Dating Intentionally 237. Surviving the Worst Parts of Dating w/ Rory Uphold
Feb 13, 2026
Rory Uphold, writer and author of The Final Girl's Guide to the Horrors of Dating, applies horror-movie tropes to modern dating. She talks rom-com conditioning that taught women to be chosen. She shares the breakup that forced her to rebuild and practical recovery tactics she used instead of therapy. She covers boundaries, intensity vs depth, and how to decide whether to revisit a past situationship.
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Dating Through A Horror Lens
- Rory Uphold reframes dating as a horror-genre metaphor where the survivor is the "final girl."
- That framework highlights resilience and turns victimhood into agency in love and dating.
Rom-Com Conditioning Shapes Dating
- Rom-coms groom audiences to expect love as a destination and to prioritize being chosen over choosing.
- That cultural scripting skews dating dynamics and keeps women aiming to be the pursued rather than the chooser.
Breakup As Inciting Incident
- Rory recounts a two-and-a-half year relationship that ended abruptly with a breakup call after major shared plans.
- That phone call was the inciting trauma that turned her into a "final girl" and motivated major life changes.
