BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Sherrie Schneider On The Dating Game

This article is more than 10 years old.

Sherrie Schneider is the co-author of The Rules, the best-selling 1995 book about finding Mr. Right.

Dating is a game in the sense that life is a game. It's a serious game. These are people's lives.

In 1994, [The Rules co-author] Ellen Fein and I noticed friends of ours--and acquaintances--were getting hurt by men. They were not getting guys to marry them or to ask them out on dates properly.

And a lot of it had to do with the fact that women are now getting M.B.A.s and becoming more aggressive business-wise, so they felt that they could be more aggressive with dating. They started to ask men out or accept less from their dates, and they didn't have any rules--they were just doing whatever they felt like. We thought there needed to be rules. We devised these rules so women would have self-esteem and boundaries with dating, and get the guy they wanted and not get hurt. You can call it a game, but it's really not a game.

--Excerpted from an interview with Kat Noel