0:07  
If I had to describe my dating experience in Toronto, and like 10 words, it would be disaster zone with a side of potential.

0:21  
It's sketchy. You think you know them? And then like, it could totally turn out to be someone that you don't really know. Because it's a huge city, like, yeah, people are capable of things that you don't expect.

0:33  
Honestly, it just kind of feels like a very superficial game, in which the end goal is to like, never let the other person know how much you actually like them.

0:51  
You're just like, oh god, I'm that person sometimes. I My name is Liz and I live in work in Toronto. I also work coat check at a nightclub once a week. And where the coat check is situated I get a bird's eye view of the dance floor. And it's it's crazy it's like a mating ritual, definitely. There's like girls yelling at guys, guys calling girls all these names. So people need to stop kind of taking it so harshly and like a hit to their ego because it's not someone's just not interested. Usually I use apps and after a little while I like to meet it's sort of like a public place, usually a bar get to know the person. But right now just due to like work and just how busy my lifestyle is. I like to use dating apps. on Tinder, I currently have about 2000 and some matches, not taking into the fact of people unmatching me. So if you added the people that unmatched me, it's probably around the 3000 mark. And probably I've been on 20 dates from Tinder. So do I have a friend who's very like self conscious about dating, and she feels like she can't do it. So I'd be like, these are the things you need to say, and he'll respond this way. And then you'll say this, and then three messages later, he's gonna ask this and you respond to that, then he's gonna ask you for drinks. And 90% of the time, that's kind of the script I use. And it works. I would say it is definitely an experience. And generally unfortunately, it's a negative one but you do find pockets of people want to like sort through and filter through everyone that are actually just really nice people and they are in a similar situation as you and they want to just meet other people and they don't have the time. So as a feminist, men generally like to attack that. So one time I had someone say, why don't you just protest that bullshit? Rather than saying like oh, I respect your decision or not wanting to go on a date with me? It really saddens me because you think of Toronto is this progressive city and this accepting city. I identify as a pansexual and once they hear that they automatically think threesomes or your kinky kind of not fitting the mold of a stereotypical woman in Toronto. They tend to either be really defensive and attack it and say, like, all these horrible things, or the fetishize it. I can't say that word, fetishize it. I studied neuroscience, I had someone say like, oh, so you're great at giving brains, which is like lingo for a blowjob. And you're like, wow, no, that's not what that means. I've decided I don't want to just hop into a relationship. So it's going to take a lot of time. But when I do find this person, I will love them unconditionally. And we'll have like a great life together. But it's just gonna take time and sitting through a lot of really crappy messages.

4:15  
I was, I ended a relationship, like a sort of mini relationship with this musician. And when I met him, he was really great. He was exciting. And he just described himself as someone who wants to have like this feminist relationship with someone and preferably like another artist because he felt like their  lifestyles would like, really mesh. And for a while, it seems really great. My name is Claire Scherzinger, I'm an artist and I live in work in Toronto. And even though there are many relationships, they would still just fall off the face of the earth. And I was like, You know what, I'm getting rid of online dating. I'm just, that's when I took a trip to Peru. And I was like, you know, I just need to be the best possible version of myself. So a lot of men, and like just people, they'll have these assumptions that you're like this intensely creative person that will change their lives, like open them up to new things. Just make filling this void that they have and that's just not the case. But it's definitely expected of you. And it's like, the term I get like that spin kind of like, coins is manic pixie dream girl. People say that kind of like cliche thing, like, you know, it'll happen to you when you least expect it, it will happen to you like if that's what you want anyway, a relationship. It's really like I believe that it does in the most unexpected times where you're focusing just on the best version of you.