Seeking Love in Modern Britain Gender Dating and the Rise of ‘the Single’

<p><i>Seeking Love in Modern Britain</i> charts the emergence of the modern British single through an account of the dating industry that sprang up to serve men and women. It shows how – amid a period of unprecedented sexual and social change – ‘the single’ became a key unisex identity and lifestyle.<br><br> From around 1970, a growing, cottage-style matchmaking industry in Britain was offering the romantically solo a choice between computer dating firms, such as Dateline or Compudate, introduction agencies and the lonely hearts pages of <i>Private Eye</i>, <i>Time Out </i>and others. Zoe Strimpel reveals how this rapidly expanding landscape of services was catering to a new breed of single people, and how – by the late 1990s – singleness had become the culturally mainstream, wholly expected part of the romantic life cycle that it is today.<br><br> Refuting the widespread idea that the Internet invented modern dating, this book uses an eclectic and engaging range of first-person accounts and snapshots from the time to show that the story of contemporary romance, mediated courtship and singleness began in a time long before Tinder.</p>