Before any date, Radisha Brown would practice saying one sentence that felt like it carried the weight of the world: “I’m divorced.”
For so long, the D-word has been treated like a modern scarlet letter—a mark of shame rather than a life stage that millions of people go through each year. Pop culture representations haven’t exactly helped: Divorced women are often portrayed as tragic, bitter, and in some cases broken. So when Brown unexpectedly returned to the dating world in 2016, she braced herself for judgment—and came armed with defenses: No, she wasn’t “damaged.” She didn’t do anything “wrong.” In fact, she had done everything she could to “save” her marriage. “I was learning how to be a divorced woman in a world that doesn’t always know what to do with that title,” Brown tells SELF.
But finally, it seems that the cultural script is changing.
In September, ABC announced that The Bachelorette, a franchise historically centered on young, never-married hopefuls, would hand the spotlight to TheSecret Lives of Mormon Wives star Taylor Frankie Paul—a divorced single mom of three ready for another shot at love. Even in Hollywood, A-listers like Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Alba, and Katy Perry are soft-launching their post-divorce boyfriends on Instagram and being cheered on for it, showing that maybe divorce—and the fact that a woman has a right to a full and happy life afterwards—is no longer a dirty word. Finally, people are seeing it as a reality to accept and even celebrate.
Of course, celebrity dating (and shows like The Bachelorette) make for great online fodder, but most of us don’t have access to a roster of gorgeous men vying for our attention. So what does dating actually look like for the everyday, modern divorced woman? The reality is a whole lot messier, according to the ones we spoke with—but also thrilling, exciting, and richer than anything captured in pop culture.
‘I was learning a whole new language and set of rules just to keep up.’
Brown, 45, was a teenager when she met her former husband—which meant no apps, no DMs, and no algorithms. Jumping back into the dating world post-divorce felt foreign, she says: Suddenly every message, emoji, and tiny gesture came with unspoken rules she didn’t know.
“Honestly, I was scared,” Brown admits. “I became hyperaware of everything—my words, my body language, even how I laughed. I kept second-guessing myself and wondering if I was doing it ‘right.’” In one case, she sent what she thought was an honest and straightforward message to someone she matched with on a dating app: “I don’t think I’m your type.” She says he interpreted it differently: “He thought [I meant] I wasn’t even a woman and went off on me,” Brown recalls. “I was so confused until my friend explained there were certain ‘code words’ and lingo that I had no idea about.”
‘The heaviness was overwhelming in my early dating experiences.’
There’s a unique challenge in trying to keep things light, carefree, and flirty while still being honest about the fact that you’ve been married before. Because once you have what others might call “baggage” (though to be clear, it shouldn’t be!), even the most casual dates can carry more weight.
This means, you take one article, and you use the article distribution system. It will generate thousands of unique versions of your article, and publish those unique articles to hundreds of websites that are related to your niche.
Take a look at our comprehensive guide to the best and most popular information ebooks and products available today on Detoxing, Colon Cleansing, Weight Loss and Dating and Romance. They are all in one spot, easy to find and compere to make a quick selection for the product that best fits your needs or wants.
So browse through a category and make your preferred selection and come back here to read more choice articles and get a few more helpful tips on ways to help your enhancement.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. “saubiosaubiosuccess.com is a participant in third party affiliate and advertising programs; The Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, Awin network, and other affiliate advertising programs are designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees and commissions by advertising and linking to products on other sites and on Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates.”
We use anonymous cookies and various 3rd-party services to optimise and to offer you a better, more personalised, browsing experience with advanced accessibility enhancements.
Dismiss
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
