How Latin Dating Differs
Published on April 20, 2013
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of dating Latin men or Hispanic women, I have no doubt they left a lasting impression on you. Going Latin has its fair share of differences when compared to dating people of other heritages, most of which can be owed to differences in culture. Traditional Latin culture tends to be traditional and unwavering, while American culture tends to be more fluid and lenient. These quirky little cultural differences have a notable effect on dating that should be considered before giving Latin dating a whirl. Coming from personal experience, I can tell you that the pros far outweigh the cons.
Family
Family is of the utmost priority for Latinos in traditional Latin culture. Indeed, traditional Latino life is generally structured around family. Latinos tend to live near their families, choosing to reside in the same state, city or even neighborhood as them. Latino families enjoy gathering frequently for meals, parties and casual visits, and are very warm and welcoming, and will go out of their way to make you feel welcome. If you’ve got kids, even better! They’ll dote on them like nothing you wouldn’t believe.
Religion
Seventy percent of Latin men and Hispanic women in the U.S. are Catholic. Why is this important? Many Catholic Latinos do not believe in the use of contraceptives, and if you do, this may cause a hiccup in the relationship. Try to reach a middle ground if this is the case. As far as marriage goes, traditionally, Catholic Latinos prefer to marry other Catholic Latinos. The Catholic church isn’t a fan of marrying Catholics with non-Catholics, even though they do make exceptions.
Propriety
(This word always reminds me of Jane Austen books. Propriety is the reason why you always want to strangle her characters.)
According to the dictionary, propriety is, “the state or quality of conforming to conventionally accepted standards of behavior or morals”. For the most part, this type of behavior has died out in the US. I suppose there is still an air of propriety here, but the boundaries aren’t as clearly defined, regulated or followed as they are by traditional Latin men and women. If you’re dating a Latino, you’ll want to be aware of how you look, how you dress, what you say and what you don’t say in public, and even more so in front of friends and family. Learning a bit about Latino culture will help you understand what the norms are. Don’t let this discourage you though—if anything it’ll be good for you.
Passion
Latin men and Hispanic women are among the most sensual of people in the world. They’re very warm and touchy-feely in general (so it’s no surprise that they’re even warmer behind closed doors!). This passion is probably owed to their romantic language, pulse-raising music and incredibly sexy dance moves. It’s really just a cultural thing, as the approach in life that is most commonly taken is to make everything that you do passionate. Essentially, Latin men and women are used to philosophy: “If you’re going to do something, do it one-hundred and ten percent.”
Author: Brad
Brad initially struggled with online dating but over time became quite successful using it. He met his wife using online dating and has been giving advice and helping people improve their results since 2007. He has written a Free Online Dating Guide to help others find success with online dating. You can learn more about his personal experience using online dating and running this website here.
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