Proven Strategies To Protect Yourself While Dating

Dating can be a lot of fun, but as a woman, you also need to think long and hard about safety. Not all dates are actually safe! 

But what proven strategies are out there to protect yourself? What’s actually going to work in the real world? 

Nothing is guaranteed, but here are some things that you might want to try: 

Avoid Sharing Your Actual Address Until You Know The Person

First, you’ll want to avoid sharing your actual home address until you know the person you’re dating well. Eventually, you’re going to have to reveal this, but there’s nothing wrong with holding it back for the first few weeks or even months until you feel comfortable. 

When dating, stick to public places. Look for locations that offer a high level of security and aren’t going to automatically put you in danger. 

Tell Your Friends All The Details

You also want to tell your friends all the details of your date before it starts. Let them know where you’re going, who you’re seeing and so on. 

This is helpful because it provides a point of reference to people. If you suddenly disappear, they know where to go looking first. 

If you want to drop a pin on your location with one of your besties, then do so. This way, they can see where you are at any given time until you feel comfortable. 

Do A Social Media Search

Another thing you’ll want to do is a social media search on your date. Check for things like inconsistencies or stories that don’t really make sense. Usually, you can find out quite a bit of background information on them the more you do this. 

For example, look for old aliases and names connected to their profiles. See who they’ve been in the past, and who they are right now. 

Don’t be afraid of being forensic in this process. The more you can learn about them, the more you can actually protect yourself and well-being. 

Make The First Five Dates Public And In The Day

You can also protect yourself by making the first five dates with a new person public and in the day time. Don’t go to seedy bars at night if you’ve only met this individual online or once before. Take sensible precautions, especially if you’re abroad or in a strange city. 

Try to avoid allowing anyone to “pick you up” in their vehicles. Even if it means using public rideshares or transport, do so. 

Drive Yourself

Related to this last point, you want to get into the habit of driving yourself to these dates. That’s because it’s the safest approach, especially if you don’t know the person. You want to ensure they’re trustworthy and do what they say they’re going to do. 

If you own your own car, that’s great. You can drive it, leave it in a parking spot, and then pick it up out of sight of your date. This way, you can reduce the risk of stalking and you don’t have to stay in their space longer than you want (on various car rides). 

Screenshot Their Driver’s License

If you can think of a fun way to get them to screenshot their driver’s license, that’s also another tool you can use. You don’t necessarily have to mention it’s for safety reasons, but it will provide you with a real ID check on the person in front of you. The likelihood they’ll be carrying around fake identification is low these days, and usually you can tell if there’s a problem. 

Listen To Your Gut On Red Flags

Another strategy to avoid danger while dating is to listen to your gut. Humans evolved over millions of years to identify who was safe, and who wasn’t. What’s interesting about this instinct is that it seems to work unconsciously, just giving you a vague feeling something is wrong and you need to leave. 

For example, you may experience triggers if the person starts to push your physical boundaries. They want to be intimate with you before you’re ready. 

You could also fall into problems if they don’t want to have a video chat with you. Sometimes, scammers will hide their faces online to try to extract money from you. 

Go With Protection

You could also go on the date but take various forms of protection with you to reduce risks. For example, you can now get low-profile self defense keychains with a bunch of items on them to protect yourself. These are inconspicuous, but essential in an emergency. 

You could literally consider going with a chaperone or someone in the background to protect you if you really feel the risks are high. They could watch over you and then you could give the signal if you need them to intervene. 

Meet In Places With People And Cameras

It’s also a very good idea to only meet in places with a lot of people and cameras. These locations are usually the safest and discourage bad behavior. They give you the opportunity to test someone out and see how you feel being in their company. 

When there are a lot of people around, it also makes it simple to ask for help. You’re not completely alone, like you might be if you went for a walk in the woods. 

Pay Your Way Early On

As strange as it may sound, it’s a good idea to pay your way early on. The reason for this is that it eliminates the feeling that you “owe” your date something. 

If you don’t pay, then it can set up the psychological reciprocation trap. You feel like you need to constantly shell out for the other person, or you need to go on a second date with them to test them out, even if you already have some misgivings about them. 

So there you have it: some proven strategies to help you stay safe while dating. Let us know which of these you’ll be applying to your dating life going forward. 

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