I HATE THE TERM SITUATIONSHIP! As a victim of many unlabeled, emotionally taxing relationships, I consider myself incredibly qualified to speak on the term “situationship”, and its horrifying effects on dating culture. The term situationship has become a catch-all for all unfortunate romantic circumstances. Personally, I don’t think just really liking someone counts as a situationship — you can have a nightmarish crush that ruins your life, but that’s another thing. I think at its essence, I would define a “situationship” as being with someone in high levels of emotional or physical intimacy, but with zero boundaries or communication. But I don’t think we should be calling it a “situationship” anymore! Let’s leave this term in the past!
I think that with the rise of the term “situationship”, we’ve stopped calling things what they really are. Where we now say, “Oh, I had an awful situationship last month,” we should say, “I tried dating a super awful and manipulative person who totally led me on.” Call it what it is, guys! Instead of saying, “omg guys my summer was crazy, I was totally in this situationship with this stoner” we should say “I had a phenomenal summer fling with this girl who had really great weed.” Stop saying you’re a victim of a situationship — be honest and say you got played.
It may seem harsh, but I truly believe it’s for the best. The death of the word situationship leads to more honesty, not only with others, but also with yourself! Not labeling something as intimate or caring about someone makes it seem like you can’t really grieve it when it’s over, but I would argue otherwise. The end of a relationship with fuzzy edges comes the loss of that person, but also what could’ve been. Situations like this always hurt more because we let ourselves hope that they’re going to turn into something real, but I think we should consider it real in all of its undefined messiness. Calling something a “situationship” strips relationships of the inherent vulnerability present when you care about someone. I know our generation loves to mask real emotions with humor, but it’s not helping us! We can’t heal without honesty, and I believe that starts with our words. So. stop using the word “situationship” and call it what it truly is!
