Love from, Florence Grace

This week we’re spilling the tea with blogger Francisca Rockey. So far, we’ve chatted about the blogosphere , taking a last minute gap year and how we canwork to save the world . Today, in the penultimate post of the series, we’re talking about boys and the tricky world of dating… it’s time to spill alllll the tea! It’s 2018 and now it seems almost impossible to meet someone who isn’t just ‘dtf’ and actually wants a meaningful relationship. What do you think about the dating scene? The dating scene in 2018 is all about online dating sites. Tinder is the go-to dating site it seems and every other guy is after a quick beat and delete (loooool we love that saying!!!) but there are some gems amongst the f*ckboys. Do you think the bar is set too low for men to please women? We see so many tweets saying “omg my man held the door for me 10/10 king ilysm!!!” I saw a tweet the other day that said, “when your other half cleans and then cooks whilst you’re out at meetings” an...

The other day, I shared a post on Facebook that really hit home with me. It said: " ‪ My ex used to scold me for wanting affection & my current boyfriend just squatted down next to me to give me kisses JUST because he is getting in the shower. He goes out of his way every single day, SEVERAL times a day just to make sure I feel loved. I prayed about that & I got answers. ‬I always thought the problem was me, that I was just “needy”. No ladies that’s not the case, the person that God designed just for you is out there. Be patient. " I honestly related to this post so much - and I know I'm not the only girl, or even boy, who probably can. So I thought it was time to speak about this a little bit more.  Some days, I feel needy. I've spoken about how my previous relationship was an unhealthy, abusive one, but whilst I try to suppress memories of what it was like, the other day I discovered a diary from 2013, full of pages that provided intense detail ...

People can be right pricks, can't they? It's not often we don't take the blame for a relationship breakdown, be those friendships or romantic relationships. We often tell people it's us, not them. That we're sorry things turned out this way. That we should have tried harder, that we could have done more, that we will regret this. Never do we turn around and say "actually, it's not me, it's you ". Because sometimes, the other person really just is a piece of shit and there's not much that can be done about that. This is something I'm going through at the moment. On some days, I'm having a pretty hard time. In the last twelve months I have had to cut off two people who I considered to be lifelong best buddies, three relatively close friends and a dozen of other distant pals in order to protect my inner peace (lol) and my bloody happiness. And whilst to them, it might seem as if I did this ruthlessly, I've been pretty cut ...

Over the last 18 months or so, we have see more media publicity than ever before about abuse and ill treatment towards women, including things such as the #MeToo movement. The awareness of how men behave towards women in public and, more importantly, in private has increased massively and is now something people are talking about more and more. As someone who has been treated horrifically by men in the past, the #MeToo movement is something that really resonates with me, and when I started dating again, it was very important to me to find a man who treated me with respect, had the same values and ideas as me and identified as a feminist - which, let me tell you, is not easy to find. Obviously I started my dating journey online, and that is where I think the problem really begins - whilst hiding behind a computer of phone screen, people can pretend to be whoever they want to be. They have the courage to say whatever they want to say, even if it's in no way appropriate becaus...

Yesterday, a trending Twitter moment really caught my eye - "Amber Davies new rules on sex", in collaboration with BBC Radio 5 Live. And from Rule 1, I knew we were on a downwards slope. If you missed the moment, don't worry - here is a list of Amber's 'new rules' for sex: No sex on the first date . "If you don't know the person, don't have sex with the person. It's all about self respect". If there is alcohol involved, ask yourself if you're going to regret this in the morning . Because when you're under the influence of alcohol, you're a lot more vulnerable. Don't think sex is to impress. Amber thinks females and males would be a lot more impressed if you don't put out on the first date. We are absolutely binning the saying "no strings attached" or "friends with benefits". Amber says us females, we all know we get emotionally attached after sex so if you don't want to get hurt don...

I’ve been talking about dating a lot recently. But that’s just because there is so much to say! Whether it’s about finding the best dating sites , how to get back into dating, staying safe while dating or even just some good old date ideas, there’s always something to talk about – better still, there’s always stories to share too! I think the worst date I went on was with a guy that I had politely said yes to on a night out because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings (rooky error). He made me pay for the entire date and that was just a total ball ache because I wasn’t even into the guy! That was a harsh lesson that taught me to be more honest with myself (and dates) and learn to say no and mean it! Whether you’re part of the Oxford dating scene, the Sussex dating scene, the London dating scene, the Manchester dating scene or the Norfolk dating scene, I think we all have stories we can tell about bad dates. If you’re a Leeds single, a Liverpool single, a Wiltshire s...

