#99: ‘She Dares To Say’ Season 4 roundup – No. 03
Revisiting all ‘Relationship Status: Unfiltered’ pieces – interview series speaking to people across the spectrum of romantic and sexual experiences
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‘She Dares To Say’ is now wrapping up its fourth season, which began in September 2025. The rotating schedule has included the following content strands:
‘It Stuck With Me’
Autobiographical vignettes capturing the moments from my life that remain etched in my memory.
‘Considering My Crushes’
A returning favourite! Essays describing celebrity/public eye/fictional crushes along with imagery. These posts are mainly guest essays by writers in my community.
Relationship Status: Unfiltered
A bold interview series speaking to people across the spectrum of romantic and sexual experience, from high school sweethearts and solo polyamorists, to swingers, co-parents, serial monogamists and asexual folk. Each conversation follows the same of questions, revealing what people really think about love, commitment, dating and desire; from the inside of these relationships themselves.
Subscribers will need to upgrade to a paid subscription to gain access to the content beyond any paywalls and unrestricted access to the project’s full archive.
This post will round up all of this season’s ‘Relationship Status: Unfiltered’ interviews:
Previous posts:
Ms. Almaz is 37, loves living alone and has been oh-so-single since her last relationship ended six months ago. She is only occasionally going on dates:
I share some more content from the interview with Ms. ALmaz as verbatim audio clips and more transcript text where I answers the question: ‘Anything else that you’d like to add, please do share!’. I chat about how my writing and online presence are deeply personal, I experience continued social media attention from former lovers or casual connections as oddly one-sided and even slightly voyeuristic. Paywalled: To gain access to this post upgrade to paid:
‘Ms. RST’ is 40 and is divorced. She’s been in her current relationship with a younger man, for four and a half years:
I share some more content from the interview with ‘Ms. RST’ as verbatim transcript text where she answers the question: ‘Anything else that you’d like to add, please do share!’, ‘Ms. RST’ says she doesn’t see herself as radical, as she lives what many would consider a ‘normal’ life since she has a stable job and owns property, which are conventional markers of adulthood. But she chooses to be open about her sexuality and non-traditional experiences precisely because she wants to challenge the idea that society is split into ‘normal’ people and ‘deviant’ ones. Paywalled: To gain access to this post upgrade to paid:
‘Ms. LMN’ is 36 and has been married to her husband for 12 years and together for 18 years; they met in sixth form, were friends for two years before becoming a couple, and became inseparable:
I share some more content from the interview with ‘Ms. LMN’ as verbatim audio clips and more transcript text where she answers the question: ‘Anything else that you’d like to add, please do share!’. ‘Ms. LMN’ and I talk about whether she has any regrets about settling down so young. Paywalled: To gain access to this post upgrade to paid:
‘Ms. ABC’ is 36 and came out of a relationship a couple of months ago. She’s been using the dating app Hinge to get some dates, but is bored of the whole process:
I share some more content from the interview with ‘Ms. ABC’ as verbatim audio clips and more transcript text where he answers the question: ‘Anything else that you’d like to add, please do share!’. ‘Ms. ABC’ has lived and dated in both Manchester and London, and notes differences in how people date in the North versus the South. Paywalled: To gain access to this post upgrade to paid:
‘Mr. EFG’ is a 45-year-old married man who’s been with his husband for 17 years in total and married for seven:
I share some more content from the interview with ‘Mr. EFG’ as verbatim audio clips and more transcript text where he answers the question: ‘Anything else that you’d like to add, please do share!’. ‘Mr. EFG’ and I talk about his fetish for lads in sportswear, which was influenced by the film Flash Gordon. Paywalled: To gain access to this post upgrade to paid:
‘Mr. XYZ’ revealed how the impact of media portrayals, particularly romcoms and lads mags influenced how he saw the cultural expectations of being in a relationship as an adolescent. We also chatted about the role of labels and the balance between personal freedom and relationship stability:
I share some more content from the interview with ‘Mr. XYZ’ as verbatim audio clips and more transcript text where he answers the question: ‘Anything else that you’d like to add, please do share!’. ‘Mr. XYZ’ and I talk about the influence of romcom tropes on how he views relationships. We also touch on how the current ubiquity of smartphones means that people look at their screens while on the street, rather than looking around them, or at other people. Paywalled: To gain access to this post upgrade to paid:
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The ‘POSTSCRIPT’ segment for paid subscribers will drop on Wednesday 17 June and will feature comments and reflections from the interviewee and how my readers have responded to the series.
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I’m Almaz Ohene, a Creative Copywriter, Freelance Journalist and Accidental Sexpert.
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