I Love You, Let's Meet
Adventures in Online Dating
By Virginia Vitzthum Little, Brown and Company, (2007)
ISBN 10: 0-316-02124-5
ISBN 13: 978-0-316-02124-1
Reviewed by Angela Evans - March 12, 2007
Have you ever considered trying your hand at online dating? Or is it your favorite sport? No matter what you answer, you just have to read I Love You, Let's Meet: Adventures in Online Dating by Virginia Vitzthum, a journalist and former sex columnist for Salon.com. In this no-holds barred book, Vitzthum explores the ins and outs of online dating. Covering such diverse topics as how to tell if the person you are chatting with is telling the truth, writing your own add, how the various online dating sites work and how online dating sites can be trolled to find one-time sexual partners - in addition to possible life-time mates.
Throughout this book Vitzthum not only openly discusses her own online experiences, but provides intimate details garnered from the experiences of a variety of online daters, including a wealth of insights into the practice, both pro and con. These personal insights, of which there are about sixteen, are diverse and fascinating. They include a gay guy looking for a husband, an elderly Jewish widow looking for more than just a sexual hook-up and a number of 20 and 30 something women looking for companionship - and Mister Right. Within the scope of this book Vitzthum also examines how technology and the advent of online dating has changed not only dating, but also what has changed about how people present themselves, and how modern technologies not only make it easier to target your search for 'just the right mate' but also at the same time making is so easy to meet, and date, either in person or virtually, multiple people at the same time.
Vitzthum's book doubles as a social history of a burgeoning cultural phenomenon - online dating. In this book she doesn't gloss over the dangers inherent in online dating, nor does she sugar-coat the truth about how many people have really found true love online. What she does is present a balanced look at the practice of online dating, how it is serving to change the status of relationships, and its implications for the future. She also examines how online dating is being commercialized, and the impact this has had on the dating community. The only thing missing from this book is a handy chart of the common codes used on online dating profiles. For example I know that SWF means single white female, but LTR, mw4m, btm, GAM, and HWP have me stumped.
Funny and engrossing, I Love You, Let's Meet is a great read for those already into people shopping, as well as for those of us who are just browsing!
