A woman from Australia has sparked widespread interest online with her honest insights into India’s dating culture. Bree Steele, a podcast producer, has been exploring India since 2023, sharing her experiences and contrasting them with dating norms in her home country.
In one of her popular Instagram clips, Steele highlights the differences she’s noticed. She stated, “In Australia, men flirt through banter, which is just being mean.” She observed that “everyone is so nice to you” in India, where interactions tend to escalate quickly.
Steele observes Bollywood’s influence on Indian dating, likening it to a movie script
She recounted an experience at a party where a guy unexpectedly held her hand while flirting, something she noted would be highly unusual in Australia. Additionally, Steele attended a dating event in Mumbai, which she described as quite distinctive.
“It felt like a school disco,” she noted, explaining that for the first hour, women only interacted with other women while men did the same, with little mingling occurring. Despite the initial awkwardness, she found it indicative of how dating may still be a relatively new concept in India.
Bree remarked that Bollywood seems to shape the dating scene in India, with many individuals acting as if they’re following a movie script. “It feels like everyone here is acting based on what they’ve seen in films,” she shared, observing that this generation of Indians appears to be the first to embrace casual dating, whereas previous generations primarily engaged in arranged marriages.
She further elaborated on the cultural differences between dating practices in the two countries. “In the West, we’ve inherited dating stories over generations, along with se*x education in schools,” she explained. “In India, that doesn’t seem to be the case, so people might be forming their dating behaviors based on what they see in films.”
In response to her observations, one user commented, “Your theory is spot on, Bree!” Another chimed in with, “I wanna know more about it; how about we discuss it over dinner smirks.” A third user remarked, “You haven’t tried old-school dating. It would change your perception! Glad to know that you’re not disappointed at that dating event.”
