Women often say that girls don’t dress up for guys; they dress up for other girls. I recently heard a friend, who got recently married, say that girls don’t even marry for themselves, or at least not just for themselves; they also marry for their friends and family, because that’s what they expect from her. Although saying that a woman decides to enter into a marriage just to please others sounds extreme, at least in other Western culture, I can’t help but wonder how big of a pressure it is on a woman, who has been dating a guy for a while, to deal with her friends and relatives, who keep asking her the same “status” questions: “So, what’s going on with you, guys?” Although there is nothing inherently wrong with this question, and it’s only natural that others will want to know where that relationship is going, it puts that woman on the spot and makes her feel uncomfortable if she is unable to give a specific answer. She would feel that if she doesn’t tell them in the nearest future that they are about to take their relationship to the next level, she is either going to get a sense of disapproval or even worse – pity from her social circle.
