s a skill issue.

It may well be that your flirting doesn’t look like the way your friends’ does and that’s ok. It’s about finding what works for you, not imitating them.

I do recommend getting comfortable with touch and with touching, in part because knowing how to read touch is invaluable. Some people are just touchy-feely types; others dislike it except with very specific folks. By getting comfortable and practiced at it, you get better at recognizing when your touch is welcomed and when you should hold back; after all, you don’t want to touch someone who doesn’t want to be touched or in a way that makes them uncomfortable or upset, any more than you’d want them to do that to you.

But for now, what I would suggest is doing some thinking about what flirting would look like for you and finding ways to practice it as you go about your day-to-day life. This doesn’t mean you should be acting like an oversexed cartoon skunk everywhere you go, so much as just finding opportunities to make little flirty gestures or comments like sonar pings and see what comes back. If you get a positive response, you can flirt a little more or turn up the volume a bit; if you don’t, then you know to dial things back. There’ll be times when you may be inappropriate and, in those moments, you should apologize and dial it back. That’s an important part of learning as well.

The more you do this, the better you’ll get at reading the room and reading the individual. That’ll make it that much easier to find your people and let them know: you’re into them, and would they like to find out if they’re into you as well?

Good luck. 

Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com

DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: I finally woke up out of dreamland a year ago mortified with the fact that, at the ripe old age of 21, that I am still a kissless virgin and haven’t been in a relationship with a girl. This is still the case today for many reasons, and it is something that continually eats at me every single day for multiple reasons.

The first is obvious: now I’m behind the bell curve and I’m so behind to the point where I cannot catch up to where I should be no matter what I do, where if I lost my virginity when I should have at 13 or 14 (like everyone else did) then people would actually desire me because now I have experience. I’ve tried dating apps and the like and the whole thing is just a catch-22: you need to date to get experience but you need experience to date. People ostensibly do not want to take their chance on people past their prime. I had one match that met up in person and when we discussed our past (on our third time meeting) she seemed fine with but we did not set up anything else past that and ended up choosing someone else over me. Meanwhile a good chunk of my friends are getting married and discussing futures with their partners. People actually *like* them because they have the experience. Other matches? I’m a dude on a dating app in 2025, of course I’m not going to get matches. Even when I do get matches, I’m often to the point of just ghosting them first because I know they’re going to ghost me eventually for not being good enough for them. It’s too late for me, might as well have some fun with it. Which I guess segues into my second reason.

The second is that discussing being a virgin at this late of an age automatically labels you an incel and is basically akin to social suicide. Perfection is not just expected out of people, it’s a requirement and even just hinting that you aren’t up to snuff with everyone else automatically disqualifies you from the game. I guarantee you that match I had in person still talks bad about me because she couldn’t fathom a man being a virgin at 22. How f--king delightful. I don’t even bother talking to women anymore because I know the second they sniff out that I’m deficient in any way they’re going to bail for someone that’s better than me. Sure I go to social events often and whatnot, but I don’t bother (verbally) interacting with them because I know the moment I say something wrong I’m going to be outcast and forever left aside for someone better.

And the times they make the first move? I’m nothing more than an object for them to project their fantasies on and gawk at like I’m some f--king circus animal. Sure I’ve gotten told I’m attractive before and for what it’s worth I’m not completely physically deficient (5’11” and I’m going to the gym and lifting heavy at minimum 4 times per week), but it all feels fake and fragile. Even when I’m desired, I can’t accept it because I know it’s going to get taken away the second I don’t perform to their standards. And don’t get me started about the time I was sexually assaulted by a woman when I was in high school on a dare. How do you explain that to someone that you let someone do that to you? Because you don’t and people don’t give out sympathy for something like that. Because they couldn’t understand that and people don’t want to be associated with someone who’s now permanently marked as an undesirable.

I’m just fed up trying to navigate the dating world as someone who’s objectively inferior to other men and it is driving me closer and closer to suicide as an option. Sure I’ve been going to therapy (also something I couldn’t tell people) and have talked about this before, but it doesn’t matter because my weaknesses are all people are going to remember about me. Doesn’t matter my hobbies or my job or my lifestyle or my future career dreams, people only care about how to tear others down. It’s like everyone automatically knows how much of a f--kup I am and they know to steer clear. I’m tired of trying to hold up this facade of perfection and it’s breaking me down. How do I learn to be OK with being inferior to other men? Because I know dating is never going to happen because of that fact and I just need to be OK with it or die trying to understand it. I got this one chance at life and f--ked it all up because I wasn’t perfect and I can’t cover that fact up anymore.

