5 Things MTV’s “Jersey Shore” Has Taught Us About Dating & Hooking Up

The Jersey Shore phenomenon has struck the world like a fake-tan-Ed-Hardy-wearing bomb.  It’s like a car wreck: you want to look away, but you are sucked in by all the over the top drama.  Call us crazy, but even though it’s a  mind-numbingly entertaining half hour break from real life, there  are some lessons to be learned from Snooki, The Situation, and the rest of the gang about lovin’.

1. If they disrespect you, dump ‘em!

In this season’s first episode Ronnie drunkenly lashed out at Sammi and called her a choice word (clue: rhymes with ‘hunt’). At that point the boys and girls split up to party separately for the rest of the night. After having a make out session with two girls, an obvious red flag, Ronnie came back to the house to cuddle with Sammi, an offer she willingly accepted. We couldn’t believe that Sammi let Ronnie off the hook that easy.  Have some self respect.  If any person you are dating, male or female, offends you in such a way, make sure to let him or her know that their behavior is unacceptable or else they’ll walk all over you like a doormat.

2. If he moves on DON’T chase after him.

A cute guy is chatting you up at the club, but finds something newer and shinier to move on to.  So, now what?  Time to move on too; there’s plenty of other guys out there so there’s no need to get attached. In not just one, but two episodes, Pauly D finds himself with too many ladies to juggle. He starts both nights off chatting up a group of girls and mid episode attempts too ditch these girls for a cuter crowd but ends up being followed for the rest of his evening by the first group of females.  Ladies, stalking in any way, shape or form is a turn off and should be avoided at all costs. It is not attractive and is not going make him change his mind, it will only make him run faster.

3. GTL

Bottom line: Take care of yourself.  We admit, sometimes The Situation over does it (and by sometimes, we really mean all the time), but there is something to be said about looking good.  Putting effort into your appearance and working out regularly makes you look and feel good and keep you healthy.  Relationships will reach the point where you’re comfortable seeing each other in your sweats everyday, but you still want them to know that you like dressing special and looking good for them.  If you’re single, you want to turn some heads for all the right reasons. Men: sometimes messy can be sexy, but when you’re going out grab the clothes from the closet and not the floor.

4. Follow friend code

Sometimes the pickin’s are slim, but that is NO reason to hook up with a friends ex or past fling.  Everyone’s been buzzing about the cat fight between Snooki and Angelina, that all started when Angelina slept with Vinny after he had already hooked up with Snooki.  We know tensions are high between the two ladies, but someone needs to be the bigger person and let garbage be garbage.  Is one drunken quickie really worth all the drama (and the potential living hell that will be Angelina’s life will be)? No!

5. Honesty is the best policy.

In the second episode of season two, the guys coax Ronnie to go out for a night on the town in good ol’ M.I.A. instead of wasting his two months sitting at home with Sammi. When Ronnie walks into Sammi’s room to let her know he’s going out, she tells him it’s fine, but once he leaves she starts to bitch about it. Snooki confronts her and she admits to testing Ronnie’s loyalty. If your man invites you out and you decline but give him the green light, you should mean it. If you’re trying to test him, don’t be surprised when he actually does what you don’t want him to do. Ladies, men are not mind readers. The key to a great relationship is being honest with each other, if you hide your true feelings you’re only hurting yourself in the long run. It isn’t fair to be mad at him for something you told him he could do, even though you didn’t mean it. So save the testing for grade school and mean what you say, and say what you mean.