Pinesdale, Montana is a place where polygamy is practiced and openly celebrated. The community was created in the early 1960s as a safe place for people who wanted to practice the Mormon fundamentals. The government and the Mormon Church were working together to eliminate the nuisance of polygamy. Men had been put in prison and their families taken from them. For those men who did not want to give up their families or religious freedoms a small ranch in Montana was the only solution.

Lovers’ gaze

When the community was first established it was as many would expect from this commune lifestyle. Women and girls wore long dresses or skirts and kept their hair long. Men and boys wore long pants and shirts, with hair trimmed very short. While this was not forced on them, it was in keeping with utmost morality that members of the community had established as their chosen way of life. Early on it was not uncommon for marriages to be arranged between young girls and men with other wives. The marriages were performed in secret. It was only when you saw a young woman leave her own family and begin sitting with another family at church did you realize that a marriage had taken place. Not long after that her belly would begin to grow; a tell-tell sign that the marriage had been consummated.

Over the years the community grew and changed. As community leaders died or left, new more progressive leaders took their place. And although the community still firmly practices polygamy as a religious belief and follows the other teachings of the Mormon Church (without the sanctions of the Church), the lifestyle has become more relaxed. Women are free to choose their husbands, young boys and girls are free to leave when they become of age, and many women even hold jobs. The dress and lifestyle are still very conservative when compared to the outside world. But driving through Pinesdale on a warm summer afternoon or cold winter day, you wouldn’t be struck with anything different from any other small town off the beaten path.

Dating generally starts with flirting. When hanging out with your friends somewhere, you will notice a particular person trying to attract your attention by doing different things. You can know if a person is trying to flirt by symptoms like; arched eyebrows, winking, smiling, copying your posture, licking lips, crossing and uncrossing legs, blinking. The person will try touching in a nervous way, will be looking at you on the sly. And if some conversation starts then there will be a lot of laughter, the person will want to know personal details and want to know if there is any affair is going on, there will be quite a lot of whispering in the conversations. Oftentimes, these people resort to doing things stupid, to attract attention.

Lovers’ gaze

Flirting is a way to communicate that you are interested in a person and want to get into a romantic relationship. Some flirting is loud while some are subtle that are very hard to read and you wonder how to react. Some people flirt just for the fun of it without having any serious intent behind it. However, if the situation is right it has many possibilities, but if the situation is wrong it can lead to humiliation.

If the flirting is with serious intent then the flirting should be done in a subtle way with respect and tact. The flirting should not be aggressive and vulgar; there should not be any touching in a lewd manner. In fact your flirting should advertise your personality and so that the other person would be able to gauge your suitability and be eager to take the flirting to the next desirable level.

When you find someone flirting with you, determine whether it is in serious vein or just for fun. If you find it serious and like the person you can start thinking of ways to get to the first date. If you decide to go along with the person, you can respond to the flirting by doing some flirting yourself in order to establish a relationship. But be careful before responding, there are people who are habitual flirt and do that for the sake of it without bothering about the repercussion on the person you have targeted. When you flirt go about it in a creative way with some responsibility and make sure that you are honest about getting into a relationship and convey the same through flirting.