Why we all need to be positive about dating in 2026
More singles parties! More meet-cutes! More joy!
Well, as we near the end of the year, I think it’s safe to say that 2025 was officially the year dating hit its worst PR crisis yet.
It wasn’t just that people were tired of dating apps, nor was it that Instagram had reduced romance to a DM slide. It was that looking for love became an entirely futile exercise. One that would, at best, offer an opportunity to go viral (see the litany of screenshots, threads, and TikTok clips about bad dates that have turned people into mini internet celebrities), and at worst, elicit an existential crisis so severe that you may never recover, particularly if you have the misfortune of being straight.
It was the year of heterofatalism. The year that boyfriends became embarrassing. The year that engaging in casual misandry became a bonding exercise among straight single women.
These are all links to pieces I’ve written, by the way, so I’m not saying I’ve been immune from this way of thinking. I haven’t. But I’ve also decided that negativity breeds negativity, and none of us is ever going to actually get anywhere good in dating if we keep feeding off of one another’s apocalyptic thinking.
I started Red Lips by accident. But what began as yet another thing I was doing for an article quickly turned into something bigger. Something people actually wanted and needed. I’ve hosted three events so far: mixers for single straight people where tickets are sold in pairs to women who have to bring a single straight man with them. That way, there are even numbers of men and women in attendance, and all of the men have been vetted by a woman.
This inherently feminist concept attracts a cool crowd. At my most recent event, which I hosted at Damsel Collective in Dalston, I met a whopping 120 single people, all of whom seemed fun, kind, attractive, warm, open-hearted, and down to meet someone great. I know of several people who’ve gone on dates after my events, including a few who actually went home together. After the most recent event, I was sent a video recording of two men who had met that night singing “Mr Brightside” together at a nearby karaoke bar that a group had gone to once the bar closed. Romance comes in many forms.
Meeting so many great single people has completely changed the way I think about dating. There’s no need for a scarcity mindset — there really are so many wonderful people out there looking for something meaningful. But we have to be open to it.
So far, the target market for Red Lips has been people in their 30s. But I plan to expand this in the new year, when I’ll also be hosting some events for queer women, so stay tuned for those announcements, too.
The way we date is changing. And in 2026, I think it’s going to change for the better. Finally. I hope that Red Lips can be a small part of that.
Watch this space for future event announcements.
Until then, happy new year!
Lots of love,
Olivia xoxo
Need to book and attend this in 2026!!