GenQ - For the not so straight individual

Last week I broke up with this guy who I had been seeing for the last three months. I thought that he was my boyfriend but it seems we were just 'pseudo' boyfriends. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you heard it right! It's the new dating trend of 2006, the pseudo relationship. Pseudo boyfriends and girlfriends are those guys and girls who are emotionally unavailable and who are commitment phobic. They pretend to be your boyfriend or girlfriend. They do couply things with you such as going to the SupaCentre on a Sunday evening, reading the weekend paper and brunching on Saturday mornings. They also meet your friends and introduce their friends to you as well. Yet, they cannot define your relationship as 'real' as they are not mature enough to make the commitment. Pseudo relationships lie somewhere between a fuck buddy and a real boyfriend or girlfriend.

Pseudo relationships can last months or even years. The most famous pseudo relationship is that of Brian and Justin on SBS's Queer as Folk. Pseudo relationships seem to go nowhere but the pseudo boyfriend or girlfriend is happy to just go along with the 'flow'. And being a pseudo relationship can also mean that you are still 'open' for inspection. So pseudo boyfriends and girlfriends will continue to flirt, pick up and cruise the internet.

Speaking of the internet, pseudo relationships seem to have most of their intimacy online or through SMS. My ex-pseudo boyfriend Glenn broke up with me over MSN messenger. 'It is just really hard to fall in love,' he said. 'It is really hard to find a nice single gay man who will commit in Sydney' I said. Once a relationship starts becoming too real or you demand a higher level of commitment the pseudo boyfriend or girlfriend runs away and you usually never hear or see them again. They normally search for another helpless victim.

The one good thing of pseudo relationships is the pseudo breakup post-depression period doesn't have to be real either! So Sydney singles be aware of the pseudo guys and girls'they are out there! Do you have a pseudo boyfriend or girlfriend? Or are you one? E-mail your questions and stories to the Single Guy at sydney102@hotmail.com