thesundaymail.com.au THE SUNDAY MAIL, body+soul August 4, 2013 Page 19

B+S19RELATIONSHIP ADVICE

B+SDREAMREADER

You’re your own moral compass when it comes to your sexuality. You’re not guided by your gender alone. How we come to hold our sexual values is a complex process and an ever-evolving one. Some of it’s cultural and, yes, some of it has traditionally had ties to gender roles. But the world – as you know from being an educated, liberated, career-focused woman in her 20s – is changing.

Of course women can engage in casual dates and casual sexual encounters if they so choose. Will some women regret them? Sometimes, yes. Will some women mistake a casual encounter for something more meaningful? Sure. Can some women initiate, pursue and satisfy their own sexual desires without the context of relationship-seeking? Absolutely. And online is defi nitely a good way to do this. Whether you’re looking for a relationship or a casual date, online dating is effi cient, smart and, if done astutely, much safer than a random pub hook-up.

There are dating sites for every interest you can imagine. You can sign up to fi nd matches on sites designed for a specifi c cultural or hobby group, or sites that sound exactly like what you may be looking for: sexual fl ings among consenting adults.

If you use a site created specifi cally for this purpose, you automatically weed out people looking for more than something casual. You’re not alone in this savvy sexual approach – online casual dating sites are growing in popularity, and it’s predicted that within the next six months there will be an increase of about half a million members as more and more people just like you, both men and women of all ages, sign up.

There’s a market for busy people who want a sex life without commitment and it isn’t just a male domain. You’re every bit a woman for knowing what you want and going after it in a way that makes sense to you. If you don’t enjoy bars, there’s no reason why you have to endure that social scene if there’s a better option for you. It’s a modern world, you’re a modern girl, so as long as you’re not harming anyone and are engaging in safe sex, the online world is your oyster.

To see just how much you fi t in to the norm, check out these numbers from a recent study by online casual dating site C-date: 46 per cent of Aussies don’t go out to bars to meet potential partners, and 51 per cent believe there’s no embarrassment in meeting a partner online. So, there you go. It’s a modern world – just keep it a safe one.

A+QASK THE SEXOLOGIST...

I’m a busy career woman in my late 20s who isn’t focused on settling down. I don’t seem to have women friends who think like me. Is it wrong to be my own woman and want casual sex rather than be on the lookout for a husband? Assuming it isn’t, is it OK to be up-front about it online rather than spending wasted hours at bars?

WITH DR GABRIELLE MORRISSEY

If you’re applying the brakes in a dream, perhaps you’re trying to slow down something in your waking life. Or did your dream car decelerate outside your new partner’s house? This may represent a desire to slow the romance down.

Alternatively, if you’ve pulled up at a stop sign, it may be that you’ve put a halt to something in your waking life. A common dream involving brakes is

when they fail to work. The dreamer may be heading down a highway unable to fi nd the brake pedal, or they may be on a bicycle travelling down a hill and their brakes fail to work. This could signify that the dreamer feels out of control in an area of their waking life and has tried to put an end to something that’s taken on a momentum of its own. By Dr Monique Cohenka

bodyandsoul.com.aubBODY+SOUL Looking for advice from Gabrielle Morrissey?

Visit bodyandsoul.com.au/sex+relationships

BRAKES

PH

OTO

GR

AP

HY:

GE

TTY

IMA

GE

S