Dating & Drinking Etiquette: 4 Rules To Live By

Later on the relationship, you should have plenty of freedom to order as you please. It's only in the first handful of dates that it's critical to be in sync.

The goal is not to manipulate him, but to pay attention to the pacing. This can maximize the connection. His pace for loosening up (with alcohol) may be slower than yours, and it pays to slow down with him.

Now, let's say it's a later date and you're having your first drink together. That feels great, but how far should you go? In dating etiquette, how much you drink has a huge bearing on how the relationship develops.

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Alcohol consumption is highly associated with the timing of sex for the first time. Thus, the third rule of dating and drinking etiquette is:

3. Don't have more than one drink until you are ready to have sex. Alcohol lowers emotional and sexual barriers and impairs judgment. It's such an old cliché but it's true: If he orders multiple drinks, she loses count as she gulps them down, he takes her home, and they wake up together the next morning after a night of wild passion.

The problem is that sometimes the alcohol, instead of your rational brain, chooses the partner. Once you have sex with him, the choosing is over for you, and the chasing is over for him.

Guys don't have to be really into you to want sex, so it pays to resist that temptation until you know where you stand with him. This next situation could happen on any date.

Let's say he drinks and tries to get you to match his pace, even though you clearly say "no." That leads me to the fourth rule of dating and drinking etiquette:

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4. Never let his over consumption of alcohol compromise your safety or well-being. First of all, people put their best food forward in new relationships. If this is his best, you're in for a world of hurt down the road. Continue reading.