Whilst love, sex and relationships are spoken about across mainstream media platforms a lot , one topic that isn’t often brought up is safety in these situations. While safety is always paramount in any kind of relationship, it is particularly important at the beginning of a relationship, when you first start dating someone. You are essentially doing what your parents always warned you against doing – meeting up with a stranger (who you may or may not have met online) that you probably don’t know too much about, and this can sometimes be incredibly dangerous. Of course you should use your common sense and do all the sensible things – tell several friends and family members all about your date. Tell them their name, age, where they work, where they’re from and most importantly of all, where you’re meeting and what time. Make sure you meet your date in a public place with lots of people, and if you can, try and meet your date somewhere that you’re familiar with. But what...

I feel like before I really delve into this blog post, I have to make one thing clear: Feminism is about the equality of the sexes. It's as simple as that. It's not about hating men, it's not about trying to be better than men, it's not about becoming superior. It's about women being treated in the same, decent way men are treated.  So with that thought in mind, why wouldn't  I want the men in my life to be feminists? Why wouldn't I want to have mutual respect for the men in my life? I want them to value me the way I value them - not see me as less than them, beneath them even. I want them to view me as the same  as them, on their level. Anything less is just simply not for me.  Not too long ago I was reading out a Twitter thread to my boyfriend. It was all about things women found to be a turn off in men, and one that I read out loud was "If he's not a feminist". I laughed, because obviously I agreed - I'm not attracted ...

*Trigger Warning: Sexual abuse, sexual violence, rape, domestic abuse* Monday 5 th February to Sunday 11 th February is Sexual Abuse and Sexual Violence Awareness Week. I find sexual abuse and violence a particularly hard topic to speak about, because I am incredibly passionate about it. Unfortunately, my passion for the topic is not simply down to my compassion for those who go through it; it’s because I have been a victim of sexual abuse and violence myself. It isn’t something I speak about often, if at all. Only a handful of people in my life know anything about it, and whilst I have written an incredibly long and detailed post about my experiences, as a way of ‘healing’, I have never had the courage to press publish. There are a number of reasons for this; I don’t want to be branded a liar . I don’t want the men who made me a victim to come after me - because they quite easily could. I don’t want people to slut shame me, as so often happens to young women ...

Dating nowadays is so hard . You have to go through so many stages of 'talking' and then 'seeing each other' and then 'dating' before committing. And half the time, the boys you're talking to bail before you even get further than talking anyway! They either end up ghosting you completely or revealing their true fuckboy colours and forcing you to cut all ties (even if you do end up calling them every time, without fail once you've had a few voddy and cokes- sigh).  However. It's not all doom and gloom. If you're lucky, then soon enough you'll find someone you think is 'the one'. A boy- or, rather, a man- who sweeps you off your feet and proves to you that actually, all men aren't  the same. The problem is, these guys are so few and far between, how are you supposed to know when you have found a genuine keeper?  Don't worry, girls. I've got you covered. Here are some handy signs that will indicate to you w...

Not too long ago I was having a browse on Twitter and catching up on lots of my favourite bloggers posts from the last couple of months. I'm always so busy that I often forget to read everyone's posts and usually only click on ones that appear on my timeline and catch my eye.  One blog I spent a lot  of time browsing through was Tarnya's blog , and one of my favourite posts I read was the story of how her and her husband met . As me and Jonny have been together a while now and I speak about him quite a lot with you guys, I decided that I wanted to go ahead and share the story of how I met him, because I love it and think it's pretty good! So let's take it back to the year 2000... ...Well, only kinda. The year 2000 was when I started primary school, as a cute little 5 year old in reception. The reason this is relevant to the story is because- dun, dun, duuuuun- Jonny went to the same primary school as me! He was the year above me, but right from recep...

Being in a relationship can be the best thing in the world. You always have someone to share good news with, you automatically have a date to every wedding and party, you know you're going to be kissing someone at midnight on New Year's Eve instead of throwing back a shot and you have someone to clap for you when you don't feel like you can clap for yourself. While all of that is great, it's sad but true that all too easily, a relationship can go sour and, if not dealt with properly, the bitterness can lead to a break up. Having been in a relationship where this happened before, having bounced around the casual dating scene for 18 months or so and to now being in a committed relationship again that is (so far) so good, I have 5 tips for you that can help you to keep your own relationship pretty sweet.  Communicate I can not  stress this enough! Without communication, it is so easy for the entire relationship to break down- and so quickly too. I never really...