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Does Staten Island Self-Loathing Kill The Romance?
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 3, 2011
Modified Sep 3, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 3, 2011
Modified Sep 3, 2011
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While we never expected that our efforts to showcase the awesomeness of Staten Island would seep through the stubborn skulls of New Yorkers overnight, it appears that we underestimated the city's prejudice. According to yet another super scientific dating website survey, only 8 percent of 1,000 Match.com users from Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens are willing to cross the water to Staten Island for a date. But a story in the Staten Island Advance may hold the key to understanding why the borough is given so little respect: the people who live there don't like it either.
A few Staten Islanders rebuff the Jersey Shore stereotypes and one striking woman asks, "What, I'm not enough to make you want to travel to the ends of the earth for?" But the gold is buried towards the end, as 19-year-old Danielle Brandow tells the paper, "There's not a lot to do. Everything closes early. The cops come after you. And a lot of people here are into drugs." Well, that about covers every stereotype. Anything else you'd like to add, Miss Brandow? "You can't go to Applebee's every weekend."
Although the survey showed that only 7 percent of Staten Islanders would date people in the Bronx, most said that they'd "likely travel to Manhattan or Brooklyn for a date." We hereby propose a Staten Island dating embargo against other boroughs. Keep it local, Staten Island: don't let them/us walk all over you!
Tagged
dating
five borough dating
jersey shore
match.com
staten island
Staten Island Advance
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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