‘Some things you can get past’: What Gen Zers are prepared to over look when dating
Gen Zers have revealed a dating no-no for older generations is not a deal-breaker for them when looking for an intimate partner … and it might surprise you.
We’re living through politically polarising times, but Gen Zers aren’t getting bogged down in details … at least not when it comes to their dating and sex lives.
Australia’s leading health and wellness brand, Body+Soul, interviewed more than 2000 Aussies for its 2025 Sex Census to find out what is really happening in bedrooms across the country, including where Gen Z draw the line when it comes to romantic relationships.
The census found that young Aussies are more likely to factor in political affiliations when choosing a partner, with 14 per cent saying this would be a consideration, compared to 9 per cent of overall respondents.
It’s a 5 per cent jump, but it also shows the majority of Gen Zers still aren’t going to let what someone does in the voting booth stop them from inviting them into their bedrooms.
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Twenty per cent of low-rise jean wearing Gen Zers did admit that differing political views would be a deal beaker in a long-term relationship.
But for the short term? 14 per cent couldn’t work up the energy to care.
For a generation that is constantly being accused of being precious, woke, and entitled, they’re certainly pretty pragmatic about their dating lives.
When news.com.au infiltrated the University of Technology to find out if young people would date someone who has different political views to them, the responses were very calm.
I can’t say anyone got too worked up about it, in fact, I spent most of the time repeating the question and explaining what I meant.
Genuinely, one Gen Zer looked at me wide-eyed and baffled and asked what I actually meant by “politics” … before declining to comment altogether.
The general lack of interest around the subject continued.
When I asked two girls hanging out in-between classes if they would date someone with different political beliefs.
One said, “No,” and the other said, “Yes.”
Let the debate begin, right? Wrong.
Both politely and quickly conceded that the political views of this hypothetical Gen Z man would have to be extreme to get in the way of true love.
Two guys hanging out had a really similar response to the question.
“It just depends on how politically engaged they are. It wouldn’t necessarily be the most important thing to me,” one explained
His mate had a much less considered approach.
“Depends, are they into me?” he asked.
Yes.
“Probably, yeah,” he said, laughing.
The prevailing response from Gen Zers was that they would date someone with differing political views, with the caveat being no one wanted to date a complete lunatic who believes women shouldn’t vote or similar.
The Gen Zers also spoke a lot about “shared values” over politics and were being very practical and borderline boring.
“Some things you can get past and some things are non-negotiable,” one guy reasonably pointed out.
Okay, yawn, moving along.
Similarly, a young woman said it would depend on how different her and a prospective partner’s political opinions actually were.
“I think to a certain extent differences of beliefs can be good,” she said diplomatically.
Even those who said they wouldn’t date someone with opposing political beliefs floundered around for a reason.
No one was going on a political tirade in response or acting revolted at the idea of dating someone who votes differently from them.
It was all extremely sensible.
Gen Zers seem happy to date someone they disagree with politically – as long as they’re views aren’t extreme.
Sydney psychologist Carly Dober said dating someone with different political views can, in general, be completely healthy.
“It can be healthy if you both can talk through your views and you both respect one another,” she said.
Ms Dober said that if you want a healthy relationship, you should be concentrating less on who someone votes for and far more on their behaviour.
“I think it’s about behaviours and how entrenched and extreme the views are,” she said.
The psychologist pointed out that often extreme views are what create problems in relationships, not just a slight difference of opinion.
Ms Dober said if she had a patient who said they would never date someone who voted differently from them, she would be curious to understand their reasoning.
“I’d be curious about what views they felt they couldn’t live with in a partner. It might make sense they would never date a far-right person who held quite regressive views about females if they were a female,” she pointed out.
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“Sometimes you can challenge a person’s assumptions, and people can learn and change over time; other times, it makes complete sense in context if the person is very rigid in their beliefs.”
Ms Dober added that she thinks Gen Zers have a leg-up in finding the right partner because they’re more comfortable talking about things.
“I think Boomers came from a time where it wasn’t socially acceptable to speak so openly about politics,” she said.
