I asked my friend Brenda to write as my dating experience is over a decade old. Both she and I wrestled with how to talk about this topic but I knew I wanted to. Dating itself in Morocco, between Moroccans themselves and between Moroccans and foreigners can feel and be a reality for a good chunk of people taboo.
There are so many factors and circumstances that make up the dating world in and out of Morocco. To begin, I want to say the thing some people will hate to admit: Moroccans date. Whether religiously they or others believe it is right or wrong, it exists in Morocco just like anywhere else in the world.
In rural places, dating is secretive. In my own experience, I only became aware of teenagers crushing on each other from my pseudo-village confidante position being the only American in the village. But, for traditional and oddly some non-traditional folk, you become a woman when you consummate your marriage. Are you a woman navigating a cross-cultural relationship and wishing you had a little more support or someone to bounce your questions off?
Check out The Living Room , my closed community for women in this specific situation! For many couples, this is the ultimate no-no. This is also visible for mixed couples like myself and my significant other. Read up on some of the other rules relating to social norms Prostitution is also illegal and while the two things are mutually exclusive topics they both occur in Morocco.
On an almost contradictory point, I should point out in big cities some couples actually live together. I lived with my Moroccan boyfriend for about a year before we got engaged. This post is not the all-encompassing guide on dating in Morocco, but I hope it will shed light on some stereotypes and give you a different perspective on a topic that is usually hush-hush.
