So I was talkin to some girl last night, gettin on pretty well and she asks me if i wanna be date mates...Ive never heard of a date mate before so she explained....badly 
So I looked it up on the net when i got home...
Im not quite sure what to make of it but I agreed to it and I guess we will see how things go...I have no idea how people manage to keep it non sexual and non emotional.
Have you lot heard of this kind of thing? Would you go for it?
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200511/200511110013.html
So I looked it up on the net when i got home...Im not quite sure what to make of it
but I agreed to it and I guess we will see how things go...I have no idea how people manage to keep it non sexual and non emotional. Have you lot heard of this kind of thing? Would you go for it?
Utilitarian Dating in a New Korea
As Korea swiftly transforms itself from one of Asia’s most conservative societies into a nation at the cutting edge of innovation, it is no wonder that social values are also changing. One such change is taking place in the area of lonely hearts, where young Koreans increasingly look, not for love but for a "datemate."
Kim is a 24-year-old university student who broke up with his girlfriend a year ago, and he is not ready to start over with a new woman. Instead, he has met six datemates over the last year. "To see a girlfriend, not only do you have to plan out a schedule, but you also have to match personalities. It's too exhausting," he says. "I'd rather have fun just dating without the burden."
couple watch a movie in a DVD room in Shinchon on Friday. They may be holding one another, but the two are just “datemates," not lovers.
All the fun (or almost) without any of the responsibility: that is the principle of datemating. There are four iron rules, and if they can be bent, they can’t be broken -- no falling in love, no physical affection beyond kissing, a clean break if interest wanes, and, importantly, no interfering in you mate’s private life. The concept is similar to the American idea of "**** buddies," but without the sex. Kim adds some extra rules for his datemates: no holding hands in front of his school, where everyone could see them, and no posting pictures taken together on their blogs.
At first glance, the dating methods of these datemates differ little from those of ordinary lovers -- dinners at cozy restaurants, watching movies and romantic walks. It is the mentality that is different. "Since there are no expectations and no one really works on the relationship, it's hard to see a datemate over a long period of time. If contact stops, the relationship ends naturally," says Kim. "When people ask me if I have a girlfriend, I always answer no." He adds the best thing is that you can start dating someone else whenever you want.
A woman is looking for a datemate on Daum's "Official Datemate Cafe."
People have always differentiated between those they would marry and those they would date; now they distinguish between those they would date and those they would datemate. The number of people looking for datemates is on the rise, with portal site Daum opening an online club bringing such souls. At the "Official Datemate Café" (http://cafe.daum.net/Datefriend), about 100 members post their introductions, contact information and photos for one another.
Kim (no relation) is a 25-year-old working woman who has both a lover she intends to marry and a datemate. The reason, she says, is that her lover works in the provinces, and she doesn’t get to see him very much. "My datemate agreed to this situation, so I don't feel guilty,” she says. “He, too, has a girlfriend, and we just meet casually."
Chun Sang-jin, a Sogang University sociologist, says young people are very utilitarian; they establish rules for their relationships and consider it natural to date within a scope where the parties won't get hurt. He says it looks as though they want the things that come with dating but shun the ideology of love.
([email protected] )
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200511/200511110013.html