Doomed And Despairing

DEAR DOOMED AND DESPAIRING: Hoo boy.

I’m going to be honest, D&D: I’m getting tired of answering this letter because I get variations on this letter on a nigh-weekly basis. Seriously, just check the archives. And as much as I feel like I should just set up a macro to post a standard replay and save myself the effort, I think I’m going to quit answering them and just pointing people to the years of answers of people saying the same thing, often with the same mistakes and absolutely bugnuts beliefs.

Let’s start with the obvious one: you’re 21 – not exactly a haggard old man or even that far off the median age of losing one’s virginity. You’re hardly The Last American Virgin, nor are you particularly behind the curve. Your problem is that – like the chorus of your fellow travelers – is that you’re all singing from the exact same songbook and confusing baseless speculation and mistaking “just so” stories for reality.

Let’s start with “I should have lost my virginity at 13 or 14 (like everyone else did).” The only thing I can say here is [Citation Needed] because f--king hell dude, this is what happens when you believe the bulls--t your classmates are spitting in the 8th grade. The truth is that the average age for losing one’s virginity is 17, and that age is actually going up; in 2021, only 30% of high-school students reported having sex, a number that’s gone down consistently since 2011, when it was 47%. Just as importantly though, that’s the average, not the time when you’re supposed to.

In fact, I am going to hammer this part home: there is no age when you’re ‘supposed’ to have lost your virginity. The “right” age to lose your virginity is when you are physically and emotionally prepared and understand consent. That age is going to vary from person to person, based on their life and circumstances; it has nothing to do with their “worth”, their “value” or anything else.

I can also tell you that having had sex does nothing to make other people desire you. People can’t smell virginity or hear some special high-pitched hum that only players emit. Nobody is going to know how much sex you have or haven’t had until you tell them, and how they react is as much about how you roll it out as it is about whether they’re worth dating in the first place. It’s almost embarrassing to have to explain that to a grown-ass adult, because it’s such 13-year-old “I got this from my stoner older brother” s--t that I don’t think even you believe it. Except in this case, it’s pretty clear that this is you spending way the f--k too much time on incel forums and subreddits, where everyone’s got their Masters in Woman-Understanding From Just Trust Me Bro U. Your calves and quads must be huge from the amount of leaping to unfounded conclusions you’re doing. “She didn’t want to meet up again because we talked about our pasts” is an assumption and not even an accurate one. The odds are much better that she just wasn’t feeling it, in no small part because you spent most of the time waiting for her to dump you already.

Seriously, your emo phase was cringe when you were 15, when you’re supposed to be cringe while thinking that mild ennui is deep and meaningful; it’s painful to keep at it into your 20s.

Your friends aren’t desired because they’re experienced, your friends are desired in no small part because they’re not sad-sacks who disqualify and reject themselves constantly for bulls--t reasons. You can’t even bring yourself to show up for people who actually want to give you a chance.��(Also if your friends – also in the 20-22 age range – are seriously talking families and marriage with their partners right now, then I will bet you a $20 Starbucks card that you’re going to see a 94% divorce rate among them in 5 years.)

But let’s go back to “discussing being a virgin gets you labeled as an incel” for a second. I’ll grant you that one conditionally… because you keep talking about it like it’s a big deal. Folks who don’t act like 21 is over the hill or treat virginity like a physical disability aren’t bringing it up to all and sundry. If you weren’t acting like being a virgin was an albatross around your neck and you were cursed to explain it to anyone who makes eye-contact for longer than 5 seconds, nobody would know, nor would they care.

You’re also giving yourself far too much credit to how important or significant you are in the lives of people you’ve known for a grand total of three hours or less. I can guarantee you – and will bet you cash money – that you have thought more about your failed match over the course of writing this letter than she has in the span of the last year. Believe me, she stopped thinking about you in less than 24 hours and far more likely in the amount of time it took her to order and drink a beer. To quote David Foster Wallace: “You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do”.

