Thank you RPW. I am now engaged and have you ladies to thank for it

Yesterday my boyfriend of 9 months proposed to me. I know without the support of this forum this would never have happened.

I began reading RPW about 2 years ago, at that time I was a wreck emotionally because I was a feminist and surprisingly no men took interest in me. Also, I had very few skills and interests, which left me unfulfilled. I found this forum and despite it being the epitome of what I resented in terms of women's roles and such, I knew something had to change so despite hating half of the harsh truths I saw here, I decided to follow the advice. I was 40lbs overweight, had a terrible wardrobe, and had a dyed very short ugly haircut.

I was told first to lose the excess weight and I began to really find a degree of happiness and fulfillment from exercising. I started lifting weights and running and over time the flab at my butt and belly dissapeared and became more toned which made me really proud. Instead of being somewhat self loathing I really began to have a degree of self contentment, and exercise is something which to this day makes me very happy and keeps me feeling healthy.

I then had to get a better wardrobe. When I say bad wardrobe, I'm talking basketball shorts, lots of baggy jeans, basically terrible terrible fashion. I bought a new wardrobe mostly comprised of dresses, skirts, some nice blouses, and the few pants I got were more elegant/slender pants and yoga pants for being home alone in winter (I'm from Chicago and its very cold here). The clothes I got admittedly weren't great brands but they looked decent and were what I could afford at the time. Needless to say they were a massive improvement.

And then came the hair...the hair was the last to do. I had blue dyed hair, which at the time I thought was very "individual". Needless to say I looked like a trainwreck. I viewed short hair as a kind of rebellion against society to some degree, but I just let my hair grow longer and longer into a more feminine length. Finally I went to a haircut place and got that blue mess sheared off. I thought I was fairly good looking at that point so I started going on online dates.

Most of them were pretty uncomfortable, I didn't really like the guys. They seemed like 'beta' guys as you ladies say. Then I met this guy, my current fiance who really blew me away. He was nice dressed, handsome. He also initiated the conversation, and I got a lot of subtle clues he was pretty masculine. For example he asked me what I wanted and then when the waiter came over he ordered for me and said 'she's having blah blah blah", which really caught my notice. He paid for the meal and held the door for me and took me on a walk afterward. When we were walking he put his hand on my back and kind of guided me it was so sweet, the whole date was really romantic and I fell for him. We'd been dating since then and going on outings together. Anyway, yesterday he proposed to me and of course I accepted. I could never have even caught his eye without your help, much less married him. A million thank yous to you lovely oppressive women