Being in a situationship is like being stuck in a limbo, one foot in the door and one foot out. A situationship has all the tell-tale signs of a romantic relationship without the commitment and labels. While this may sound liberating, situationships are rooted in improper power balances such that one person comes out without a scratch, while the other is left collecting the pieces of their broken heart.
A situationship is defined by casual interactions. There are no labels, no meeting the parents and no dates.
No way.
Situationships consist of random meet-ups, inconsistent texting and most of the time, just sex.
In a situationship, Person A does not fall in love and is content with going forward as a casual hookup. Whereas Person B starts to develop feelings and hopes to evolve the situationship into a relationship. While sometimes a situationship can turn into a relationship in a healthy manner, in most cases this does not happen.
The lack of security in situationships is also quite daunting. While Person A may be available one week, the next week they can completely ghost Person B and be in a new situationship altogether. As a result of not having a label on a situationship, people can jump from one situationship to another, disregarding the other partner’s feelings entirely.
In the dating world today, situationships seem to be more common than actual functioning relationships. Throughout popular culture and media, we are constantly haunted by this ever-growing term: situationships.
My TikTok “For You Page” is an endless scroll of different women outlining their experiences with situationships and toxicity. Likewise, Netflix series such as Never Have I Ever and On My Block romanticize situationships between characters rather than actual functioning relationships. We are constantly surrounded by messages normalizing the idea of situationships. Unfortunately, while they may work for some couples, a large majority of them end horribly.
My real issue with situationships is how they normalize things like ghosting and treating a partner poorly. In situationships, Person A often neglects and downplays the emotions of Person B, calling them crazy or overly emotional for wanting dedication.
In my personal experience, and in the experience of some of my close friends, situationships are grossly overrated. Casual dating might seem like a good idea at first, but when you are constantly treated like an option instead of a person, it starts to take a toll. Situationships leave people stuck in a place where they are unable to admit their feelings. The fear of being called too emotional does not allow for vulnerability in these relationships, thus there is no real growth.