And to be clear: that’s not because you’re so insignificant that nobody thinks about you, it’s because everyone is way too busy with their own bulls--t to give a damn about someone they matched with on a dating app months or years ago. Especially when there’s simply nothing there to respond to. I have had more matches and been on more dates – most of which went nowhere – than you’ve had hot meals, and I can count on the fingers of one hand how many of them I remember, with enough to count the original number of Green Lanterns in sector 2814. And the reason I remember those is because one date turned out to be a neo-Nazi and the other had us chasing her coke dealer all over town. Your being a virgin does not rise to that level of memorable. This is entirely in your head, because it seems to have chased away every other thought you might have.

And that’s a running theme in every example you’ve given about how unloveable you are. All you do is go do things and then immediately sabotage any hope you might have and then wonder why nobody wants to talk to you. Yeah, I can’t imagine why folks aren’t lining up to talk to the anti-social dude who refuses to make eye-contact and glares at folks who might like him like they’re asking if he’s ever tried Hare Krishna. You’re projecting so much that you may as well as change your name to IMAX and you’re giving so many “it’s ok if you don’t like me, I wouldn’t like me either” vibes just in your letter that it’s going to have physical weight in person.

I’m not even sure why you’ve written in, because it seems like you’ve decided to just interact with fantasy versions of people where you get to write their responses for them instead of actually, y’know, talking to them. You’ve decided that people rejected you before you ever opened your mouth and when other people are interested you call them a liar and then take their walking away as proof that nobody could possibly like you.

Oscar the f--king Grouch has a better attitude than you and he lives in garbage.

So much of this is down to you refusing to believe anything other than the worst possible outcomes and insisting on only listening to people who confirm your worst beliefs because at some point you decided you prefer it this way. Your line about being assaulted is a prime example. I’m incredibly sorry that this happened to you but f--king hell you seem absolutely determined to make it impossible for people to try to reach out to you or even express sympathy that it happened at all. How do you tell someone about the time you were sexually assaulted by someone in school? By saying that you were sexually assaulted. Jesus hopfrog Christ, you didn’t “let” someone do that to you, that was done to you by a horrible person. The whole “let it happen” is toxic bulls--t from choleric bulls and it’s one of the biggest reasons why men who’ve been abused or sexually assaulted never talk about it. Bad enough when other people blame you for being victimized by someone but doing it to yourself isn’t even masochism; at least masochists get off to the pain.

You know who has no sympathy for victims of sexual assault? F--king horrible people. So if you’re only getting told that someone assaulting you in high-school is proof that you’re permanently stained, then we’re right back to “you need to be associating with a better class of person”, especially since I am completely sure that the only folks you’re associating with are other incels who just want to you to stay blackpilled.

And then there’s s--t like “can’t talk about going to therapy”. What the f--k is this, the 70s? F--k me running, I can’t count the number of shows where people going to therapy where characters going to therapy is both normal and a big part of improving their lives. Christ, the entire central premise of the f--king Sopranos is Tony Soprano going to therapy and how ass-backwards the rest of his mob buddies are about it.

And I’m going to be honest, I made an ugly snort at the line of “maintaining this façade of perfection” because, my guy, you aren’t maintaining s--t. There’s no façade here, there’s just you being convinced you have an unreadable poker face while holding up a giant LED billboard that keeps saying “I HATE EVERYONE, ESPECIALLY MYSELF”. You are not the inscrutable enigma that nobody can pierce, nor are you an Oscar-caliber actor hiding your true self behind a character, you’re an obviously very sad, very lonely man whose bitterness and resentment is visible to anyone who glances your way. Other people aren’t mysteriously detecting your flaws, you’ve doused yourself in the same Bitter Apple solution people use to keep their pets from chewing on power cords like it’s Axe body spray.

The only person who’s decided that life is like this is you. At some point, you chose to believe this line of s--t and you’ve held onto it for so long because the alternative is to recognize how much of your current situation is the result of your choices and yours alone. You have actively gone out of your way to push away anyone who might be attracted to you, want to be your friend or even help you, and then you complain that you’re lonely and unlikable. That’s on you, my guy. That’s your call, not anyone else’s.

If you want to let go of this misery and have a good life, you’re going to have to take responsibility and recognize that you did this. It’s going to suck. A lot. You’re going to have to peel away this shell of bulls--t until you hit raw skin and it’s going to feel like you’ve set every nerve on fire and then you’re going to realize how stupid a decision it was to carry all that s--t around in the first place. Then and only then will you be in a position to start being happy and actually accepting that people would like you if you would only f--king let them.

Until that day comes, you’re going to be wallowing in misery and it’s going to be by choice.

Your call.

Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com