Witness History - The Rules: A Dating Handbook BBC World Service
The Rules sounds like a manual straight out of the 1950s, not the 1990s.
It’s a mad, mad “Mad Men” world out there.
The Rules are a manual on “how to win a man’s heart” - full of time-tested secrets for finding Mr Right.
There were cries of anti-feminist when the Rules book was published in the 1990s and I could completely understand that.
But Beyonce read it and Meghan Markle said the girls in school were following “the rules” ... and what more do you need to know?
In this nine-minute chat for Witness History, one of the authors, journalist Sherrie Schneider said she and her friend Ellen Fein wrote the rules at a time when “it was the wild west out there.”
It sounds like women were losing the run of themselves.
They were pursuing careers and condos and men – and the men were not taking to being pursued.
Ellen learned “the rules” from a popular girl in high school.
They were a real shock.
“They sounded so retro,” said Sherrie. Perhaps it is because they are.
The rules state that men like a challenge and need to do all the chasing ... so you let them.
You remain your individual unique self and let them pursue.
Then it gets complicated.
You never accept a Saturday date if the invitation comes after Wednesday.
You don’t stare at men or talk too much.
You always end a phone call first.
Sherrie said the book really took off when the authors travelled to England and had a chat on Richard and Judy’s sofa.
Apparently the book sold like hot cakes.
Anti-feminist, appallingly old fashioned, totally retro ... it didn’t seem to matter.
It sold. Mystery surrounds...
Do say: “I’ll just hang up now, darling”
Don’t say: “Hand me my bra and the matches please!”
