Ghanaian actress and tv host Joselyn Dumas has stated that there’s a difference between dating and being in a relationship with someone.
According to Dumas, people tend to confuse the two, especially in our part of the world, but they are not the same thing.
The actress was speaking with her guests on her weekly episodic program ‘Keeping It Real with Joselyn Dumas‘.
On the topic of ‘The Dating Scene’, Dumas opined that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the term ‘dating’ in our part of the world.
According to her, the act of dating is often confused with being in a relationship, which should not be the case. Dating is simply assessing the other person to determine if you can be compatible for a longer term relationship.
Both guests on the show, broadcast journalist AJ Sarpong, and Ana Rodriguez agreed with Dumas.
“[In] Africa dating is seen as a relationship on its own. People are always saying ‘I’m dating him,'” AJ Sarpong said.
Dumas then asked if that wasn’t the wrong term to use and Sarpong agreed it was.
“…Dating is actually just circling in the pool trying to figure out who’s who then you graduate into a relationship. But people, young guys and girls actually assume that dating is a relationship…but dating is just going out for dinner.” she said.
Added Ana Rodriguez: “Because we are starting from a point now that when you go on a date there’s already something going on. That’s what you’re assuming. Before it used to be somebody you didn’t even know, these days there’s already something going on so when you go to the date, there’s already a standard there. You know you like the guy, you’ve been talking a little bit, there’s attraction.”
The wide-ranging discussion also touched on many other issues about women in the dating world, including what attribute is a ‘dealbreaker’ when choosing a guy to go out with.
All three gave out their interesting choice of what constitutes a ‘dealbreaker’ for them on ‘Keeping it Real’.