In 1995 a bestselling book proposed a simple dating strategy for women: Lose weight, wear bright colors and become a completely different person for the rest of your life.

Thanks to Moira Donegan for helping us with this episode!

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Where to find us:

• Twitter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America
• Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s essay, “Stuff Your ‘Rules’”
• The More Things Change: The Rules And Late Eighteenth‐Century Conduct Books For Women
• Shrinking Violets and Caspar Milquetoasts: Shyness and Heterosexuality from the Roles of the Fifties to "The Rules" of the Nineties
• From Mountain Peak to Total Woman: An Evolutionary History of Pre-feminist Dating Advice
• The Mating Game: How Gender Still Shapes How We Date by Ellen Lamont
• So Many Rules, So Little Time
• Abiding by The Rules: Instructing Women in Relationships
• What leads to romantic attraction: similarity, reciprocity, security, or beauty? Evidence from a speed-dating study
• "Playing Hard To Get": Understanding An Elusive Phenomenon
• Egalitarian Daters, Traditionalist Dates
• Aspirational pursuit of mates in online dating markets
• Disintermediating your friends: How online dating in the United States displaces other ways of meeting
• Playing Hard To Get

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!